The Gateway CX 200 series is for home or office Click photo for larger image.

Tablet PCs have come a long way. The last time I reviewed one, I had a good experience with the software; but the hardware had its problems. Recently, though, I've been using a convertible laptop from Gateway -- and those hardware problems, so far, have been nowhere to be seen. Better yet, with the increase in hardware speed and large memory configurations, it has been fast and accurate.

A Tablet PC is a special type of Windows PC that lets you write directly on the screen (using a stylus that acts like a pen) instead of using a keyboard to enter text and data. A "convertible" is a Tablet PC that also has a keyboard so you can write on it or use the keyboard like a standard PC. (Maybe they ought to call them "convertablets.")

Before even turning on the Gateway PC, two things struck me. First, it was large, but designed to be easy to hold -- with the battery acting like an ergonomic handle. Second, the screen is unlike most laptop LCD screens. Instead of being soft and pliable, it is hard Plexiglas. The hard screen is a huge advantage over the previous tablets I had tested, because the soft screens were extremely susceptible to breakdowns.

The real advantage of a Tablet PC, though, is that you can write on it. This Gateway model didn't disappoint. Using the software that comes with the system, I was writing on the screen within minutes of turning it on. It recognized almost everything I wrote -- even in my worst chicken scratch -- and for those words it missed, it gave me an easy method to correct it on the fly. The biggest surprise was how fast it reacted to my handwriting. It almost instantaneously recognized even the spots that should have had spaces when I occasionally ran my words together. It was so eerie that my family, friends and I had contests to see how (whether) we could stump the Gateway's recognition function. Sure we could do it, but rarely, and less often when we wrote words and phrases in earnest. It was quite impressive.

Gateway sells its convertible Tablet PCs as the CX 200 series for home/home office and as the M280 series for small business with prices starting at $999 at gateway.com. The business series has a CD burner and embedded security chip, while the home series has a DVD burner. Although Tablet PCs traditionally have been targeted at mobile professionals, such as poll takers, I found it worked well taking notes in meetings and during phone calls. Based on my experience, this genre of system may finally be coming of age.