Usually comparable in size and weight to ultraportable or thin-and-light laptops, tablet PCs let you take handwritten notes and navigate menus, documents, and Web pages using a stylus directly on the screen. The most common type is the convertible tablet, which looks much like traditional a laptop but has a display that swivels 180 degrees and folds flat over the keyboard. (Some manufacturers are incorporating this type of tablet functionality into larger midsize and thin-and-light laptops.) Slate tablets, on the other hand, lack keyboards--they're all screen. The smallest tablets, ultramobile PCs, bridge the gap between PDA and ultraportable, with 7-inch touch-screen displays and enhanced media player features. Once only the tool of specialized industries, tablets are gaining a wider audience, thanks to their portability, flexibility, and wow factor.
Read more in the Laptop Buying Guide