No longer is a tablet just a tablet. Now, it transforms into a full fledged notebook. The hybrid tablet PC t1100 from HP was the first of this type, but was discontinued in 2005. The idea is now back in the marketplace, and several companies are introducing transformable hybrid tablet PCs.
Both Acer and ASUS are releasing transformable tablets. The Acer Iconia W500 was released today. The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is set to be released on April 26th.
The Acer Iconia W500 runs Windows 7 in either the home edition or the professional edition. It is the first tablet to make an attempt at combining the features of a tablet with the familiarity of Windows built on an AMD C-50 fusion processor. Aside from its use of the Windows platform, the Iconia W500 features a detachable keyboard dock, which is included with the price. The Iconia W500 with the home edition of Windows 7 retails at $549.99, while the professional edition sells for $619.00.
ASUS has also designed a hybrid tablet PC. The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer works on a Tegra 2 processor and uses the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system. The detachable keyboard dock is a full QUERTY keyboard. The Eee Pad Transformer carries an MSRP of $399.99 for 16GB and $499.99 for 32 GB. The keyboard dock is not included with the tablet but sells separately for $150.00.
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