The iPad gets all the attention these days, but tablets have been around for years. They've just been bulky, cumbersome, and ugly convertible laptops. There are dozens of them, and none are particularly popular.

Add the Acer Aspire 1825PTZ to the tally, though it's sleeker than most convertibles. It's about the size of a large netbook (11.6-inch screen), but it's more like a compact laptop, packed with more powerful components. It's an HD display for starters, running Intel GMA 4500 integrated graphics and a 1.3 GHz Intel Pentium SU4100 processor, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive.

Also included are a 5-in-1 card reader, HDMI output, and six-cell battery, and it connects via WiFi b/g/n, speedy gigabit ethernet, and Bluetooth 2.0.

Finally, it runs Windows 7. Here's the thing: Folks who are knowledgeable about these things complain that Windows 7, or any traditional operating system designed for a keyboard-and-mouse-oriented machine for that matter, is cumbersome to use on a touch interface.

So when the screen is in the upright and locked position, it will work like an above-average ultra-portable. When it's in top-down mode though, I'm sure the stylus is a must-have for those tiny task bar icons.



My question is: What's the point of having a convertible tablet like this? It seems to be marketed toward professionals, so it's a different audience than slate-style tablets like the iPad or JooJoo.

I'd imagine it's a useful tool for designers and other users who need some kind of free-hand input for drawings. But it seems like a limited market, and I'd figure most of them just use Macs with peripheral input devices. Why does anyone need one of these computers, and who are those somebodies? If you can enlighten me, please leave a comment below.