Engadget notes today that Gottabemobile.com recommends the 12.1 inch HP EliteBook 2730 to those who are considering a tablet PC. While the price, $1,670, is not cheap, the tablet has been described as "a high-performing, ultra-thin, convertible tablet."
The laptop does a transforming act from a notebook PC into a pen-based tablet. At 3.7 pounds, it's not the lightest tablet around as Fujitsu's 12.1-inch Lifebook T8140 weighs only 3.3 pounds (but it costs $2,650, ouch!). After you rotate the laptop to a pen-based tablet it measures an ultra-slim 1.11-inches. New features include an integrated touchpad, tablet buttons and a jog dial. To get a super-long battery life, you can take advantage of the optional ultra-slim add-on battery that'll give you 12 combined hours of battery life. Without the add-on, the battery life is also not bad. You'll get almost 4 hours. The HP EliteBook 2730p also supports a convenient, ultra-slim docking solution with an integrated DVD+/-RW drive.
Thumbs down on the WXGA (1,280 x 800) screen and the keyboard isn't so great on the laptop, but the HP 2730 beats out the HP 2710. Not only have the touchpad and jog-dial since that model came out last year, but the new model also has and improved ULV (up to 1.2GHz) and LV (up to 1.86GHz) Core 2 Duo processor and and faster, 1.8-inch 5400RPM hard drive. It also sports a wireless option for WWAN world-wide support.