8. Acer Travelmate C102Ti

In addition to the Ti version tested, the Acer Convertible Tablet PC is available as a no-frills T-model for less. The device, intended for the consumer market, has a 20 GB hard drive and comes without a W-LAN module. Otherwise, they are identically equipped with the Pentium III/ 800/ ULV, 256 MB RAM and 10.4" display. The memory expansion is also at its maximum - sorely needed these days.

Both models include an external USB floppy drive and a 24x CD-ROM drive. Drives have to be bought separately with the other tablets. Caution is advised when opening the Acer drive: the user can inadvertently touch the CD while it turns at several thousand revolutions per minute, because the lid does not lock.

At 1.4 kg, the Travelmate is nice and light for a convertible device. The three-hour, ten-minute battery life contributes to its good ranking in ergonomics. Performance, on the other hand, is only satisfactory. In this respect, its rivals from Toshiba and Viewsonic, with their more powerful CPUs, offer significantly more. The 2D graphics performance, at 238 dots, is very low when used with Winmark's high-end graphics.

The mediocre performance casts a shadow on the very ergonomic Acer tablet PC. It is well suited only to the cost-conscious - it is a healthy $400 cheaper than the other convertible in the tablet market, the Toshiba Portégé 3500.

The convertible Acer Travelmate has a display that can be revolved 180 degrees.