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Hewlett-Packard's Tablet PC is here

Bipin Chandran

If you are willing to stretch your budget to a little more than what a top-end notebook PC costs, to Rs 1,50,000 to be precise, for a more versatile and light-weight equipment with a greater battery life, the Hewlett-Packard Tablet PC is here. This latest gizmo is expected to make its debut in the Indian market this month.

Hewlett-Packard has taken a lead over rivals by becoming the first company to launch the device that claims to combine the simplicity of paper with the power of a high-end computer.

The tablet PC will be marketed jointly by Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. The latter has developed the technology and operating system for the product in India.

The Tablet PC was launched in the US early this month by Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates.

"The product will be targeted at the top end of corporate customers and chief executives. In the first phase, it will be positioned as a niche product. Only in the subsequent phases will it become a volume product," Ravi Swaminathan, director (personal systems group), Hewlett-Packard (India), told Business Standard on Monday.

The Tablet PC, branded as TC 1000, will be available at exclusive Hewlett-Packard mobile shops and with the company's partners in the country.

The wireless-enabled and highly portable Tablet PC allows users to write using an electric pen, just as an ordinary pen, save it and send them through e-mail.

This is being made possible by a new technology called digital ink, which recogises normal handwriting.

Apart from handwriting, the Tablet PC also has voice recognition functionality. It can also be used as a normal computer by snapping an attached and removable keyboard and converting it into a portable notebook. It even supports the use of high-end graphics and audio formats.

Weighing about 1.3 kg and being just 0.8 inch in thickness, the TC 1000 is powered by a Transmeta Crusoe TM 5800 1 Ghz processor 30 GB hard disc and 256 MB standard memory.

It also features a 10.4 inch TFT display, built in Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless technologies.

The Tablet PC can be used in three ways. Just the screen can be used as a writing pad, as a notebook PC and as a desktop computer.

Combined with docking solutions, a full-sized keyboard and monitor, the Tablet PC helps users to convert it into a desktop. The docking solutions allow the customers to use two-display monitors at once.

Swaminathan said the company did not plan to manufacture the Tablet PC in the country because the expected volumes would not justify such an investment. The company will be importing them, instead.

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