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Two of my good friends, Michael Plasmeier and Reed, both recently bought Tablet PCs for using in school for note-taking and they both think it is the best thing since sliced bread. I personally think that Tablet PCs are just a passing trend and will fade away in the near future. The reason is for several reasons and I have used the tablet PCs and have several complaints about the way it works despite of the “coolness factor” and that it is not something that is really worth while for continuing to produce.

First, I would like to  explain what a tablet PC is and what it  is used for in general, I would also like to point out what it is useful for.  A tablet PC is a  type of laptop that you can use a stylus to control the computer to write and control the computer in general.  Some  Tablets, usually the cheaper ones accept any touch input while “smarter” ones only accept input from a specific stylus which is a pain because if you break or loose your stylus you need to pay a lot of money to replace your stylus and can’t use your touch screen until you get a new one. There are advantages with using a tablet, it is great for people who do math or chemical equations because you can draw them in and not have to use specialized software or anything to write formulas. Another good part is that it makes photoshop and other digital artistry more like real art because you can use the tablet and draw on the screen and apply filters simply and it really feels like you are drawling. Another kind of cool thing is the screen can turn and flip down and close it flat which makes drawling much easier.

Now, for the problems, first of all the conversion of drawn on writing to typed text is extremely slow and really for most writing I do not see the merit of using the tablet when typing is so much easier and can get the work done faster.  Tablets also have a general $300 price difference from regular laptops and that extra cost does not give much more features. Also, the stylus is a pain because you lose it or break it you lose the extra features you paid the premium for and now you need to spend more for a new stylus forcing you to spend even more money! Meanwhile, if you were to get a regular non-tablet laptop you would not  have that problem and save the initial $300 extra.  Reed broke his stylus and he had to pay $50 to get a 2 pack of replacement styluses which is ridiculous for a piece of plastic with a little technology in it. Also,  if the laptop screen breaks, which happens with the majority of laptops at one point,  it will cost much more to replace because of the extra touch capabilities.

All in all, I think if you want to get a touch device or art tablet a USB tablet for less than $100 is a good option and then you can move it to any computer you use and if it breaks and you need a tablet because you are a professional artist. Tablets are going to be replaced by better developed ultra-portable laptops because they can do the majority of the features and paired with a  external tablet it can be a good replacement andthen combind that with cloud computing for a winning combination.