Where tablets and laptops don't meet...

Craig recently lamented that when he was at Tech Ed in Orlando he saw lots of people with Tablets typing their notes rather than writing them on the tablet.

I thought I might add my explanation for why I personally find it tricky at times to take notes on a tablet.

Don't get me wrong, I love tablets, I own a UMPC (and recently ordered a new Q1 Ultra) and absolutely love it, but when it comes to data entry, you just can't beat a keyboard.

Now - if you are a slow typist you'll have variable mileage, but for me, its much faster to type than it is to write - much faster.  Like - three times faster typing than writing.  Now the trade off is that I have to open up my laptop and use it in a whole different way, but in a situation where I can I'm more likely to do that to get the speed than I am to use it as a slate and slow down for the sake of it.

Where would I use a tablet as a tablet?  Where using a keyboard is simply not practical.  Such circumstances might include coffee - where having a laptop open on a table could be a real invasion of space (particularly where more than one person is trying to use their laptop on the same table - remember those Craig?).  Other times may include jotting notes while standing up, or my personal favorite - in an economy class airline seat - particularly those teeny tiny puddle jumpers...

Anyway, there is a time to use a keyboard and there is a time to use ink - the thing about a convertible tablet is that it gives you both options (depending on the size - Tosh M4 - I'm looking at you)