HansTWN --- ``early tablet wars''?!?
Pen computers have been available for over two decades now --- I got my NCR-3125 almost 20 years ago. Anyone interested in tablet computing should read Jerry Kaplan's _StartUp_ for a background on how things fell out, though
www.pencomputing.com provides an interesting overview through the older articles it has available on-line.
There's a huge selection of devices available and prices have been coming down ever since they were first introduced (the NCR-3125 listed for over $4,700 when it first came out, while my first laptop, purchased in 1985, a GRiDCase III cost $8,150). I found an HP CEO's statement that the HP slate could have been introduced two years ago for $1,500 quite striking.
As stustaff noted, ``you pays your money and you takes your choice'' --- it's always a trade-off, though improvements in technology help make choices easier and trade-offs less striking --- putting a 4GB SSD in my Fujitsu Stylistic made a huge difference in it running cool, silent and extending the battery life.
William