November 2006

Toshiba has along history in pen computers, going all the way back to the early 1990 Dynapad T100 and T200. The company has remained a pioneer in Tablet PCs, and their latest model is the Tecra M7, a replacement for the earlier Tecra M4. Following current trends, the M7 has a (superb) 14.1-inch 1440 x 900 pixel wide screen. It also has all the other trimmings of a modern, powerful, full-function notebook computer. And it is fully Windows Vista Premium Ready. We reviewed the Tecra M7 in detail. [Read Toshiba Tecra M7 review]

Gateway gets $1.6 million TPC contract from Texas school
Gateway was awarded a $1.6 million contract with United Independent School District in Texas for M280 Convertible Notebook PCs and associated training, technical support and services. As part of the three-year contract, Gateway will provide middle school students in the district with more than 1,000 convertible notebooks for use with day-to-day instruction and online testing. The M280 Convertible Notebook is ideal for the classroom environment, allowing students to use the PC for solving mathematical equations and taking notes with a digital pen. Students can also draw diagrams and edit documents directly on the widescreen display, which provides valuable extra work space over standard format displays. -- Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 by chb

Lenovo X60 - descendant of one of the first pen computers
Few remember, but well over a decade ago, the original IBM ThinkPad was one of the first pen computers. It was a true slate, and only later became the brand synonymous with quality notebooks. Lenovo has now released the ThinkPad X60 Tablet PC, a 3.8-pound convertible that carries on the ThinkPad quality, look, and feel but is a thoroughly modern machine with an Intel Core Duo CPU (up to 1.83 MHz), 12.1-inch wide angle displays with either 1024x768 or 1400x1050 pixels (a multi-touch version is also available), up to 4GB of memory, up to 120GB of disk, 802.11a/b/g/n, an optical drive, all in a 10.8 x 9.6 x 1.1 inch package. A "Tablet Sleeve" provides a degree of protection, and an "UltraBase" adds four more USB ports, stereo speakers, other ports, and an ultrabay slot for a second hard disk or optical drive. Battery life is said to be up to 7.5 hours. [see Lenovo X60 site] -- Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 by chb