THE TABLET PC, THE LAPTOP OF THE FUTURE

The year 2010 could well become the "Year of the Tablet PC". While vendors like Apple, HP & Microsoft, HTC & Google and Lenovo are hinting at the release dates of new tablet computers there's still a lot to be revealed and told about the laptop of the future.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave his opening keynote at this year's Computer Electronics Show in Las Veas on Wednesday night. Expecting a fully functional touch-screen tablet-computer that could be that cool next-gen laptop we were all waiting for, the new tablet device he presented was just a prototype of the soon to be released "slate" PC from HP running Windows 7. The real magic was missing and according to a lot of people it was a bit disappointing.

Apple is rumoured to release their tablet as the "iSlate" later this month. HP and Dell adopted the name and are calling their computers already slate PCs. There's also rumour that Apple's tablet would be using an Intel Atom processor but according to Apple's design manufacturing partners a processor from P A Semi, a company aquired by Apple, will be used. Let's just wait and see!

The year 2010 is expected to be a difficult year for the tablet computer as well. Electronic readers will be one of the competitive products in the market. Advanced e-readers have been introduced with a color touch-screen and an internet connection on board just recently and they really look like a tablet PC! Well, almost...

Find out for yourself and check out the brand new hybrid laptops and tablet PCs that are already available such as the Lenovo IdeaPad, Dell Latitude XT2, Adam Smartpad and HP's TouchSmart tm2.

The tablet PC, the future of the laptop or the laptop of the future?