“Gimme!” or, “Poof Goes My New Year's Savings Resolution”.

I love the idea of tablets. I always have.

Here's my Plan A (and I bet Lightstar's too!):

The Asus Eee Slider:

It's a smallish, thin, quickly accessible portable computer with (hopefully) a low performance overhead.

One of my biggest gripes with tablets is the size of my thumbs. Well, more accurately the size of the software keyboard keys and how they relate to the size of my large thumbs.

The easy solution to this problem is to add a hardware keyboard into the mix, as Asus is doing with the Eee Pad Slider. Though this would likely solve my large-thumb problem, it also encroaches on one of the previously mentioned advantages to tablets. Asus is taking a chance adding a full QWERTY keyboard to a tablet, but maybe not that much of a chance, since not all of the four tablets the company announced yesterday include full keyboards.

See some here: http://gizmodo.com/5724758/asus-eee-pad-memo-is-the-stylus+lovers-tablet

Here are some specs:

• OS: Android 3.0 (Honey Comb)

• CPU/GPU: Nvidia Tegra 2

• Memory: 512MB or 1GB

• Storage: 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0

• Display: 10.1 WSVGA IPS screen with 1,280x800-pixel resolution and capacitive touch

• Camera: Front: 1.2-megapixel; Rear: 5-megapixel

• Interface: 1x Mini-USB port; 1x audio jack (headphone/Mic-in); 1x card reader, microSD; 1x docking port; 1x Mini-HDMI

• Unit dimensions: 273 x 180 x 17.7mm 1.9 pounds

The Slider will be available in Q2 at a price range of $499 to $799.

Plan B: The LeNovo LePad:

In addition to Lenovo's skinned version of Android 2.2, there's now a newer 1.3GHz Snapdragon in the LePad and an 1.2GHz Intel Core i5-540UM in the U1 base, with an optional i7 available. Switching from Windows to Android just requires disengaging the latch on the base -- the flip to Android is basically instantaneous, while getting back to Windows takes a few seconds. The U1 base is supposedly much nicer than last year -- it's been restyled and features a chicklet-style keyboard and dimpled trackpad. The LePad now features a 10.1 inch 1280 x 800 capacitive multitouch display. Both pieces are pretty thin individually, but docked up it makes for a pretty chunky laptop -- but you are getting two machines for the price of one.  

Now for the bad news:

The LePad will run for about $520 when it arrives in China this quarter, but the full U1 kit will run $1300. There's also no US availability or pricing right now and Lenovo states the U1 won't hit the States until it runs Android 3.0, so it could be months while the company reskins the OS. There might be an even longer wait for LeNovo to retool the LePad to meet the supposed dual-core CPU requirement.

There were a slew of Pads (including iPad2) at Day One.

Check them out:

http://www.techweet.com/story/asus-unveils-eee-pad-memo-eee-pad-transformer-eee-pad-slider-and-eee-slate-ep121

http://techie-buzz.com/gadgets-news/lg-optimus-pad-pictures-leaked.html

http://techie-buzz.com/tag/ces-2011?utm_source=cesheader&utm_medium=header&utm_campaign=menulinks

And here's the cool, new Microsoft Windows 7 Touch Mouse:

You've got to watch this!