Well, this is no surprise, but I just noticed how one of the two the smartbuy TC1100 models (PR092UA#ABA - English / PR092UA#ABC - French) on the HP Canada website is not available any longer.
The second smartbuy product is still available (PZ096UA#ABA - English / PZ096UA#ABC - French) and so is the standard model (PX284AA#ABA - English /PX284AA#ABC - French).
Hello Flybook! All 2.7 pounds of you (Listen up HP, that is what reasonable people call ultra-portable – not the TC4200 which weighs 4.5 lbs). Flybook is a Tablet PC kind a creature without Windows XP Tablet Edition. It features an 8.9 inch display and, oddly, a Transmeta Crusoe (1 GHz). US$2,490.
Flybook comes with 512 MB or RAM and a 40GB hard drive (upgradeable). And lots of pretty colours to choose from.
"The use of Microsoft tablet PC is not needed as Flybook has already preinstalled the parascript rite-pen software, which is able to recognize one’s writing and automatically convert it into text or with a command of the stylus you can send e-mails with the notes that you wrote on the screen."
Parascript spun off its pen and internet subsidiary and merged with EverNote. I know EverNote has Tablet PC related software but I have not tried any of them (go to Evernote’s website to download a freeware version of EverNote 1.1, a note taking application for both Tablet and non-Tablet PCs). I am curious to find out whether and how this particular no-windows-Tablet-PC-parascript-EverNote setup limits or expands Tablet PC features.
Would you consider this to be a Tablet PC?
Check out the Flybook website, Evernote ritePen and an extensive review of Flybook in the NYT.
HP has come out with an outdoor viewable display for the TC4200. That’s great for people considering a new TC4200.
BUT…
Don’t think that the TC1100 fans can be won over with this measely bone. Of course, Lyn and I have a somewhat jaundiced view these days on HP with the discontinuation of the TC1100. Hey HP, how about a new hybrid, TC1200, with an outdoor viewable display? I know many would love that!
The TC4200 outdoor viewable display only comes when you opt for the Intel Pentium M 750 Processor (1.86 GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB). This will get your price to just above US$2,000.
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/tabletpc/tc4200/index.html
By the way, many would not consider 4.5 lbs of TC4200 as "ultraportable" as the ad below claims. Portable maybe.
Yes, the TC1100 is still for sale in Canada. Here is the link.
Yup, so this morning I am looking for my TC1100 keyboard. There are two in the household so it shouldn’t be too hard to find just one of them. Can’t find it, can’t find it until I decide to make another latte and voila! This is exactly how I found the scene of the crime. 
Last night I was showing Tim something on the internet while cooking and I must have separated the keyboard from the slate at some point. And no, HP, we did not use the keyboard as a cutting board (note the yellow cuttingboard beneath the bread basket). It does show how our Tablet PC’s have morphed into our domestic lives.
