Читать книгу Laptops For Dummies - Dan Gookin - Страница 27

Computer manufacturers have long attempted to create the electronic equivalent of a pencil and pad of paper — a very expensive pencil and pad of paper. What they seek is a portable computer with a monitor but no keyboard. A digital stylus is used to write directly on the screen.

Over the years, this digital triptych has had various names attached to it: the PenGo computer, the Apple Newton, Pen Windows, and eventually the tablet PC.

The tablet PC can be one of two things. First, it can be a traditional laptop or notebook, but one that features a touchscreen interface. The screen can even bend and twist to cover the keyboard. This type of system might also be called a convertible laptop.

An even lighter and thinner version of the tablet PC exists, such as the Microsoft Surface, shown in Figure 1-8. These computers are essentially laptops without a keyboard, though a keyboard is often included as a type of cover; it’s shown attached in the figure.

FIGURE 1-8: A tablet PC.

Tablet PCs can offer pen input by using a digital pen or stylus, or your stubby human finger. This device effectively brings the laptop quest full circle to a pad of paper and pencil, although fully entrenched in the digital realm.

 Don’t confuse the tablet PC with mobile devices, such as the iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab. A tablet PC differs from these gizmos in that it offers features associated with traditional computers and, thanks to a keyboard, behaves as a laptop computer.

  The ancients used something called a tabulae ceratea to write temporary messages. Every Greek or Roman schoolboy took with him to class a folding wooden tablet. Its insides were coated with a black wax. Using a stylus (basically a stick), the student would write into the wax, again and again. Oh, we've truly come such a long way.