Credit: Lenovo                               

(Review) - The tablet PC is yet to take off despite Microsoft’s best efforts. Microsoft has tried everything in its power to promote the usage of table PC, but it all seemed to fail until someone came out with the convertible concept. The devices look like notebooks, except that they have swivel screens that are useful and downright sleek. Not to mention you can write and send handwritten notes to anyone, anytime.

IBM has bitten the convertible bullet with its X41 tablet PC and now that we’ve been testing one for a while, here are our thoughts on the unit.

Appearance: The first thing you’ll notice about the X41 is its weight; it really weighs the same as your college practical journal and feels sturdy enough to be treated like one. Throw it around, hold it with one hand, and pretty much show off all the durability that IBM is known for, and the X41 would continue to work.

Just when you are reveling in the weight (or the lack of it) of this tablet, you realize that there’s an accessory inserted right beside the tablet in the packaging – the battery. The external battery adds quite a bit to the size and the weight of the unit, but it doesn’t negate the excitement completely, at least not yet.

Specifications: The specifications are nothing too substantial to discuss; it’s a Centrino notebook that equips a 1.5GHz Pentium M, a 12.1" display, and a 40 GB 4200 RPM HDD that’s coupled with 512MB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM. The graphics are based on Intel’s GMA 900 that isn’t exactly designed for gaming, but for standard usage and applications, it would do well. Unfortunately, for such a hefty price tag, the X41 doesn’t offer the performance it should, and those of you thinking about purchasing a tablet PC and using it both as a tablet PC and as a standard notebook, there are few things that’ll hinder your way. One such feature is the lack of a CD-Rom drive, let alone a DVD or DVD-RW drive, so there goes your entertainment.

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