Magna-doodle tablet PC

This is a tablet PC design where the tablet is solely an input device. You have a magnetic pen to write on a surface, somewhat like an magna-doodle. When you write, the motions are also sent to the main computer. The magnetic pen pulls iron filing to the top of the screen, or maybe it attracts static-sensitve plastic molecules. Something real engineery like that. So, you see what you wrote, mechanically.

If the magnets are a problem, you could have the tablet sit away from the computer, like current wacom tablets. Or, if it's possible to use something more electronic-friendly, like static electricty to move the grains, then you can have the actual tablet PC.

When you fill one screen, simply press a button to blank the screen, or shake vigorously.

The benefit of this design is that the tablet is simpler, and doesn't require a lot of electricity to run.

It also improves on existing tablet designs in that it gives you some feedback *on the tablet itself*. Some wacom tablets are just writing surfaces -- they don't show you what you've drawn. That shows up elsewhere, on like the monitor.

You can also have the computer 'write' to the tablet. You need either a matrix of magnets or static electricity guns on the back of the tablet to repel the grains to the front of the screen. With this setup, you wouldn't need to shake the screen to clear it.