ViewSonic ViewPad 1000

If we believed everything Microsoft had to say, we'd be looking forward to a Utopian future of every family member cheerfully using their tablet PCs everywhere they went. In the kitchen, for example, they might want to browse the Web while cooking a meal, and then go to work and use their tablet PCs while standing by the water cooler.

And who could blame us? Microsoft has usually been pretty much on the ball when it comes to new technology. But we're struggling to see who the tablet PC's actually for - has Microsoft lost the plot? Possibly not. With the Mira platform in the not too distant future, and the ViewPad 1000 and PaceBook already boasting full versions of Windows, it's a concept that's being taken very seriously.

When you've got a full version of Windows on your tablet PC, your first reaction is that this must be it - the future is here. But, alas no. Neither Windows XP or 2000 were designed with tablet PCs in mind, and there are several drawbacks when compared to Pocket PC or Windows CE.

The first thing you lose is the instant-on feature of the Elsa LogBoard and Siemens SIMpad SL4 (see Reviews, issue 86, p179 and issue 90, p136 respectively). The second is right-clicking, which the PaceBook gets round via the scroll wheel on the top. The ViewPad, however, relies on a Taskbar icon that you have to press to switch between left-click and right-click, which is both annoying and long winded.

The biggest hurdle, however, is the lack of a keyboard - a fundamental part of any desktop or notebook. While Palm has a simple Graffiti pad and the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (see p124) has an integrated keyboard, the nearest you'll get on these is a virtual pen-pushing keyboard or handwriting recognition.

Fine, you might think, until you switch on the ViewPad and need to log on to Windows 2000 - you can't just write your password in, you have to go and get the keyboard and point it at the infrared port, and then you have to do the same for typing in Web addresses. Let's face it, who wants to type up their novel, or even a three-paragraph email, on a virtual keyboard? The advantage of PDAs is that you can write on the PC, synchronise it with your PDA and then you have everything there with minimal input - the same can't be said with what should be a PC replacement.

And it's PC or notebook replacement that's the order of the day with both the ViewPad and the PaceBook, but in different ways. The PaceBook promises a three-in-one solution of LCD PC, tablet PC or notebook.

The latter is achieved with the supplied bag. You fit the tablet in the top, the infrared keyboard in the bottom, then pull out a flap at the back to hold it up. This has one major flaw, though - while the PaceBook provides a variation on a notebook, it couldn't be described as a laptop. Unless you have an enormous lap, that is. You simply can't fit the PaceBook and its support on your lap, making it impractical for use on the move.

That said, it does have its advantages over the average notebook; namely, a separate keyboard and the ability to operate in portrait mode. This means you can replace the keyboard for relatively little money if you spill coffee on it, and can also position it where you want on a desk, so you don't have to cramp yourself next to the screen and end up with RSI.

With this in mind, the PaceBook is also marketed as a desktop PC, but this is where it needs to be put in its place. It's just too slow, especially for Windows XP. You don't need benchmarks to notice this - you can see it visibly struggling to keep up and refresh the screen by just working as normal. But the proof of the pudding is in its overall benchmark score of 0.24, and that's with 384Mb of RAM.