Microsoft Tablet PC is a term coined by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

for

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...

s conforming to a set of specifications announced in 2001 by Microsoft, for a pen-enabled

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or te ...

, conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Windows XP, which is the next version of Windows NT after Windows 2000 and the successor to the consumer-oriented Windows Me, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001. Windows XP is available in many languages. In ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

or a derivative thereof. Hundreds of such tablet personal computers have come onto the market since then.

History

In 2003,

original equipment manufacturer An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

s released the first tablet PCs designed to the Microsoft Tablet PC specification. This generation of Microsoft Tablet PCs were designed to run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the Tablet PC version of

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...

. This version of

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

superseded Microsoft's earlier

pen computing Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or Stylus (computing), stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse. Pen computing is also used to refer to the usage of mobile devices such as tablet computers ...

operating environment, Windows for Pen Computing 2.0. After releasing Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Microsoft designed the successive

desktop computer A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply ...

versions of Windows,

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

and

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

, to support pen computing intrinsically. The Tablet PC with Windows XP released in 2001 had 128 megabytes of RAM and a 600 megahertz processor, with a storage capacity of 10GB. Following

Windows for Pen Computing Windows for Pen Computing is a software suite for Windows 3.1x, that Microsoft designed to incorporate pen computing capabilities into the Windows operating environment. Windows for Pen Computing was the second major pen computing platform for x86 ...

, Microsoft has been developing for tablets running Windows under the Microsoft Tablet PC name. According to a 2001

definition of the term, "Microsoft Tablet PCs" are pen-based, fully functional

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introd ...

PCs with handwriting and voice recognition functionality. Tablet PCs use the same hardware as normal laptops but add support for pen input. For specialized support for pen input, Microsoft released

. Today there is no tablet specific version of Windows but instead support is built into both Home and Business versions of

and

. Tablets running Windows get the added functionality of using the touchscreen for mouse input, hand writing recognition, and gesture support. Following Tablet PC, Microsoft announced the

UMPC An ultra-mobile PC, or ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), is a miniature version of a pen computer, a class of laptop whose specifications were launched by Microsoft and Intel in spring 2006. Sony had already made a first attempt in this ...

initiative in 2006 which brought Windows tablets to a smaller, touch-centric configuration. This was relaunched in 2010 as Slate PC, to promote tablets running

Slate PCs are expected to benefit from mobile hardware advances derived from the success of the

netbook Netbook was a commonly used term that identified a product class of small and inexpensive laptops which were sold from 2007 to around 2013. These machines were designed primarily as cost-effective tools for consumers to access the Inte ...

s. Many tablet manufacturers are moving to the

ARM architecture ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures for computer processors, configured ...

with lighter operating systems, Microsoft followed suit in 2012 with Surface and Windows RT. Though Microsoft has

Windows RT Windows RT is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. It is a version of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 built for the 32-bit ARM architecture (ARMv7). First unveiled in January 2011 at Consumer Electronics Show, the Windows RT 8 operat ...

for ARM support it has kept its target market for the smartphone industry with

Windows Phone 8 Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system from Microsoft. It was released on October 29, 2012, and, like its predecessor, it features a flat user interface based on the Metro design language. It was su ...

. Some manufacturers, however, still have shown prototypes of Windows CE-based tablets running a custom shell. Recent developments of tablet computers with Windows featured Microsoft's Surface line, which ran the

operating system, and later

Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its pre ...

and x86 and ARM versions of

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...

Configurations

Booklet

Booklet PCs are dual screen tablet computers that fold like a book. Typical booklet PCs are equipped with

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...

screens and pen writing recognition abilities. They are designed to be used as digital

day planner A personal organizer, datebook, date log, daybook, day planner, personal analog assistant, book planner, year planner, or agenda (from Latin ''agenda'' – things to do), is a small book or binder that is designed to be portable. It usually con ...

s, internet surfing devices, project planners, music players, and displays for video, live TV, and e-reading.

Slate

Slate computers, which resemble writing slates, are

tablet computers A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

without a dedicated keyboard. For text input, users rely on

handwriting recognition Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other dev ...

via an active digitizer, touching an on-screen keyboard using fingertips or a

stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...

, or using an external keyboard that can usually be attached via a

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

connection. Tablet PCs typically incorporate small () LCD screens and have been popular in

vertical market A vertical market is a market in which vendors offer goods and services ''specific'' to an industry, trade, profession, or other group of customers with specialized needs. A horizontal market is a market in which a product or service meets a nee ...

s such as health care, education, hospitality and field work. Applications for field work often need a tablet PC that has rugged specifications that ensure long life by resisting heat, humidity, and drop/vibration damage. This added focus on mobility and/or ruggedness often leads to eliminating moving parts that could raise vulnerability.

Convertible

Also known as Netvertible; Convertible notebooks have a base body with an attached keyboard. They more closely resemble modern laptops, and are usually heavier and larger than slates. Typically, the base of a convertible attaches to the display at one joint called a swivel hinge or rotating hinge. The joint allows the screen to rotate through 180° and fold down on top of the keyboard to provide a flat writing surface. This design, although the most common, creates a physical point of weakness on the notebook. Some manufacturers have attempted to overcome these weak points. The

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

Toughbook Toughbook is a line of rugged computers produced and marketed by Panasonic Corporation. The Toughbook, introduced in 1996 with the CF-25, is designed to withstand outside forces which would damage or destroy normal laptops. Toughbook mobile com ...

CF-19, for example, is advertised as a more durable convertible notebook. One model by Acer (the TravelMate C210) has a sliding design in which the screen slides up from the slate-like position and locks into place to provide the laptop mode. Convertibles are by far the most popular configuration of tablet PCs, because they still offer the keyboard and pointing device (usually a touchpad) of older notebooks, for users who do not use the touchscreen display as the primary input method.

Hybrid

Hybrids, coined by users of the HP/Compaq TC1000 and TC1100 series, share the features of the slate and convertible by using a detachable keyboard that operates similarly to a convertible when attached. Hybrids are not the same as slate models with detachable keyboards. Detachable keyboards for pure slate models do not rotate to allow the tablet to rest on it like a convertible. An examples of hybrids are

Microsoft Surface Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen-based personal computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft, running the Microsoft Windows operating system, apart from the Surface Duo, which runs on Android ...

(10.6 or 12) or

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

Stylistic (11.6 with an Intel-i5-vPro processor).

System software

touch capability is similar to

Microsoft PixelSense Microsoft PixelSense (formerly called Microsoft Surface) was an interactive surface computing platform that allowed one or more people to use and touch real-world objects, and share digital content at the same time. The PixelSense platform consist ...

technologies (formerly known as Microsoft Surface). This is a gesture and touch-centric UI enhancement that works with most current touch computers. Windows has a history of tablet technology including

. Tablet PC Edition is a superset of Windows XP Professional, the difference being tablet functionality, including alternate text input (Tablet PC Input Panel) and basic drivers for support of tablet PC specific hardware. Requirements to install Tablet PC Edition include a tablet digitizer or touchscreen device, and hardware control buttons including a

Ctrl-Alt-Delete Control-Alt-Delete (often abbreviated to Ctrl+Alt+Del, also known as the "three-finger salute" or "Security Keys") is a computer keyboard command on IBM PC compatible computers, invoked by pressing the Delete key while holding the Control and ...

shortcut button, scrolling buttons, and at least one user-configurable application button. Service Pack 2 for Windows XP includes Tablet PC Edition 2005 and is a free upgrade. This version brought improved handwriting recognition and improved the Input Panel, allowing it to be used in almost every application. The Input Panel was also revised to extend speech recognition services (input and correction) to other applications. With the succession of Windows Vista, the Tablet PC functionality no longer needed a separate edition. Tablet PC support is built into all editions of Windows Vista with the exception of Home Basic and Starter editions. This extends the handwriting recognition, ink collection, and additional input methods to any computer running Vista even if the input device is an external digitizer, a touch screen, or even a regular mouse. Vista also supports multi-touch functions and gestures (originally developed for the Microsoft PixelSense version of Vista) and is now usable by the public with the release of multi-touch tablets. Windows Vista also significantly improved handwriting recognition functionality with the introduction of a handwriting recognition personalization tool as well as an automatic handwriting learning tool. Tablet functionality is available in all editions of Windows 7 except the Starter edition. It introduces a new Math Input Panel that recognizes handwritten math expressions and formulas, and integrates with other programs. Windows 7 also significantly improved pen input and handwriting recognition by becoming faster, more accurate, and supportive of more languages, including East Asian writing systems. Personalized custom dictionaries help with the recognition of specialized vocabulary (like medical and technical terms), and text prediction speeds up the input process to make note-taking faster. Multi-touch technology is also available on some Tablet PCs, enabling more advanced interaction using touch gestures with your fingers the same way a mouse is used. Despite such advances, problems may arise with tablet functions of the OS, when, for instance, touch screen drivers are recognized as PS/2 mouse input rather than a touch input device. In such instances tablet functions may be unavailable or severely restricted in functionality.

Windows applications

Applications developed for the tablet PC cater to the configuration and functionality available on the platform. Many forms of applications incorporate a pen-friendly user interface and/or the ability to hand write directly in the document or interface. A brief description of the applications included follows: ;Experience Pack * Ink Desktop: an Active Desktop control designed to run in the background and allow the user to write directly on the desktop. * Snipping Tool: a screen capture application which allows the tablet pen to be used to select a portion of the screen and then annotate it and save as a file or send in an email. * Ink Art: a painting application developed by Ambient Design originally as ArtRage, licensed to Microsoft for release to Tablet PC users. * Ink Crossword: a crossword application developed to mirror the experience of a paper crossword puzzle on a tablet PC. * Media Transfer: a synchronization utility designed to download music, pictures, and videos from computers in the same network. ;Education Pack
Ink Flash Cards
an application designed to assist memorization by using a

flashcard A flashcard or flash card (also known as an index card) is a card bearing information on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aid in memorization. Each flashcard bears a question on one side and an answer on the other. Flashcards are ...

approach, enabling the user to hand write their own flash cards and display them back in a slide show.
Equation Writer
a recognition tool specializing in converting handwritten mathematical equations to a computer-generated image for pasting into other documents.
GoBinder Lite
an organization and note-taking application developed by Agilix Labs.
Hexic Deluxe
a game with a tablet PC specific gesture enabled for easier use with the tablet. ;Touch Pack Th
Touch Pack
for Windows 7 is a free package of games and programs optimized for multitouch input.
Microsoft Blackboard

Microsoft Garden Pond

Microsoft Rebound

Microsoft Surface Globe

Microsoft Surface Collage

Microsoft Surface Lagoon
;Application software * Microsoft Windows Journal * Microsoft Office OneNote * Einstein Technologies Tablet Enhancements for Outlook * FutureWave Smartsketch drawing program published by

FutureWave Software FutureWave Software, Inc was a software development company based in San Diego, California. The company was co-founded by Charlie Jackson and Jonathan Gay on January 22, 1993. VP of Marketing was Michelle Welsh who also came from Silicon Beach Sof ...

GO Corporation GO Corporation was founded in 1987 to create portable computers, an operating system, and software with a pen-based user interface. It was famous not only for its pioneering work in Pen-based computing but as well as being one of the most well ...

* Agilix GoBinder * Mobilis – Protectis Range *

EverNote Evernote is a note-taking and task management application. It is developed by the Evernote Corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California. It is intended for archiving and creating notes in which photos, audio and saved web content can ...

InkSeine
Prototype Tablet GUI/Interface - Microsoft Research * Xournal - a Linux notetaking application * OnSite Companion Construction Software for Tablet PC * Stardraw Control -

room automation Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, ligh ...

home cinema Home cinema, also called home theaters or theater rooms, are home entertainment audio-visual systems that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment that is set up in a room ...

control system

Microsoft Tablet PCs vs. traditional notebooks

The advantages and disadvantages of tablet PCs are highly subjective measures. What appeals to one user may be exactly what disappoints another. The following are commonly cited opinions of the tablet PC platform:

Advantages

* Use in environments not conducive to a

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

such as lying in

bed A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

, standing, or handling with one

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...

. * Lighter weight, lower power models can function similarly to dedicated reading devices like the

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store. ...

. * Touch environment makes navigation easier than conventional use of

and

touchpad A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchp ...

in certain contexts such as image manipulation, or

oriented

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

. * Digital

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and

image editing Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional photo-chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such a ...

is enhanced and more realistic than

or sketching with a

. * The ability for easier or faster entering of diagrams, mathematical notations, and symbols. * Allows, with the proper software, universal input, independent from different keyboard localizations. * Some users find it more natural and fun to use a

to click on objects rather than a

finger A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers ( Pentadactyly). Chambers ...

, which are not directly connected to the pointer on screen. * Use in

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

for all media.

Disadvantages

* Higher cost — convertible tablet PCs can cost significantly more than their non-tablet counterparts (

laptops A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

) although this premium has been predicted to fall. * Input speed —

handwriting Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface A typeface (or font family) is ...

can be significantly slower than

typing Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting and speech recognition. Text can b ...

speeds, the latter of which can be as high as 50-150 words per minute; however, Slideit,

Swype Swype was a virtual keyboard for touchscreen smartphones and tablets originally developed by Swype Inc., founded in 2002, where the user enters words by sliding a finger or stylus from the first letter of a word to its last letter, lifting only be ...

and other technologies are able to provide alternate, speedier methods of input. * Screen and hinge damage risk - Tablet PCs are handled more than conventional

, yet are built on similar frames; in addition, since their screens also serve as input devices, they run a higher risk of screen damage via impacts and misuse. A convertible tablet PC's screen hinge often must rotate around two axes, unlike a normal laptop screen, subsequently increasing the number of possible mechanical and electrical (digitizer and video cables, embedded Wi-Fi antennas, etc.) failure points. * Ergonomics - a tablet PC does not provide room for a wrist rest while the screen is folded into slate mode. In addition, the user will need to move their arm constantly while writing. * Weaker video abilities - Most tablet PCs are equipped with embedded graphics processors instead of discrete graphics cards. In July 2010, the only tablet PC's with discrete graphics cards were the

HP TouchSmart HP TouchSmart is a series of tablet PC laptops and touchscreen all-in-one desktop computers designed by HP. It features various Intel or AMD processors and runs Windows Vista or Windows 7 as standard. HP TouchSmart All-in-One Consumer version ...

tm2t, and the Gateway M285-E which has the ATI

Mobility Radeon Radeon () is a brand of computer products, including graphics processing units, random-access memory, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives, produced by Radeon Technologies Group, a division of AMD. The brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Tech ...

HD5450 and X1400 series

Features

In addition to the host of features found on regular laptops, tablet PCs may also possess: *Capacitive contact technology, which can sense fingers on the screen without needing significant pressure for system to recognize an input.Tablet PC offers capacitive touch sensing capability., Dell, Inc
/ref> *Palm recognition, which prevent inadvertent palms or other contacts from disrupting the pen's input. *

Multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...

abilities, which can recognize multiple simultaneous finger touches, allowing for enhanced manipulation of on-screen objects.jkOnTheRun:So what is multi-touch?
/ref>

References

External links

* *
Comparison table of convertible tabletsMicrosoft Center for Research on Pen-Centric Computing

Notes on the History of Pen-based Computing (YouTube)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Microsoft Tablet Pc Personal computers Tablet computers