So why don't I own a tablet PC? For the same reasons you don't, most likely. Past tablets have seemed to want to be all things to all people -- which meant they were too heavy, too bulky, too underpowered, and worst of all, too expensive. That's why I was excited to learn that will take the form of a convertible tablet.

In true netbook form, the T91 will be smaller and lighter than your typical full-function tablet. Weighing about two pounds and only an inch thick in tablet mode, with an 8.9-inch LED backlit screen, the T91 will be about the size of a hardcover book -- perhaps the ideal dimensions for the tablet format.

In addition, where many earlier tablets have relied on pen-based input, the T91 will instead use a touchscreen. This is sure to be controversial to some; pen input would allow handwriting recognition, for example, which has long touted as a top tablet feature. And who wants to get fingerprints all over their screen? But there's no denying that the touch screen will make the T91 much easier to use on the go and for basic applications like Web browsing, where a pen can be cumbersome.

This won't be the first Eee PC to feature a touchscreen, in fact. debuted late last year, which featured a 15.6 inch all-in-one touchscreen form factor. Some analysts predict that touch-based computing will be a major trend in coming years, particularly since Microsoft's upcoming

It's hard to tell what operating system the Eee PC T91 will ship with. show off what appears to be a unique, Linux-based UI that borrows liberally from Apple's iPod and Mac OS X interfaces. Whether it will also ship with a Microsoft OS, such as Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, remains to be seen -- although current Eee PC models are generally available with Windows pre-installed.