This is the first part of a series about Tablet PC's.

"OK",  I hear you say, "I thought this site was about helping believers with technology?".  Indeed it is.  This is a means to an end.  Tablet PC's are a reasonably new thing, but going forward will become more and more useful.  In fact over time, some have predicted that most laptops sold will be Tablet PC's.  Maybe...

Anyway, for believers these devices offer opportunities to use technology in a new way.

Before I go on, I should pause and explain what the difference is between a laptop and a tablet.  Simply put a tablet PC has a screen that is sensitive either to a special pen (that comes with the device) or to touch.  This means that you can write on the screen of the computer and have it recognize the pen stroke as ink.  Yes, you can now draw pictures on your computer with a pen just like you would on paper. 

If this all sounds new and odd to you, you are probably wondering how drawing on a vertical screen is a good thing.  Well, Tablets are designed in two formats - slates and convertible laptops.

A slate is the digital equivalent of small tablets of stone.  It doesn't have a keyboard (although you can attach one should you desire to), instead the machine is the size and shape of a screen that happens to have all the computer components integrated into it.  These are the most portable, but not always the most versatile.

The second form factor - the convertible laptop - is a laptop with a special hinge for the screen that allows the screen to rotate 180 degrees and then fold down over the keyboard - that is it converts to a slate.

To further confuse matters there are now two types of tablets available on the market.  The first is the traditional A4 or larger sized tablet.  These come in both convertible and slate form factors.  The second (at the moment) only comes in slates. 

These two classes of tablets are known as "Tablet PC's" and UMPC's - short for Ultra Mobile PC's  Tablet PC's have been around since 2001, however UMPC's hit the market in April 2006, so they are very new - and IMHO the more interesting of the two types of devices.

Why do I feel the UMPC is more interesting?  Two reasons - size/weight and price.  More on this in the next in this series.

Here I just want to point out that there are a few key advantages to a Tablet.  Firstly obviously - the natural interaction between pen and paper is transposed into the digital age.  Secondly if you are not a good typist, writing on the device is now a viable option - which for many people is easier than figuring out all those keys.  Thirdly it opens up efficiencies that simply dont exist on paper. 

I'll do some more explaining in the next post in this series.  Stay tuned.