Travel Technology - Am I ready for my medicine, or Tablet PC?

Ive been thinking about one of these since they came out. Ive done some searches but this is a very fast moving field it seems. From here and other places it seems like the questions are:

1) What can you really do with a tablet PC? I have a couple Powerbooks that I can use, and will use if I am traveling and have to do a lot of editing, or what have you that requires a full size notebook. But most of the time Im traveling I need something for mail and some document editing, good web access if I need to look stuff up and note taking ability. I want something small and light. And in my opinion, light means under 3 pounds, and better under 2.5 pounds. Am I correct that a tablet can do that?

2) If I go with a tablet, is the slate or convertable tablet better? Or is it dependent on use.

3) Some of the newer tablets (or ones just coming out) are in the UPMC category. Examples are the Tabletkiosk and ASUS. Does anyone have any experience with them that they could comment on?

4) In the slightly larger size Ive been looking at a slate version, the In Motion 800 and a convertable, the Fujitsu P1500. Does anyone have experience comparing those or are there others that I should consider?

Thanks for any comments.

I have been a tablet PC user for 1.5 years. My machine is a Motion M1300, a slate model with 12 inch XGA display and 3.5 lbs weight.

The applications out there are either tablet aware or unaware. Tablet computers function great with enabled applications, like OneNote and most of the Office suite. For example, OneNote saves the handwriting and, at the same time, make it searchable. Other office applications allows direct annotation right on the document.

Stylus unaware applications and Windows itself treat the stylus as a mouse pointer. Text may be inputted via handwriting to text or virtual keyboard.

1) What can you really do with a tablet PC?

A tablet pc combines a notebook computer with a graphic digitizer. Naturally, many artists flock to a tablet for the draw right on the screen experience. It is not limited to art though. Notetaking is particularly popular among students. Replicating a diagram can be tedious with keyboard and mouse, but not with a stylus. Medical information system also makes extensive of tablet computers for reviewing patient charts, checking boxes and capture signatures.

And in my opinion, light means under 3 pounds, and better under 2.5 pounds. Am I correct that a tablet can do that?

There are few models under 3 lbs. Under 2.5, I only know of the NEC VY series (1GHz Pentium M, 2.2 lb, 10.8" XGA slate), which is sold only in Japan. The battery life of this unit is not that great at less than 3 hours.

2) If I go with a tablet, is the slate or convertable tablet better? Or is it dependent on use.

Yes, it depends on how you use it. Most people get convertibles because it can be used in both ways. If you can do everything with a mouse on a normal computer, chances are you can forego the keyboard.

I can't answer numbers 3 and 4 as I don't have experience with them. For more information, check out Tablet PC Buzz (http://tabletpcbuzz.com/) and its forum.