Latest hi-fi laptops

Microsoft loves tablets. Here is CEO Steve Ballmer holding up the new ThinkPad X41 Tablet, from China's Lenovo Group, at Microsoft's TechEd 2005 back in June. Ballmer was quoted as saying that the tablet will run on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

Credit: Microsoft.

Gateway's new CX2600 notebook family, starting at $1,349, has a 14-inch wide screen that swivels around on a titanium frame. The 6-pound tablet comes with a flash card reader, wireless networking and slots for batteries that last for up to nine hours.

Credit: Gateway.

Think tablet PCs are too expensive? Prices for Hewlett-Packard' s Compaq tc4200, which was first released in February 2005, start at $1,599, which is $44 less than a similarly outfitted Compaq nc4200 notebook.

Lenovo's X41T tablet is the first ThinkPad with a screen that swivels around to make a tablet PC. Retailing for $1,899, the tablet is Lenovo's first offering following its purchase of IBM's PC business earlier this year.
Credit: Lenovo