Can convertible tablets give iPad some competition? (images)

With the iPad making a huge splash in the world of tablet PCs, what's going on with its Windows-based competition? A lot of improvements can be seen among recent models with better touchscreens, more powerful chips for performance and battery life, and integrated 3g wireless. Read this blog by John Morris on the current lineup of convertible tablets. Can they stand up to the iPad?

The 12-inch HP Elitebook 2540p (review) comes with Intel's latest Core i7 processor. Convertibles also include the features of a full-fledged laptop such as up to 8GB of memory, expansive hard drives, 2-megapixel Webcams, integrated 3G wireless, memory card slots, three USB 2.0 ports and FireWire. This model does not have an internal DVD drive.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X201 (review uses a 12.1-inch WXGA (1280×800) display, the latest Core i5 processor, and weighs less than 4 pounds.

The HP Elitebook 2540p is similar to the HP Elitebook 2740p but is does come with an internal DVD drive.

The HP TouchSmart tm2 is the consumer version of their convertible notebooks and now comes with Intel's newest Core chips.

Dell's Latitde XT2 (review) is a rugged 12-inch convertible that's geared toward business users.

The 13.3-inch Fujitsu Lifebook T900 (reviews) comes with Intel's new Core i-series chips and runs on Windows 7.

The Panasonic Toughbook C1 comes with a Core i5 processor and weighs in at only 3.2 pounds. Panasonic's thin and tough tablet laptop is about as small as they come for rugged portables.

The Lenovo ThinkPad w701ds (reviews) is a monster machine that can rival almost any desktop.

The Toshiba Portege M780 (reviews) has a fast Intel Core i5 processor and is lightweight but reviewers thought it is unattractive and builky.

The Toshiba Portege won a CNET Editor's award in 2002 with its 1.33GHz Pentium III, 512-MB RAM, and 40-GB hard drive. It was one of the models inspired by Bill Gates push for tablet computing devices in 2001.