Today there are some pitched battles going in such niches as netbooks, tablet PCs, iPads and various kinds of “e-readers.” The most exciting part about any and all of these devices is the display technology, and there are envelope-pushing developments bringing us screens that feature color, touch sensitivity and video capability while using less power and lasting longer! Here’s an update for you about the latest in display screen technology.

Competition in display technology heats up

Qualcomm has a new screen technology called Mirasol (isn’t that dishwasher soap?) with a fast enough refresh rate to display video. The screens are low-power and light, perfect for the low end of the pad/tablet (”padlet”) market, which right now is Augen’s e-book reader. It has a (non-touch) LCD color screen, supports all major e-book formats, plays MP3 files and videos, and is equipped with 64MB of RAM, word processor, QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, built-in speaker, headphones, SecureDigital card slot and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

While Prime View continues its move to color, scores of other firms around the world are working to get more performance with less energy and cost. One particular firm, Pixel Qi, has begun manufacturing 10-inch tablet-style screens featuring color and video that use less than half the power of a standard 10-inch LCD. The field is wide open now, and companies that are not even in the display industry – like Japanese tire maker Bridgestone, among others – are contributing to both R&D and production of new screen types. (Progress continues at the high end of screen tech, too, like the LED technology in 30″ Apple Cinema HD rentals.)

Some downsides to the upgrades

Special effects firms that meet emergency deadlines with the help of CRE Mac Pro rentals will not be trading those powerhouses in for an iPad rental or other mobile device any time soon. However, the movie trailers or animations their artists create will populate the Web, so Wi-Fi padlets will need to display them, either in browsers or with standalone media apps. The problem is that, at the low end of the netbook line now (and rumored for some upcoming padlets) you will find the Windows CE operating system. Originally released in 1996, the OS shows its age in almost every function.

Apple powers its first generation iPad with the iPhone OS, but there is talk (isn’t there always?) about the iPad running a stripped-down OS X or hybridized iPhone/OS X system. However, even with a better, multitasking OS, the CPU in the iPad can’t keep up with CRE’s iMac rentals, much less the mighty Mac towers. You will not finish your 3D shading on an iPad while lunching in the park, nor is it certain that you could even view a big JPEG file on one of the CE-powered “padlets” hitting the U.S. now.

At CRE, we stay stay current on everything — especially the technologies you need for post-production, digital workflows, conferences, conventions, presentations and the like. A phone call, e-mail or request for Quick Rental Quote will put an experienced Account Executive on the job for you right away. Whatever you need to accomplish, we can show you how to turn your problem into a successful solution. It’s what we do.

Because of our own commitment to sustainability, we’ve covered a number of green topics in our blog this past year (yes, it’s been a year now), but have discovered one glaring oversight. We never gave you, in one place at one time, a simple action plan or quick overview for having the greenest possible conference. Today, we will address conference exhibitors, but the ideas will be applicable to in-house meetings and events, too.

Green is the goal

Along with everything else that goes into your conference preparation – writing and design, layouts and animations, schedules and assignments – you need a strategy for equipment. The challenge is to balance your corporate conference goal with the green goal of minimizing waste of all kinds. This means not only saving paper by creating virtual sell sheets and brochures that can be downloaded, but saving on conference incidental costs by using one of CRE’s interactive kiosk rentals as both a “presentation station” and a data collector.

If you are scheduling a live presentation, the same thing goes for any ”handouts” – make PDFs available for download. (Most conferences these days have onsite wireless set up for attendees’ use.) For feedback on the presentation, forget the paper and pencils again, because Audience Response System rentals will get you much more feedback, and in a form you can immediately put to use on your computer. The presentation itself can be done in several ways, either with projector rentals or large-screen monitors (like CRE’s plasma rentals). You can attach a digital media player or your laptop to either a projector or a LCD monitor, and remotely control the whole thing.

More green tips for your conference

If you really want to limit your conference team’s paper use, you may want to outfit everyone with tablet PC rentals. This way, the team’s note-taking can be handled with the various “pen computing” tools. Using the stylus and a “notepad” program, you can take digital notes, saving them as-is or converting them in real-time (or later) with character recognition software. A tablet PC, of course, is multipurpose wireless device and can be used to keep team members connected and coordinated, no matter how busy and demanding the conference gets. (Tip: Don’t forget the AC adapter, and plug in the unit at all possible times to keep it charged for those times you need to be “untethered.”)

If you need to record a conversation with a potential customer, a keynote speech or a breakout session, digital recorder rentals can provide massive amounts of speech-quality recording time. Again, you will have no consumables, no waste, a low cost and high quality results. Instead of pages of random, unsorted notes (plus the occasional napkin or envelope with someone’s name and phone number), you will leave the conference with a useful collection of digital assets – audio notes, imported/downloaded video, drawings, doodles and handwriting converted to editable text.

Always back up your digital assets!

In addition to carrying your digital assets out of the convention center on your laptop, you can upload them to your company’s server (or elsewhere) as you go along from session to session, day to day, in a sort of ongoing online backup routine. This is the way to safeguard against loss of your laptop, file or disk corruption or other catastrophes. After planning a Earth-friendly, green conference appearance, the last thing you need is a technological breakdown. Don’t forget to make backup an important part of your strategic planning.

CRE’s experienced Account Executives can help you “green” your next conference or event, or set you up with everything from computers to office equipment. Our expertise is yours with a simple phone call or e-mail, or if you know what you need, use our Quick Rental Quote form. We are here to help. Let us know how we can help with your next green event!

Apple did it again, apparently. On the first day of availability, the company sold over 300,000 iPads. As of 10pm Thursday, April 8, the total was approaching 600,000, and between 3.5 and 4 million apps had been downloaded for the device. This has left some tech bloggers and perennially pouting anti-Apple pundits perplexed, as many had predicted a dud.

The “dud” warnings were not all based on insignificant details, however, and the iPad does deserve some smacks for obvious weaknesses – such as having no webcam, doing no multitasking and being, in essence, a big iPhone.  Of all these shortcomings, the notion that one has to quit browsing to look up a phone number or send a quick e-mail is perhaps the most distressing, which is why multitasking was the first of the upgrade announcements that got the Apple fan community chatting (even before the first sale).

Where’s the iPad competition?

One reason the competition has been a bit quiet (or, at least, dispersed) is that both the public and the gadget makers call the iPad a lot of different things. This means a range of competitive strategies and no “critical mass” of focused opposition. Is the Kindle book-reader a competitor? Well, for e-book readers, perhaps. Is the Neofonie WePad overpriced, with too few Android offerings? What are the big boys – Dell, HP, Asus, Acer – doing in this product niche?

HP, for its part, sees the iPad’s screen resolution, Wi-Fi capability, long battery life and mid-range cost as strengths that its long-awaited Slate cannot match. On the other hand, its core hardware specs – CPU, hard drive, USB port, SD card slot, front- and rear-facing cameras, a screen that supports digitizer-based input – are clearly to the Slate’s advantage. Of course, it is the seamless, near-magical “Apple user experience” that is the joker in this high-tech deck of cards.

Spec comparison: iPad vs. competitor-like “Pad”

Like the Fusion Garage Joojoo and the WePad, Slate has a 1.6GHz Atom processor that is quite a bit beefier than Apple’s own A4 chip, and will take the HP unit from its Windows 7 Home Premium default installation to any of the many solid Linux OS packages. The USB 2 port and the two cameras are great, too, but Apple already planned for a camera (the spot for it is molded into the iPad case already) and has now addressed other shortcomings that its legions of fans pointed out en masse.

In fact, Apple has already announced plans for a smaller, 5- to 7-inch screen unit, to be focused more on output (music, Web, e-books) than input (typing especially). HP’s Slate has a smaller screen and a netbook standard resolution of 1024×600. Surprisingly for an on-the-go device, HP is coming up 50 percent short in battery life compared to the iPad. The Joojoo and WePad have decent battery life, but when Acer, Asus and some other heavyweights (Nokia? Samsung?) weigh in with their iPad-killers, they had better have more juice than the Slate if they want a good share of this new market.

How do you see the iPad integrating into the corporate environment? Do you plan on using one this year? We’d love to hear from you on this.

In the meantime, when you are faced with crunch time, like a new project with no available workstations, we are here to keep you moving forward. For everything from Mac Pro rentals to tablet pc rentals, and everything you need to attend or exhibit at a convention or conference, call or send an e-mail to our expert Account Executives today. If you know what you need, complete our Quick Rental Quote form now.

The rumors met reality on January 27th as Apple unveiled its iPad tablet. As opposed to the iPhone launch, however, this one was not met with 100% support from the Apple/Mac fan community. In fact, some folks were downright displeased, predicting failure with a capital “F.” Of course, only time will tell, but right now we know all the specs and can at least tell you the pluses and minuses of the device.

Ups and downs

The first thing you need to know is that the iPad is not a small MacBook in tablet form. It’s a big iPhone, except that the only kind of calling you can do is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) with WiFi and a tool like Skype. Lacking a webcam, of course, means voice only, no cool video chats. The unit will run all the iPhone Apps, although it will have its own Apple store.

It’s not a Kindle-killer, either. Amazon’s one-trick pony is perfect for the one trick it does – let you read, even in direct sunlight, with its e-ink technology. When Amazon did its research, it discovered that having color, WiFi, a browser and lots of other doohickeys interrupted people’s concentration on reading. Plus, the iPad has perhaps 8-10 hours of battery time, whereas the Kindle and the Sony e-book readers go 150-200 hours on a charge.

The specs

The specifications are at least as interesting for what is missing as what is there. Powered by a special, Apple-designed, 1GHz A4 chip built by PA Semiconductor, the iPad comes with 16, 32 or 64GB of solid state flash storage, but there is no separate graphics chip, so no multitasking – you can do one thing at a time. The color screen is 9.7 inches, but it won’t display most of the video on the Web (except YouTube) because there is no Flash support. With all the Flash on the Internet, this is a total head-scratcher. Neither is there a USB port, just the single Dock Connector, which accommodate special (and, ahem, separately priced) adapters for a USB connection or an SD card reader.

What it does have is: WiFi in the latest 802.11b/g/n variety; Bluetooth, so you can use a wireless keyboard, at least if you’re at a table, instead of the on-screen iPhone-y keyboard; and a 3G version coming out a month after the base model. There’s also a microphone, speaker, headphone jack, digital compass, a few sensors (light, accelerometer, proximity) and A-GPS, “Assisted GPS.”

Bottom line

Just a tad smaller than a regular magazine and weighing 1.5 pounds, the iPad is hardly a shirtpocket take-along. It needs a case so you won’t scratch it, and a data plan with AT&T so you can use the WiFi or 3G. What remains to be seen is, Who will buy this thing? Apple fans with iPhones already shell out to AT&T, so it’s hard to believe they’ll double their monthly bill for a larger iPhone with little added functionality. MacBook Pro rentals at CRE won’t be threatened, since the iPad doesn’t run any Mac software. People who are PC-centric and don’t like Apple in the first place are hardly going to rush out to buy this device, either.

The iPad appears to a number of observers to be the first pure entertainment play from Apple since the iPod. It is not a productivity enhancer, not easy to use as a phone or book reader, has a closed platform that may hinder third-party development and costs from $500 to over $800 in a somewhat bizarre pricing structure. It just may be that Apple has made an expensive toy for jetsetters and tech collectors, but if you see the “Steve Jobs magic” at work again, post a comment and let us know!

In the meantime, for true Apple productivity, CRE has the Mac Pro rentals and laptops, along with convention technology and everything else you need from Apple, H-P and other companies. From office equipment to Audience Response System rentals, our Account Executives have the expertise and the equipment to help you get the job done. Call, send an e-mail or fill out the Quick Rental Quote form and we’ll get right on it for you.

Anything that affects your firm’s long-term plans and ongoing operations is called “a strategic consideration,” like the 2009 buzz phrase “going mobile.” New technologies always fit that description. No matter what industry you are in, you must start factoring new technologies into your strategic planning now. You must determine how to approach each of the top five new business technologies for 2010 that are presented here (in no particular order). We start with a “big buzz holdover” from 2009.

1. Cloud computing

Here it is again, waiting to be crowned As Important As The Wheel, which proponents insist will occur any day now. It does look promising, as cloud computing promises to deliver a huge menu of IT options to cost-conscious companies (and everyone else, eventually). Fact is, with an XServe rental from CRE you could create a cloud or two of your own, as well as educate your employees on the change that’s “right around the corner.”

2. Client computing

“Virtualization” means using computing applications in such a way that hardware and operating system (OS) considerations are not deal-killers. Companies need to look at everything from device specifications, ownership/support of hardware and software selection to management structure and security. Getting a powerful desktop rental can help you discover the difference between running your current, aging hardware and the new generations of Macintosh and PC computers, especially in terms of the new Internet standards heading your way.

3. Flash memory

Flash memory is increasingly important for storage solutions. The kind of semiconductor memory device found in USB “thumb drives” and digital camera cards, flash memory is smaller, sturdier and faster than hard drives. Flash memory will come to dominate embedded systems, personal electronics and mass storage, and laptop rentals will include units with solid-state flash memory soon after they hit the market. Flash memory provides advantages in space, heat resistance, power consumption, ruggedness and speed.

4. Advanced analytics

A variety of analytical tools help companies investigate alternative scenarios and manufacturing/marketing outcomes. Fixed rules and inflexible policies are being replaced by informed decision-making based on “the right information at the right time.” Since advanced analytics provide overlapping, real-time alternatives and predictions, not just dry data, it may take a widescreen LCD monitor rental to keep everything in front of you at once while you make some very important decisions.

5. Mobile applications

Some 1.2 billion people around the world will be using devices capable of truly interactive, mobile commerce by the end of 2010. In an environment where mobility is converging with wireless and the Web, a huge number of new applications will pop up. There are already almost 100,000 programs for the Apple iPhone and Google-ized Droid, even with the high prices and unique coding for each device. Newer software programs will operate on both mobile computers, like tablet PC rentals, as well as a range of mobile systems – netbooks, phones, PDAs and even portable media players.

Did we miss any technologies that should be watched? We’d love to hear from you.

For over 60 years, Audio Engineering Society (AES), founded in 1948 by a group of forward-looking audio engineers, has been the major force promoting the discovery, analysis and distribution of technical information for the recording industry. This year’s conference—AES New York 2009, to be held Oct. 9-12 at NY’s Javits Center—is the 127th AES convention and, as always, is the most important annual gathering of audio professionals in the world.

The landmark event is expected to bring attendees and presenters from more that 100 countries together for a full schedule of seminars, workshops and exhibitions. Many exhibitors of hardware, software, instruments and equipment will demo their products on the Apple Mac Pro computers that CRE rents. They can also display their wares on AES plasma rentals or  bright, clear LCD monitors, while others will opt for standalone kiosks to capture attendee information and present their product lines. You can do one or all of these things with CRE’s help.

The show offers participants a unique opportunity for forming new, innovative business partnerships. Journalists as well as corporate sales and marketing personnel can use wireless tablet PC rentals to stay in touch, take important notes and get up-to-the-minute information over WiFi. In a departure from previous years, top recording artists will broaden the view from engineering to a musical-and-technical take on such recording processes as choosing studios and producers, nurturing creative relationships, and using Macinstosh and PC computer rentals for audio recording.

The Platinum Mastering panel will focus entirely on the cataloging, repair and preservation of landmark recordings. Other Platinum Panels will share new insights, behind-the-scenes stories and audio clips from classic sessions on such historic albums as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” Paul Simon’s “Graceland,” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” A MicroTrack Digital Recorder from CRE could come in very hand to capture all of the information being dispensed at this amazing conference. Of course, all the things you need to make a good impression as a presenter or exhibitor—projector rentals, displays, PCs—are available from CRE.

Oracle OpenWorld 2009

From October 11th to the 15th, Oracle OpenWorld 2009 will feature over 1800 sessions, 400+ partner exhibits and keynote addresses from global technology leaders at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Hands-on labs, special networking events and other interactive opportunities give the many OpenWorld attendees and exhibitors a chance to meet new people and old friends, field questions and hear comments.

If you are making a presentation at this important event, you can survey your audience responses and get crucial data with an audience response system rental. Well-prepared exhibitors and presenters will gain tremendous advantages by considering the entire event an “adjunct marketing opportunity,” and the information you can collect from the top global professionals in networking will prove extremely valuable in all facets of your business.

Although Oracle will not hold onsite testing or the popular “exam cram” this time around, the OCP lounge will fill in some of those gaps. With a MacBook or MacBook Pro rental from CRE, recording these sessions will be a snap with the built-in microphone and iSight camera. Oracle will also put on two certification-related Power Sessions for all those interested in pursuing Oracle certificates, at any level.

Members of the Oracle Certification team will attend OpenWorld this year. Their stated intent, per Oracle’s PR materials, is to mingle in the OCP Lounge with the people that they “communicate with throughout the year” by phone, fax and e-mail. This presents smart exhibitors the opportunity to do some effective, one-on-one interaction. Whatever you need for OpenWorld, from laptops to plasma displays, CRE will help you make just the right impression.

Get the right help with ComputerRentals.com

CRE’s own professionals, the well-trained Customer Service Representatives and Account Executives alike, can help you get whatever you need to outfit your booth(s) at one or both of these events. Fill out a Quick Rental Quote and get an even quicker answer, right now!

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a big, big deal, each and every year, for all kinds of individuals and companies. Many firms, of course, debut their latest and greatest products at CES, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For many high-tech types, including quite a few of CRE’s great customers and colleagues, the build up to the event is just as important.

Artists, animators, marketing managers, filmmakers, videographers, printers, banner makers and webmasters are hard at work for almost the entire year that passes between the end of one CES and the official beginning of the next. Some of our customers rent the AJA Io HD systems to make trailers, commercials and looping booth-display reels. A lot of cutting-edge art gets produced on CRE rental systems, in case you didn’t know.

Other customers will rent a HD plasma or a full projection system, screens and other technology for their premier display space. Still others make sure their representatives have WiFi-capable tablet PCs to take notes, check schedules and capture names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of new prospects.

The build-up begins for CES

Before and during every CES, a variety of events are held that are ostensibly for members of the press alone. The fact is, with the evolving definition of “media” and “publication,” representatives of Macintosh User Groups have talked their way into these events. You can, too, if you work at it a bit. With just a little amateur detective work, you can get information that can save (or make) you money. Here’s how…

Building up toward the 2010 International CES, to be held January 7-10, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) will hold three important events. There are enough clues in the press releases about these “media meetings” to get any tech-lover excited about the “hot” areas of interest, and the build-up starts off with a bang.

From kick-off to game time

At “CES Unveiled@NY,” part of the CES New York Press Preview, media reps, bloggers and tech industry analysts will get sneak previews of products that will be grabbing headlines next January. “CES Unveiled@NY” takes place Tuesday, November 10 at New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion. This event signals the official start of the CES promotional season, and is the one that you want to hear about for any new-product clues or confirmation of the “Apple’s going to CES” rumors.

The two days before the CES officially starts, a trio of events will set the stage and prime the pump. The “State of the Consumer Tech Industry and 2010 CES Trends to Watch” will take place at The Venetian at “CES Minus Two,” meaning January 5, 2010. CEA analysts will clue in the assembled press and pundits to the mix of market signals, consumer behavior and industry trends behind the technology set to bow at the 2010 International CES. This event can also hold important “stealth” info for you if you are looking to upgrade laptops or replace an LCD monitor with a newer, better, less expensive model.

Another presentation on January 5, “State of the Global CE Industry,” is not so much about technology as it is about the countries with today’s fast-growing economies and evolving middle classes-like the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) that are poised to take the lead in the next decade’s CE revenue surge. This session is about global CE market trends, so it won’t help you much with a decision about whether to upgrade your desktop computers.

Getting close now!

Similarly, “CES Unveiled: The Official Press Event of the International CES” is held on January 5, and is where the media gets an “official” sneak peek at the actual, on-the-floor CES product debuts. This is where the press learns about the Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase honorees—both Apple iPods and H-P office equipment have been winners—all before the show officially opens. “Press Day” is on opening day, January 6, and is a must-attend event media to get the major product and news announcements. Press Day wraps up right before the pre-show CES keynote address.

Once all the rumors are sorted out into products that actually showed up and others that remained “vaporware,” you can get back to figuring out where your company may need to expand, contract, hold steady or move forward. While you’re waiting for the more problematic tech issues to shake out before committing a good chunk of change to new equipment, CRE is here to keep you busy and productive with the computing power, presentation prowess and office efficiency you need every day. Whether you need an Xserve Quad Xeon 64-bit network server to pick up the pace, or just want to check up on that Mac 10-inch MultiTouch Tablet rumor, contact our experienced Account Executives or request a rental quote online.

At the annual Display Week 2009, a significant number of exhibitors, speakers and participants discussed myriad efforts to encourage greener manufacturing of more energy-efficient display technologies. “Sustainability,” “energy-efficient” and “Earth-friendly” are not new terms, but they are getting a great deal more attention now.

As far as leading market research company DisplaySearch is concerned, this new interest is already driving the advancement of new technologies that will decrease environmental impact, increase sustainability and help firms go from “lean and mean” to “lean and green.” In 2008, some 20% of flat-panel display (FPD) units had “green” features, and this is expected to rise to as high as 70% by the end of 2012. It is also suggested that “green technology” will be standard issue for most LCD displays and monitors in 2014. CRE rents lower-power LCDs today, and when the new technologies start appearing in new models, we’ll have those available to rent, too.

From buzzwords to real specs

Among the R&D efforts currently underway are various approaches to developing new and better materials, light sources and system designs, as well as optimizing manufacturing. The broad aim is to reduce production waste, eliminate toxic processes and materials, lower energy consumption, conserve natural resources—and get the message out.

Here’s a quick wrap-up of “The Greening of LCD Displays”:

3M’s Vikuiti “reflective polarizers” have been shown to increase LCD panels’ energy efficiency an average of 30% by recycling light through the backlight.

The industry’s first glass substrates for LCD panels without added heavy metals or halides, Corning’s Eagle XG units provide additional opportunities for an LCD display to be green its entire life—before, during and after use. Removing potentially harmful heavy metals makes a device recyclable at the end of its useful life.

LG Display showcased an eco-friendly line of products designed with fewer components to consume less power, from trendsetting plasma displays (CRE has plasmas for rent, too)  to its leading line of LCD panels. The company demonstrated a 32-inch LCD TV with the world’s lowest power consumption. By adding a white pixel to the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) array, and recalibrating the Optimal Power Control (OPC) system, the model cut its power requirement by 56 percent. In addition to this “White Plus” technology in several products, the company also showed “the greenest 47-inch LCD TV” ever—no arsenic or halogen in mechanical parts, no PCBs anywhere.

Microsemi has pioneered several energy-saving technologies for its line of backlighting, color management and sensor products. The products enable all kinds of LED backlight systems to offer top performance in eco-friendly, economical ways. Applications include LCD TVs, netbook and notebook computers, vehicle dashboard instruments and many other display applications. The backlit touchscreens, such as on the Motion Computing tablet PC that CRE rents, are reckoned to be a huge emerging market for Microsemi’s cost-cutting approach.

Qualcomm MEMS Technologies’ “mirasol” display technology is a nature-inspired, eco-positive design based on its IMOD (Interferometric MODulation) technology. It consumes dramatically less power than competing technologies, meaning devices will run longer on fewer, smaller, lighter, cheaper batteries—just as the laptop rentals from CRE run two to three times longer between charges than the average laptop of 2004. The energy-efficiency of the mirasol display derives from its use of reflective light, rather than backlighting, mimicking the way the human eye actually prefers to see. In a classic, well, display of “tech evangelism” numerous pundits are predicting that very soon, mobile devices will

• have clearer displays,
• last longer between charges,
• double their batteries’ lifespans,
• require fewer replacements,
• not contribute toxic Li-ion batteries to landfills and, overall,
• save a boatload of money and energy for everybody.

There’s no question about it. We’re going to need some new product names or acronyms, and soon. Taiwanese computer maker Asus is set to debut its Eee PC T91 touch-screen convertible-tablet netbook laptop computer, and it’s unlikely tech scribes will want to write that verbose description for very long. Although the components are made of plastic, metal and silicon instead of potatoes, perhaps we can dub it the EBOC (“Everything and a Bag Of Chips”).

Tablet PCs have been around as long as laptops, although they have never quite caught on the way that a few score marketing departments thought they would. Computer makers are beginning to get interested in the form factor again—the market is presently dominated by Motion Computing, Lenovo, Fujitsu, HP-Compaq, Toshiba and just a few others—following the raging success of light, web-centric netbooks. The entry point remains very accommodating, too, with HP-Compaq’s TC1100 at a street price under $600. Top-of-the-line tablets can cost up to five times as much, depending on how much internal zing and external bling is required.

Seems a solid niche

It would seem that the tablet PC should have a very solid niche for certain functions and activities. It’s a no-brainer, or should be, for purchasing and stores clerks, various mobile workers and medical professionals. For all of these people—and anyone else that will attend one, two or 20 conferences, conventions, seminars or training sessions every year—the combination of portability, first-rate handwriting recognition and WiFi is right on target. In fact, the handwriting recognition in Windows XP is downright crude compared to the “ink handling system” of the Windows Tablet OS.

For its promoters, it’s always the “next year” or the “next great product intro” that is finally going to lift the tablet PC off the launching pad that it’s been sitting on since its debut. For some of its intended demographic, it may have waited too long, as low-end, no-wireless-needed note-takers can now get into “digital ink” for just about $100. With such products as the Adesso CyberPad, one can transfer handwritten notes and graphics to the PC, converting the handwriting to text and the doodles into vector or bitmap graphics. A number of different digital ink solutions are just now percolating up into the market.

A “green convention” winner

The tablet PC today is, despite its slow acceptance in some circles, an important ingredient in the formula for “green conventions.” An astonishing amount of paper, ink, time, energy and money goes into printing and disseminating millions of convention brochures, programs, maps, registration forms and (of course) dinner menus, year after year. There is a better way.

A convention strategized around wireless PCs—from basic netbooks at a minimum, to tablet PCs with their note-taking abilities as the preferred unit—can save trees, reduce pollution and minimize waste. Perhaps this really is “the year” that the tablet PC breaks through a low-price barrier and catches on with consumers. Perhaps these new tablet-slash-netbook products like the Eee PC T91 really are the ones that will do that. As for what to call them—TabBooks, NetTabs, Booklets, whatever—we’ll leave that to the marketing departments, but if you have a good idea, drop us a line!