Very useful discussion on the teaching economics newsgroup (tch-econ) about tablet pcs. If you’re considering a tablet, this would be a good resource to check out.
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I have to say that I’m completely sold on my Toshiba Tablet PC. I use it in a number of ways that wow students and faculty alike. For example, in two of my courses, I’ve gone nearly paperless. Students email me their papers, I mark them up using digital ink in MS Word, and email them back their graded work. In addition to the paper and ink savings to the students (and me), it means that they get their papers back sooner (rather than waiting for me to physically hand it to them). This has made our individual meetings more productive for two reasons. First, the students have already read my comments before they come in to see me. Second, using my docking station and monitor along with the tablet screen means that, despite sitting across from each other, we can walk through the paper together and I can highlight the particular section we’re discussing, or even demonstrate the proper citation for a footonote or an alternative method of phrasing a troublesome passage.