Tablet

The form factor offers a more mobile way to interact with a computer. Tablet PCs are often used where normal notebooks are impractical or unwieldy, or do not provide the needed functionality.

The term "Tablet PC" was coined by Microsoft in a Keynote Address by Bill Gates at the 2001 Comdex conference. ¹ The more general term is Pen computer or Pen computing.

Forms

Slates

Slates, which resemble writing slates, are tablet PCs without a dedicated keyboard. Keyboards can usually be attached via a wireless or USB connection.

These tablet PCs typically incorporate small (8.4-14.1 inches/21–36 cm) LCD screens and have been popular for quite some time in vertical markets such as health care, education, and field work.

Slate models are often designed with a focus on pure mobility, that is, the less to carry, the better.

Rugged tablet PC models are usually in the slate form factor; without a keyboard, there are fewer moving parts to break.

Convertibles

Convertible notebooks have a base body with an attached keyboard. They more closely resemble modern laptops, and are usually heavier and larger than slates.

Typically, the base of a convertible attaches to the display at a single joint called a swivel hinge or rotating hinge. The joint allows the screen to rotate around 180° and fold down on top of the keyboard to provide a flat writing surface. This design, although the most common, creates a physical point of weakness on the notebook.

Some manufacturers, however, have attempted to overcome these weak points. The Panasonic Toughbook 19, for example, is advertised as a more durable convertible notebook. One model by Acer has a sliding design in which the screen slides up from the slate-like position and locks into place to provide the laptop mode.

Convertibles are by far the most popular form factor of tablet PCs, because for people who are unsure about the practicality of using the pen as the primary method of input, the convertibles still offer the keyboard and pointing device of older notebooks.

Hybrids

Hybrids, coined by users of the HP/Compaq TC1000 and TC1100 series, share the features of the slate and convertible by using a detachable keyboard which operates in a similar fashion to a convertible when attached.

This is not to be confused with slate models that have a detachable keyboard—detachable keyboards for pure slate models do not rotate around to allow the tablet to rest on it like a convertible.

Despite a loyal following of users, the hybrid form factor has not received any recent updates after the TC1100 was discontinued.

History

System software

Microsoft

The operating system on which most tablet PCs used to run was Windows XP Tablet PC Edition²⁷ ²⁸. Tablet PC Edition is a superset of Windows XP Professional, the difference being tablet functionality, including alternate text input (Tablet PC Input Panel) and basic drivers for support of tablet PC specific hardware. Requirements to install Tablet PC Edition include a tablet digitizer or touchscreen device, and hardware control buttons including a Ctrl-Alt-Delete shortcut button, scrolling buttons, and at least one user-configurable application button.

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP includes Tablet PC Edition 2005 and is a free upgrade. This version brought improved handwriting recognition and improved the Input Panel, allowing it to be used in almost every application. The Input Panel was also revised to extend speech recognition services (input and correction) to other applications.

With the sucession of Windows Vista, the Tablet PC functionality no longer required a separate edition. Tablet PC support is built into all editions of Windows Vista with the exception of Home Basic and Starter editions. This extends the handwriting recognition, ink collection, and additional input methods to any computer running Vista even if the input device is an external digitizer, a touch screen, or even a regular mouse. Vista also supports MultiTouch functions and gestures (originally developed for the Microsoft Surface version of Vista) and is now usable by the public with the release of MultiTouch tablets.

Windows applications

There are many operating systems in use on devices marketed as tablets. Note that most tablet PC software is targeted particularly for the Microsoft Tablet PC API, and will not run on devices without Windows Vista or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Care should be taken when researching a tablet system or any device or software that claims to be designed for tablet PCs, as the phrase does not guarantee compatibility.

Applications developed for the tablet PC cater to the form factor and functionality available on the platform. Many forms of applications incorporate a pen-friendly user interface and/or the ability to handwrite directly in the document or interface.

Experience Pack

Education Pack

GNU/Linux

Running Linux on tablet PCs is as practical as on conventional notebooks. More recently, tablet PCs may also be configured with Linux pre-installed.

One early implementation of a Linux tablet was the ProGear by FrontPath. The ProGear used a Transmeta chip and a resistive digitizer. The ProGear initially came with a version of Slackware Linux, but could later be bought with Windows 98. Because these computers are general purpose IBM PC compatible machines, they can run many different operating systems.

Xorg now supports screen rotation and tablet input through Wacom drivers, and handwriting recognition software from both the Qt-based Qtopia and GTK+-based Internet Tablet OS provide promising free and open source systems for future development.

Another handwriting recognition software for GNU/Linux is CellWriter; a note-taking application for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD²⁹ is Xournal

However, little mature desktop-oriented software of the sort has arisen, leading many users to rely on on-screen keyboards and alternative text input methods like Dasher.

TabletKiosk currently offers a hybrid digitizer / touch device running SUSE Linux. It is the first device with this feature to support Linux.

Apple

The aftermarketer Axiotron has introduced aftermarket, heavily modified Apple MacBooks called Modbooks, a Mac OS X-based tablet computer. It uses Apple's Inkwell for handwriting and gesture recognition and bundles additional digitization software from Wacom.

While Apple Inc. legally forbids, but doesn't sanction running their operating system Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware,^{citation needed} there are a large number of computer enthusiasts who are running slightly modified copies of Mac OS X on various x86 architecture PC models, among them Tablet PC computers.^{citation needed} To get Mac OS X to talk to the digitizer on Tablet PC systems they use a free open source driver originally written to support serial tablets for which Wacom no longer supplies Mac drivers.

Tablets vs. traditional notebooks

The advantages and disadvantages of tablet PCs are highly subjective measures. What appeals to one user may be exactly what disappoints another. The following are commonly cited opinions of the tablet PC platform:

Disadvantages

Designing around disadvantages

Manufacturers can design additional durability into the displays of tablets to effectively reduce screen damage risk, hinge failure, and screen size limitations. As an example, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company designed the Toughbook 19 specifically to overcome the screen damage issue potential. The use of scissor shock absorbers mounted to the screen, flexible connectors for data cables, molded magnesium alloy screen casing, durable and replaceable screen overlayments, and purpose built convertible hinges impact reliability. However, handheld models of computer such as the OQO Model 2 have a retractable keyboard that slides out sideways as a measure against having weak hinges and that the clamps for the sideway retracting keyboard are stronger if you put it into proportion to the robustness.

Features

Popular models

Slate

Convertible

Hybrid

Programs

Contents