Tablet PCs offer the best features of traditional laptop computers and the convenience of pocket PCs. Gateway's CX2620 combines the power  of a desktop-replacement portable and the ability to write directly on a 14-inch widescreen display. Despite a few quirks, there are enough impressive features in this tablet PC to make it an attractive hybrid.
Look and Feel
The CX2620 has a slightly larger shape than most tablet PCs. Its case measures 13.6 x 1.4 x 11.5 inches and weighs 6.9 pounds without the battery installed. The unit runs the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system .
The coolest feature is the way the large LCD rotates 180 degrees and folds back onto the keyboard to convert into a pen-based, handwriting input system. It was easy to cradle the unit on one arm, grasp it with that hand, and use the other hand to write on the screen. The longer we carried it around, however, the more it seemed like a chore.
We found it was more efficient to rest the tablet PC on a table or work stand for prolonged use. This made it easier to form the handwritten characters more precisely. Careless handwriting produced poor character translations, similar to using a stylus on a pocket PC.
Switching back to the traditional laptop mode, we found the well-appointed keyboard to have a solid feel. Thanks to the widescreen format, there is room enough between the individual keys to approximate the feel of a full-size keyboard.
We are often tempted to replace the built-in touchpads on laptops with a USB mini scroll mouse for better control. With this model, that swap was not necessary. The touchpad with vertical scroll zone made navigating the extra-wide screen effortless.
Features
The CX2620 out-powers most portable computers in this price range and beyond. The spacious 100-GB hard drive has plenty of room for volumes of text and graphic files.
The 1 GB of DDR2 RAM can be doubled to 2 GB. The 128 MB of shared video memory and the 64 MB of on-board video memory on the ATI Mobility Radeon X600 SE card provide plenty of speed for rendering graphics.
The 5-in-1 media card reader makes for seamless data transfers with camcorders, digital cameras, and other multimedia accessories. (continued...)
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