A slate or a tablet – call them what you will – but PC makers have become obsessed with the possibilities presented by laptops stripped of their keyboards.
A slew of the industry's biggest and most influential PC makers announced slates at CES in Las Vegas. Along with the devices came true Vegas hyperbole.
Summing up the dazzling launch of its slate powering Tegra processor, Nvidia's Co-founder and President Jen-Hsun Huang boomed: "2010 is going to be the beginning of the tablet revolution."
Rival AMD isn't convinced. For one, human concerns mitigate against this third way in computing. Speaking exclusively to TechRadar, Godfrey Cheng, Director of Technical Marketing at AMD's Graphics Product Group.
" Will they [slates] completely replace notebooks? I don't think so. For one reason. The [user interface]. Notebooks… are very intuitive… very easy to use… and quick to type on. With tablets you do a lot of writing… and the best handwriting algorithms would not recognise my handwriting."
His doubtful sentiments were backed up by Asif Renham, AMD's Marketing Manager Graphics Products Group for mobile claimed: "[Every year at CES] there is a new religion. Last year it was mostly notebook."
When asked if he believed in this new religion he replied in the negative: "OEMs come out with new features and the market drives new them [not customer demand]…The normal notebook will remain dominant.. and the tablet will be a niche."
