2. The Specs Make The Tablet PC

As previously mentioned, the hardware has to meet a number of requirements in order to make using Windows XP Tablet PCs beneficial. These requirements include:

The display is equipped with a digitizer and a special pen with which users can enter handwriting and operate the device. The digitizer harnesses electromagnetic properties, which offers an advantage over conventional touchscreens in that only the movements of the pen are interpreted as entries. In other words, resting your hand on the tablet while writing won't create `false positives.' This gives users that pen-and-paper feeling to which they are accustomed from writing on normal pieces of paper. What's more, the electromagnetic digitizer offers a significantly higher resolution and degree of accuracy than a touchscreen. Wacom and Finepoint Innovations developed the digitizer systems. The sensor on the Wacom digitizer has a resolution of 2540 lpi, twice as high as the Finepoint Innovations product. You need only look at the pen to see which of these two competing systems is installed in your Tablet PC. Wacom pens do not need a battery, which makes them thinner and lighter. So, if your pen has a battery, you know that your digitizer is from Finepoint Innovations. No matter which system your Tablet PC has, though, if you lose your pen you can forget about operating the device: no pen, no magnetic field, and no magnetic field, no entry.

You have to be able to grab your Tablet PC from the docking station and go, without jeopardizing data integrity.

A Tablet PC has to resume from standby mode and be ready for the user to enter data within five seconds.

The graphic card driver on a Tablet PC supports rotating screen content without needing to reboot. The screen can be used in portrait and landscape modes.

Farewell to serial and parallel ports, which are not standard features. Peripherals are connected to the Tablet PC via USB or FireWire.

Because Tablet PCs don't require a keyboard, they need a button to replace the 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' combination. This security feature ensures that users can quickly log on and off at the click of a button.