Laptop Thoughts: A Slate For Every Taste

"Last week alone saw ViewSonic, Toshiba and Samsung all officially unveil new models of keyboard-less computer, with a mish-mash of operating systems and screen sizes hoping to somehow build themselves a market in the wake of Apple's market-leading device. So here's a summary of five of the best tablets out there and on the way this year. Or, to put it another way, the iPad +4."

Is the slate tablet market really that hot, or is this simply a whole bunch of hype intended to get everyone to open their wallets? Tablets might be the next step in casual computing and thankfully, it seems like it draws a large part of its inspiration from smartphones. The only one that stands out for me, and not in a good way, is the ViewPad 100. Dual-booting just seems like such a hassle and it is not like dual-booting slate tablets have not been tried before. Just ask HTC. Most likely, the iPad will continue to dominate the space though there will be a large amount of Android devices to pick from.