Come On, People, Let?s Get Convertible Tablets Right This Time

Back in about 2002 or so when Toshiba and a few others tried to sell tablets to businesses and consumers. This was around when Bill Gates was flogging Windows Tablet PC Edition and we all realized that tablets weren't quite the trick. Among those devices were the so-called convertibles - laptops that folded around to become thick tablets. When you wanted to tap on the screen you could and when you wanted to type you could do that, too. They were awful. Now, suddenly, Dell comes out with the Duo and Apple is patenting something that looks like a MacBook Air with a clever folding screen. Sadly, the Duo is a dud and the Apple patents probably won't make it to market, but here's what I'd like to see in the convertible department.

TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS SANDISK MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INTUIT