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Components of Tablet PCs

Tablet Pcs : How It Is Different From A Desktop Or A Notebook-Input Method, Size

Touchscreen

Tablet PCs are sleek, lightweight and affordable, so they must pack a bundle of features into a sleek package. This starts with the touch-sensitive screen. A tablet's screen has to serve as the monitor, keyboard, and touch pad to save physical space. The screens are capable of high-resolution color photos and HD-quality video matching that of notebook computers. Some tablet users opt to purchase a separate USB or Bluetooth keyboard for more extensive writing tasks.

Processor

Tablet PCs must use a low-power, yet high-octane microprocessor, also known as the Central Processing Unit (CPU). Two popular tablet PCs, the Motorola Xoom and the View sonic G-Tablet, use the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. A low-power processor allows the tablets to achieve the 8- to 10-hour battery life that the units can achieve at the sacrifice of processing speed. If you want the more powerful Intel Pentium processor or a top-of-the-line AMD chip, you might consider getting a full-scale laptop or maybe even a desktop PC.

Memory

Tablet PCs typically pack 1 to 2 gigabytes (GB) of RAM, or Random Access Memory. This is plenty of RAM for basic tasks required of tablets, such as note taking, email reading and video viewing. The RAM helps the tablets load and swap out programs and files. Some tablets PCs are capable of RAM upgrades to 4 GB. This would benefit users who want to do moderate video editing on their tablets.

Storage Capacity

Tablet PCs typically work online in the manner of a net book or networked computer. Therefore, hard drive space is held to a minimum if the unit has a native physical drive at all. Typically, tablet PCs come with 16 GB or 32 GB of internal flash memory. Storage can be upgraded with a Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) flash memory card of 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB.

Integrated motherboard

Many of the tablet PCs functions are handled by an integrated motherboard that includes a graphics card, wireless network card, card reader, USB ports and mini HDMI port. Many of the files and programs, if not downloaded from the Internet, are loaded via a USB cable or from a flash drive. Usually, tablets do not have any DVD drives.

3.How it is different from a desktop or a notebook

Input Method

The most obvious difference between a tablet PC and a laptop is the lack of a keyboard. Tablets rely solely on a touch interface on the screen for user input. This is fine when it involves mainly pointing, dragging or tapping to navigate around a program. The problems come in when you have to input text into a program such as an email or document. Since they have no keyboard, users are required to type on virtual keyboards that have varying layouts and designs. Most people cannot type as quickly or as accurately on a virtual keyboard. Users do have the option of adding an external Bluetooth keyboard to most tablets to make this more like a laptop but it adds costs that must be considered before acquiring a tablet pc.

Size

This is probably the biggest reason to go with a tablet PC compared to a laptop. Tablets have the size roughly of a small pad of paper and a weight that is under two pounds (less than a kilogram). Most laptops are still larger and heavier compared with a tab. Even one of the smallest ultra portables, the Apple MacBook Air 11 weighs just over two pounds and has a profile that is larger than an iPad 2. The main reason for this is the keyboard and trackpad, which require it to be larger. Add in more powerful components that require additional cooling and power. Because of this, it is much easier to carry around a tablet than a laptop especially if you happen to be traveling.