Tablet PC launches

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Home Page

The Windows Tablets officially ship today. I'm curious to mess around with these, and I may go to an event, but you have to have a Passport ID to register online, and I've so far avoided that.

When I used a Newton, I found myself wishing it was larger more often than I wished it was smaller, even though smaller wound up taking over the whole market. The Tablet PCs are certainly larger, and they have some other advantages, as well: integrated 802.11, ability to view documents or run software from Windows boxes, and (for the convertible models) a keyboard.

Microsoft isn't entirely sure who will be buying these: check out their Top 10 Benefits of Tablet PC. No. 3 (which should have been No. 1, since it's the key selling point): Work from Anywhere with the Most Mobile PC Ever, is aimed at consumers, but then Nos. 1 ("Use Microsoft's Most Advanced Operating System") and 7 ("Extend Your Applications with Digital Ink Handwriting") are completely unimportant to folks outside of IT departments.

HP-Compaq's TC1000 looks like an interesting example, with a detachable keyboard and a Transmeta Crusoe running at 1 Ghz, and starting price under $1700.

Notably absent from any of HP's pages on the device is any mention of battery life, which should be better than average with the Crusoe. I also note that the first item in Microsoft's How-to section is Manage Your Tablet PC Battery Power. Wired News reported 8 to 11 hours of battery life on a sample from Electrovaya, but their battery life seems to be their competitivie advantage -- they claim to have battery capacities 4-6 times higher than their competitors.