i love tablets, but i hate the virtual keyboard. mostly because you can't rest your hands on it unless you want to write pure crazy gibberish. and whenever i use one, i feel the bones creaking as i slowly type and look on in envy as teenagers' fingers blur effortlessly and confidently over new technology.

but i am still in serious want. for tablets. i need something i can write on, read on, internet on and still carry around without risking another upper extremity DVT. i even blogged about it a couple weeks ago: my ultimate portable computing machine: ipad + bluetooth keyboard + magic mouse.

and now. i've found it.

Behold, the Asus EEE Pad Slider.

Apparently, there's this huge thing called CES aka Consumer Electronics Show that takes place annually and debuts the newest and hottest electronics for the year. And Asus debuted not one, but FOUR tablet alternatives.

(1) Asus EEE Pad Slider: 10.1" Tablet + sliding keyboard + Android 3.0

(2) ASUS EEE Slate EP 121: 12" Tablet + wireless keyboard + Windows 7

(3) ASUS EEE Pad MeMO: 7" Handheld Tablet + Stylus + Android 3.0

(4) ASUS EEE Pad Transformer: 10.1" Tablet + dockable Keyboard + Android 3.0

And all of them have cameras. And except for the slider, they have some type of HDMI output as well. Pricetags are $499 to $1099. More info here.

I may have discovered them a month after the official techie community, but my inner poser geek CANNOT WAIT.