One of the great things about my job is that I get to play with a lot of new, cool technology. A few months ago Brad wanted to try out the new generation of Tablet PC’s so we got the Compaq TC4200 which I didn’t like at all and predicted that Brad would hate. Well he didn’t, but he didn’t really love it either. But once IBM announced the X41 Tablet he wanted one as quickly as possible.

If you don’t know I’m a HUGE fan of IBM laptops. I have a IBM T40 that I’ve had for a while and I love it. It is by far the best laptop I have ever used in my 10 year career. So when IBM announced the X41 Tablet (and Brad said he wanted one) I was looking forward to playing with it. It did not disappoint.

So rather than do a big long review (there are plenty out there) I’ll just give you a quick good and bad on it.

Good

• Super bright screen
• That great IBM keyboard
• Very thin/light
• Excellent tracking of the pen
• Powerful: 1.5 GHz, 1 GB Ram, 60 GB HD, a/b/g wireless, bluetooth
• Strong screen pivot hinge

Bad

• No ctrl-alt-del button in tablet mode (not that I can find)
• Small keyboard (I’m NOT a fan of ultra-portables but this is a good one as far as they go)
• No Volume keys in tablet mode (they are hidden)
• A bit heavy in tablet mode

Again this is just a quick and dirty review. If you’re new to Tablet PC’s do some research before taking the plunge. Personally I would never go for one, mainly due to the screen resolution (my T40 is 1400×1050 – as low as I’m willing to go on a laptop – the X41 is only 1024×768). If you need a ultra-portable laptop that could double as a tablet then this is probably the one for you. It blows the Compaq 4200 away and if you listen to the reviews blows ALL Tablet PC’s away (at least the laptop convertables). While I still think that Tablet PC’s fill a very specific niche and aren’t really useful for everyone this one is a great cross-over product.