The Tablet PC Today

The old saying, “Nothing is constant but change,” applies perfectly to the computer product niche occupied by tablet PCs. In the computer industry, change happens even faster than elsewhere, so the 2007 year-end wrap-ups about new tablet PCs is already old news.

The funny thing about those year-end product stories, though, was that most had more to do with what was not being sold than what was. Many reviewers didn’t want to make a firm product recommendation because a number of new tablet PCs were announced as “first quarter 2008” releases. Has it been worth the wait?

First things first

Before we look at the leading candidates for “best tablet PC of the moment” (this product niche changes very quickly) we will review the business rationale for this particular form factor.

Early tablet PCs were mostly pen- and stylus-driven, and suffered from unevolved supporting technologies – slow screens, small hard drives, poor connectivity. Now that these underlying capabilities have improved, tablet PCs now have the horsepower that businesses need.

The primary need is, of course, mobility. Companies with field employees – insurance, manufacturing, sales, marketing and so on – will experience dramatic productivity increases with tablet PCs. Part of today’s tablet form factor is wireless connectivity (811b, g and n), since it is not an option but a necessity.

Whereas early tablet PCs and handhelds ran various stripped-down operating systems, such as Windows CE, today’s processors are fully able to run XP. With all computing assets of the business now on a common platform, early problems with compatibility and data throughput are a thing of the past.

The time is right

Although tablet PCs have been available for several years, technology wasn’t the only thing that needed time to mature. The market did, too. Among the factors that make the time right for a new surge of tablet PCs is the entrance of “Generation Y” into the workplace.

As reported recently in Information Week, the “20-somethings” who are now starting their careers have been interacting with computers in a variety of ways, throughout their lives. After all, they grew up with mobile phones, portable music players and all manner of other handheld devices. If the PC market leaders are ready with new products in this segment, it is a safe bet the time is right.

The big Kahunas arrives

The newest tablets, like the Motion Computing line – the “portable clinical assistant” C5, the “ruggedized” F5 designed for field sales/service personnel and the LE1700 tablet with Intel® Core 2 Duo processor, embedded wireless broadband and high resolution SXGA+ display – are slim, light and amazingly powerful. There are a variety of sleek, innovative designs from such segment leaders as Dell, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Lenovo and others, but Motion Computing is an acknowledged “tablet trendsetter.”

In addition, compared to early models, recent operating system enhancements combine with hardware advances to present a superior touch-screen environment to the tablet PC user. Touch-screen technology itself has matured, too, giving people the option of using their fingers or a stylus to manipulate data. “Corporations will standardize on different types of notebooks to serve the usage models of their diverse workforce,” the article states. A process of “hyper-segmentation” is now occurring “in the mobile market,” the report concludes, as it has already done in “the PC market in general.” Again, Motion Computing appears to lead the way with its diverse tablet designs.

The high price tag of the top-rated tablets (upwards of $2,500) might discourage some businesses from adopting the new device broadly. However, even tight-fisted purchasing managers realize that some employees have special requirements that can't be filled by standard notebooks.

Mobile empowerment

The uses for tablet PCs are almost limitless, and especially compelling for firms with field personnel to coordinate, events to manage and far-flung data to assemble. There is no more powerful solution today for aggregating and analyzing audience response, for example. Consumer focus groups, test audiences and even tradeshow attendees can be equipped with wireless tablets to provide immediate feedback or data input to a central location.

Additionally, managers of large business events – conventions, concerts, stockholder meetings, training sessions, market research studies and so forth – can outfit employees or attendees with a complete two-way communications solution. Data collection, analysis and interpretation have truly advanced by several orders of magnitude with the advent of these powerful mobile computers.

The CRE advantage

About 1.5 million tablet PCs were sold in 2006, over 50% more than in 2005, according to industry estimates. However, most of the machines were for specialized use by delivery people, insurance adjusters, real estate professionals and some government workers. The machines have still not caught on with consumers, however.

One often-overlooked advantage to renting from CRE is the ability to try different things to see what works best. Why rely on reviews and other people’s experiences when you can find out for yourself, first hand? CRE is committed to assessing every new computing technology, and making this technology available to you without the downside of ownership. Find out what works best for you, and we will set you up with a plan that covers all the bases.

Choosing a tablet PC and building an arsenal of the right applications, peripherals and accessories is a matter of both personal preference and corporate requirements. So the answer to the question, "What is the best tablet PC for me?” remains, as ever, whichever one suits your needs, fits in your budget and helps you get your job done quickly and effectively.

A few reminders

The tablet PC form factor is a work in progress. They are nice to have in addition to your main machine for those times when you want something small and light to take with you, or you work in the field on a regular basis.

As time goes on and Microsoft continues to fine tune XP (then Vista) to run better and better on the these platforms – and when the price of wireless service from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon drops to a point where more consumers and businesses can afford it – the tablet PC is likely to become a hot commodity. Just remember that the list of features and capabilities changes on almost a daily basis, so consult a CRE specialist for help in making the correct choice. That’s why we’re here.