Introduction
The objective of this report was to investigate tablet PCs that will be available in the market more briefly as possible, looking to extract their specifications so we'll be able to opt to purchase of one or more units. For such, we entered in contact with some partners of Microsoft in this area asking for the maximum of information on the hardware that they intend to commercialize.
Once we are dealing with an innovation and, having in account that the rivalry in this initial phase is very strong, many of these companies had revealed reluctant in divulging any information on their Tablet PCs. Although here is present the answers obtained, as well as some information collected from some reviews to the machines.
Acer TravelMate 100
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tmc100/spec.asp
(only accessible to Microsoft staff)
In June of this year Bill Gates gathered a group of journalists in Seattle to explain what Tablet PCs present of so special. For such he delivered to each publisher a very premature production of Tablet PC from Acer.
10.4-in. screen
700-MHz Pentium III CPU
256MB of RAM
20GB hard drive
Built-in 802.11b wireless Ethernet.
3.2 lb (approx 1.5 Kg)
We entered in contact with Acer and in their answer they asked us for our personal data. These had been sent but until the time being we didn't receive any reply.
Compaq Evo Tablet PC
http://www.compaq.com/newsroom/presspaq/tabletpc/index.html
HP and Compaq are currently collaborating in the development of products and the test of their Tablet PC, developing activities of joint-marketing. They present a solution that uses the Transmeta processor: Crusoe TM5800.
The only information we have is that the processor will work at 1Ghz, as we only were supplied with the phone number to their commercial support here in Portugal and that, in accordance with the site of the manufacturer, the specifications had still not been divulged.
Fujitsu Stylistic ST4000
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/rl/products/pentablets/tabletpc.html
Fujitsu was the only manufacturer who gave us a reply by their sales manager in Spain, Portugal and South America.
This model presents two types of configuration, but only one of them corresponds to the model of Tablet PC considered by Microsoft, this is, we have a solution with a resistive screen and a passive digitizer, so this solution will not be presented here seen it misses the scope of this report.
This Tablet PC uses an active pen with a battery (some models present another technology, like Wacom, that doesn't require this battery).
Pentium 3 800 mhz speedstep
20 or 40 Gb Hard Drive
256mb or 512mb RAM
with or without wireless card 802.11
Weight 2,5 cms weight about 1,4 Kg
As for the price this will be probably below 3500 € but the sales manager relates that they are waiting for the price in Japan.
The first deliveries are foreseen for early December of this year for all Europe.
Fujitsu has a dedicated reseller here in Portugal: PROBITAS, that is hosted here in Lisbon and whose manager is Christophe Collas (Tel: +351 21 362 46 06).
VIA Tablet PC Reference Design
http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/tablet.jsp
VIA is the manufacturer who presented more information on their prototype of Tablet PC. We contacted the sales department but the only reply that we got was that these would not have a model until the o end of this year. Any way below we present the specifications supplied in their site:
| ITEM | DESCRIPTION |
| Processor | VIA C3? EBGA or VIA Eden ESP Processor • 128K L1 and 64K L2 cache |
| Core Logic | VIA Apollo Pro 266T: North Bridge VT8653, South Bridge VT8233A or VT8235 |
| Main Memory | • Onboard 128MB • One 200-pin PC2100 memory socket • DDR266 SDRAM support |
| LCD | 10.4? TFT Electro-magnetic Digitizer, brightness adjustable |
| Graphics | • Integrated AGP2X with 2D/3D Graphics Acceleration • Motion Compensation for DVD playback • Hardware rotation for portrait mode display |
| Storage (ATA) | ATA 33/66/100 2.5? HDD |
| Storage (Flash) | CFC socket optional |
| Audio System | VIA VT1612A AC?97 Codec • Internal speaker and 2 internal microphones • 2 Audio Jacks: Earphone-Out and Microphone-In • Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro Compatible • Digital I/O compatible with consumer mode S/PDIF |
| Digital TV Out | VIA VT1621 Digital TV encoder • Integrated Macro Vision 7.1 • High quality scaling and filtering • S-Video or Composite video output • Support NTSC/PAL TV |
| Ethernet (LAN) | VIA Tahoe VT6103 (Ethernet PHY) • RJ-45 jack • 10/100Mbps Ethernet MAC integrated in South Bridge |
| PCMCIA | • PCMCIA socket for wireless communication • Smart card support |
| Infra red ports | • SIR and FIR IrDA port • CIR for wireless keyboard |
| Other I/O Ports | VIA Fire II VT6306 IEEE 1394 host controller • One IEEE 1394 port • Two USB ports • CRT Out (Mini-type) |
| Replicator I/O ports | VIA VT1211 LPC Super I/O controller • 2 USB ports • EPP/ECP parallel port • 16C550 compatible serial port • 2 PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse ports • S/PDIF Out • CRT Out • TV Out (composite & S-video) • Audio jacks: line-in, line-out, mic-in • DC In |
| LEDs | • Power status • Battery status |
| Other Optional Modules | • I/O Replicator • Tablet PC stand |
ViewSonic Tablet PC V1100
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/tablet_pc_tabletpcv1100.htm
ViewSonic didn't answer to our request of information. So all the presented information was copy from their site.
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Specifications subject to change without notice. Selection, offers, warranties and programs may vary by country; see your ViewSonic representative for complete details.
Tatung Tablet PC Tangy 830
http://www.tatung.com/tabletpc/tangy830.htm
This manufacturer isn't very known among us and we didn't obtained the information if this was commercialized here, because they didn't reply to our mail. Two models are presented: 440 Tangy and Tangy 830. Now we are going to present the specifications of the most advanced model : Tangy 830
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Conclusion
O objectivo que nos propusémos atingir com este relatório revelou-se
fora do nosso alcançe, visto grande parte dos fabricantes não
ter informações concretas sobre os seus Tablet PCs. Assim, parece-nos
que a melhor solução seria aguardar mais algum tempo até
se saber mais dados sobre esta tecnologia.
Uma data a ter em consideração é o dia 7 de Novembro, para a qual está agendado o lançamento do Windows XP Professional Tablet Edition bem como do Tablet PC da Acer, que acaba por ser aquele que esteve sujeito a um maior número de testes por parte de um grande número de profissionais e de agentes da imprensa. Os reviews estão um pouco por todo o lado podendo-se por exemplo vê-los em :
http://www.msnbc.com/news/771540.asp?0si=#BODY
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,264783,00.asp
ficando então com uma ideia dos pros e contras do uso dos Tablet PCs, mais própriamente do protótipo da Acer.
Entrou-se em contacto com outros fabricantes mas, não tendo obtido qualquer resposta e, vendo que os seus sites não apresentam qualquer informação sobre esta tecnologia, não nos foi possível referi-los neste relatório. De qualquer forma a lista de fabricantes que estão em parceira com a Microsoft para o desenvolvimento dos Tablet PCs é a seguinte:
Acer
Aopen
Aplux Communications Ltd.
Compal Electronics Inc.
HP
FIC
Fujitsu
Fujitsu Siemens
NEC
Motion Computing
PaceBlade Technology
Quanta
Research Machines PLC
Sotec
Tatung
Time Group Ltd.
Toshiba
Twinhead
VIA Technologies
ViewSonic
WalkAbout Computers
Wistron Corporation
Xplore Technologies Corporation