Well built and with astonishing battery life to boot. It’s pricey but decent value.

Although the Tablet PC was launched with much hype and fanfare, many media outlets have been sceptical as to the validity of the technology. However, the experience delivered by using a Tablet PC firsthand, for any length of time cannot help but impress. I myself went from cynical observer to total convert after trialling three tablets.

The best convertible tablet we’ve seen great performance and great design at a decent price.

Acer’s tiny new Tablet PC, the TravelMate C111 marries the functionality of their previous convertible tablet with the low-power high-performance functionality of the Intel Centrino.

As far as Tablet PCs go, the only indication that the Portege 3500 is one, and not a notebook, is the solid stainless steel and magnesium hinge centered under the display. This is the single point for rotating and flipping the screen over and down, and it locks into place with a satisfying 'snick'. It's a much better work-around than the hinge and locks used by the Acer TravelMate C100.

This is Wacoms second foray into the consumer market for digitising tablets, and although I was fairly unimpressed with its first attempt at selling me a cheap tablet, I am happier with the Graphire2.

Wacom has been in the touchscreen and tablet industry for years, and is the manufacturer supplying the majority of screens for Tablet PCs. With the rise of interest in Tablet PCs, Wacom's local branch was keen to let us try out one of its newer standalone touchscreen products: the Cintiq.

Incredible levels of control and exquisitely fine pressure sensitivity make this a worthy upgrade

When we ran four tablet PCs in December 2002 (Issue 61, page 36) we got plenty of response from readers looking to find out more about them. Over a year on now and tablets have increased dramatically in spec and design although pricing hasn’t reduced as much as we’d expected - possibly since they still haven’t made mass market appeal and sales.

Easy to use and great value for digital imaging enthusiasts

A versatile and compact tablet PC with stunning battery life, but we do have a few usability complaints.

Revolutionary features and stunning power: for anyone lucky enough to have the cash, the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds is the ultimate mobile workstation

Can multi-touch make tablets hip again? The HP TouchSmart TX2 handles multiple finger gestures, but the inputs need a little work.

Taking the concept of the Tablet PC to the budget end of the market is the AceCAD DigiMemo A501. It uses an electronic pen with an ordinary nib and a magnetic backing plate to replicate notes you write on ordinary paper.It will take an A5 pad which slots inside and can be up to 120 sheets thick.

A splendid bit of design that will please the most commited enthusiast, and a godsend for artists on a budget.

At first glance, HP's latest product could be mistaken for an oversized, landscape-orientated photo frame, or even a fancy document holder. But the Scanjet 4670 is, of course, a scanner, the like of which you've probably not seen before. The 4670 defies traditional categorisation, because while it relies on familiar scanning mechanics, they're employed in an unusual fashion.

Coming from a graphics and illustration background, I have always felt much more comfortable with the tools I use in real media (ie: pens, markers, watercolours on paper, cardboard, etc) than with the hardware interfaces I was presented with when desktop publishing swept the industry.

A stylish mobile way to access the web, but it’s crying out for mobile data capability.