• PC World
• »Software
• »Operating Systems

Having supplanted the typewriter, can the PC now replace pen and paper as well? Microsoft tests those waters with its Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. But after trying out a beta version, we would recommend that you not toss out your notepad just yet.

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is essentially Windows XP Professional with extensions for PCs that include a touch screen and a stylus. When it ships this fall, the operating system will appear only on PCs that have the necessary hardware; Microsoft won't sell it separately. So far, Acer, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Toshiba, and ViewSonic--as well as newcomers Paceblade and Motion Computing--plan to offer such tablet PCs.

You shouldn't take the term tablet too literally: Designs we saw previewed at a reviewers workshop ranged from Etch-A-Sketch look-alikes to slates that slip into a desktop-style docking station. All tablets either include a keyboard or offer one as an option.

For example, the preproduction Acer TravelMate 100 we tested is a subnotebook that can be converted into a slate by swiveling its 10.4-inch LCD touch screen 180 degrees and folding it back over the keyboard. The display operates in either landscape or portrait mode, and you can adjust it for right- or left-handed use.

Tablet PC Edition has two linchpins: the Tablet PC Input Panel, which allows text entry with a stylus via either handwriting or a touch-screen keyboard; and the Journal utility, which allows you to create and manage handwritten notes.

Scribble Or Type

The input panel is a pop-up rectangle that sits at the bottom of the screen and has tabs for selecting Keyboard mode or Writing Pad mode (which converts handwriting into editable text on the fly). You navigate through it by pointing and tapping the stylus, much as you would on a Palm or a Pocket PC. When you need to input text--say, a URL in Internet Explorer or a memo in Word (using a free Office XP Pack for Tablet PC download)--you work with the Input Panel. If its rectangle feels a bit cramped, you can use the Write Anywhere option, which lets you write within a rectangle that covers most of the screen. Unfortunately, we found the handwriting recognition accuracy to be spotty, but Alexandra Loeb, Microsoft's vice president for Tablet PC, says that good handwriting recognition is only the "icing on the cake" of an OS primarily designed for handwritten note-taking.

That's the function of the Journal. When you launch the application, you see what looks like a blank sheet of lined notepaper. You can start writing on the touch screen with the default black ink pen, change pens or ink colors, or even switch to a highlighter. The Journal's selection tool lets you cut and paste your writing, change its appearance, or even convert it to text (though no better than the Input Panel does). But unlike the Input Panel, the Journal won't convert handwriting to text on the fly.

The Journal's digital ink impressively mimicked the look and feel of handwriting. The app could attract people who take notes, and then can't find them weeks later, or anybody who wants to mix drawings with their handwriting.

The technologies in this new Windows hybrid hold promise. But we won't be able to truly gauge their usefulness until we spend some time with a tablet PC. Price will matter, too: If the extra cost for a convertible subnotebook such as Acer's isn't high, the tablet features might be worthwhile--if only for organizing your valuable meeting notes.