Brought back some nice old memories......

You mean like one of these: HP EliteBook 2760p Tablet PC OR ThinkPad X200t Tablet OR Dell Latitude XT3 Tablet PC ??

All of these currently available, but they sell in really low volumes. Don't know why... I have been using a tabletpc since last 5 years due to my RSI/CTS and the convenience it offers without taking away from the laptop features. But somehow these never took off though there is some demand from niche areas. Probably, there are much less content creation people and much more content consumers than we think.

I never could find any use for the Android/iOS/WebOS tablets except the occasional need to browse the net while watching TV or while waiting/commuting etc - maybe 10-20 min a day max. Even my kids ignore the ipad lying at home - But tablets selling in millions while tabletpc languish in the low '000 !

And current tabletpc models are quite light and with great battery life - so that isn't the reason. Only thing i can see is that there's no app market to waste time with newer and newer games on these.

Try the Efika Smartbook from Genesi-USA or Genesi-Europe http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/smartbook

Really good build quality with thickness rivaling the macbook air. Real life battery life is over 7 hours (though mfr rates it only at 4 hours - but i have used it extensively for over 7 hours. YMMV)

Customized ARM Ubuntu with flawless sleep & wake-up with wifi/3g reconnect within 2-3 seconds. Has inbuilt 3G sim slot also.

Its only $200 and really nice product. I place it next to the MacBook Air in usability and convenience. Off course, I am a little enamored with Arm devices these days and if you want x86 then maybe a Macbook or Samsung 9 or one of the ultrabooks (asus/lenovo) could be preferable

I had bought one a few months back and liked it so much i have ordered 2 more for my family members. FYI, i don't have any link with Genesi etc

I have worked on an embedded kiosk with NFC+3G for cash card transactions and all these Chinese tablets are an absolute NO - NO. We tried 20 models and there are too many problems making the $100 price tags totally irrelevant. We finally found a great product from Genesi (genesi-usa.com) called Efika smartbook ($200) and smart top ($100). You'll get surprisingly good quality, great engineering design and pretty good software software. It runs Ubuntu Arm customized a little but you can run Fedora Arm etc. Has inbuilt 3G,WiFi/BT but you can opt out of those for $40 cut in prices i think. Their new models have touchscreens - though i would not recommend touchscreens for anything non-consumer item as they always have issues if the usage is high or the atmosphere is industrial/outdoor etc. Better to go with external bluetooth touchpads (indl quality) or numeric keypads so that it can be replaced without opening up the machine. The form factor of smartbook is also great for doing arm development on the move or normal office/home use. FYI, I have no relation with Genesi - just a recent customer.

Strangely, my migraines go away just by puking ! I induce that by drinking loads & loads of water. Or, for temporary relief, i just keep walking very briskly inside the house.

These might look good on paper, but just wait till our bureaucracy & police start interpreting this in their usual ways and start arresting random big shot CEOs from google India, facebook India or the various ISPs due to 'hate speech' posted by users etc. and all this jacks up the 'cost of doing business' (ie greasing palms) by a huge amount. And no user will really be able to take any action against any corporate because obviously our administration sees them as having more potential of pay offs. Very soon IT as a sector will become like our Real Estate sector - unimaginably corrupt - builders pay off nearly 20% of building/land costs to various govt depts and then obviously pass on these costs, as well as inordinate time delays, to the poor home buyers.

Even I have been buying them on principle. I don't really play much games, and though i try to convince my daughter to play these, at her age she's still interested in Pokemon type of games. But the quality of the games is very good. And would really want this idea to grow.

I spent a full year trying to install redhat but never being able to see the full text menu as my monitor would only show the top left quadrant ! Finally the newer versions fixed themselves after a year and i got it to run. Next was being afraid of getting my monitors burning by editing x configuration files & setting wrong frequencies ! (at least that used to be the warning those days)

Ears or Eyes open is a sign of infringement too. All college staff to keep 'em closed from now on. Students can keep them open 'cause they're already infringing due to presence of router etc

The way things are going downhill in the US, it'll soon be time for UN to declare a No Fly zone over the US to save its citizens from the Govt. Makes me really sad sometimes. And i am not in the US.

That gives me a brilliant idea - Ad funded robots !

They'll only get you the sponsored brand whenever you ask for anything. You want pepsi ? Here's Coke. And another.

*runs off to patent office*

**first to file, first to file ! **

That's the problem right THERE.

No wonder geeks are losing the evolutionary race.

More like: Intelligent people/kids have more self control than others. and NOT: People/kids with more self control are more intelligent.

Maybe, the chinese phones with 3 SIM slots can be used to do such a thing without requiring the networks to decide. These phones have 2/3 radios & sim slots - they all work simultaneously - you can receive any call from all 2/3 nos and set a preference or select one while dialing out. People have 2 or 3 sim card phones and select which no to use to dial out depending on tariff etc. Quite common in India/China/etc Though i personally never liked having 2/3 nos or worrying so much about call charges, but yes, i would be interested in using data in such a way.

Dude, i'm getting visions of robots doing scary things.