Acer TravelMate C300 Convertible Tablet PC

A solid second-generation Tablet PC, the Acer TravelMate C300 is aconvertible laptop design with a 14-inch XGA screen. Unlikefirst-generation tablets, this device could be your only PC, and as atraditional laptop, it offers all the amenities you'd expect--apowerful 1.5GHz Pentium M processor; integrated wireless, USB 2.0, andFireWire ports; and an integrated DVD/CD-RW drive (still a rarity withTablet PCs) as well as the unique features you can get only from afull-featured Tablet PC, including a pressure-sensitive pen-enabledscreen.

I've been using the C300 as a standard laptop for the most part,but I swivel the screen around when needed to do handwriting orsketching. Compared to first-generation tablets, the C300 is a bitheavy at 6.5 pounds, probably too heavy for many people, but I foundthe device's size and weight to be acceptable.

Battery life is fantastic, even with the single battery my systemcontains. I was able to obtain 4 to 5 hours of battery life percharge, depending on the wireless and screen settings, and Acer saysan optional second battery--which would fill the modular bay that theoptical drive currently uses--would extend battery life to 8.5 hours.And like Acer's smaller C100 tablet, the C300 features a gentlycurved, ergonomic keyboard, something I'd like to see on more laptops.The keyboard is nicely laid out, and I adapted to it quickly.

Acer throws in a few interesting features as well. Bluetooth isoptional, but I'll reserve judgment on that technology for a whileyet. And Acer provides a nice 4-in-1 media card reader that plugs intothe PC card bay for compatibility with Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard(MMC), Secure Digital (SD), and SmartMedia cards, a nice touch for PDAand digital camera users.

I do have a few quibbles. Unlike Acer's smaller tablet, the C300doesn't feature screen latches, and the screen seems to want to swivelon its own while in laptop mode (it locks down when used as a slate).In slate mode, the microphone and PC card slot are on the bottom ofthe device, which can be problematic: The microphone is useless inthis position, and if you need to use a PC card, it sticks outawkwardly. Both of these options should be moved to the far side ofthe screen, at the top, where they would be more usable. You canoptionally set up the Tablet PC's screen orientation such that themicrophone and PC card slot would be at the top; but you shouldn'thave to do this manually.

Overall, however, the C300 is a great laptop, which I couldn't sayabout first-generation Tablet PC devices. If this machine representsthe future of the Tablet PC, and I think it does, this platform has agreat future. Kudos to Acer for getting it right: Combined with theright options and the XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 update, the C300 hasit all.