Fujitsu Siemens claim the Lifebook P1510 is the world’s lightest convertible tablet, and there’s plenty of technology packed into the 1kg chassis. It looks like a conventional notebook, but the screen measures 8.9in, so everything is scaled down in size.

The screen, which is bright and clear, has a resolution of 1,024 x 600 and gives an unusual aspect ratio of 17:10. This makes it feel narrow when you’re using the tablet in portrait mode.

Five buttons sit at the bottom right and assist general navigation.

During testing, we found the response to stylus and mouse clicks a little slow – this is probably thanks to the lethargic 1.2GHz processor.

This Ultra Low Voltage model has 2MB of cache, but the 400MHz FSB and low clock speed really hold it back.

The mouse buttons are a bit rudimentary and the keyboard has a conventional layout, but is very small so larger fingers may have problems.

You get a fair amount of hardware included in the price.

There’s an external dual-layer DVD writer that connects using two USB ports (one for communication and one for power) and a port replicator, which also acts as a support when you are typing.

The software package is basic, but includes Corel Grafigo – a paint application specific to Windows XP Tablet Edition that costs about £80.

One minor complaint is that the diminutive chassis can’t accommodate a PC Card slot; instead you get a Compact Flash alternative. Niggles aside, the P1510 is a small and well-designed tablet that impressed us a great deal.

This article is part of a group test. All articles in the test are as follows:
Intro
Acer Travelmate C202TMi
Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P1510
HP Compaq tc4200 PV984ET
Motion Computing LS800
Toshiba Tecra M4
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Editor's Choice