ViewSonic's Airpanel 100 is a tablet-style device that can serve as a thin client terminal using either a LAN or a wireless connection. This would allow staff to access standard Windows applications from anywhere within range of a wireless access point. But the high price may put off potential buyers.

ViewSonic says the Airpanel 100 is a wireless monitor for business use but the device does not have a network link as standard, and has built-in support for a only a few 802.11b wireless LAN (WLAN) adapter cards.

In tests, we linked the Airpanel 100 to servers running Windows Terminal Services and Citrix Metaframe software, to access applications such as Word and Excel. We found the applications more responsive over a standard 10Mbit/s Ethernet link than over an 802.11b WLAN connection, and the direct cable link was also less troublesome to configure and use.

The Airpanel comes with Citrix ICA 6.0 and Microsoft RDP 5.1 clients built in for connecting to application servers. We found some display glitches in the Citrix client, and it was also less responsive than RDP 5.1.

ViewSonic's Airpanel is built around a 10in TFT display with a 800x600 resolution and has a touch-sensitive screen driven by a stylus. An optional £86 + VAT cradle adds 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet capability and lets users plug in a PS/2 keyboard and mouse. In this configuration, the Airpanel operates as a standard thin-client terminal. A USB keyboard can be used without the cradle.

For connections other than the Ethernet cradle, CompactFlash and Type II PC Card slots allow options such as 802.11b WLAN, modem or GSM/GPRS. But there is built-in support for few adapter cards, and unrecognised types require drivers to be installed. ViewSonic has no management tools to accomplish this and recommends that IT staff use a CompactFlash storage card to transfer drivers to the device from a PC.

Using the Airpanel with its cradle needs no configuration on a corporate LAN, as the device seamlessly configures its network adapter and obtains an IP address within seconds of being switched on.

Away from the cradle, we linked to a server using a Cisco Aironet 350 WLAN PC Card, for which the Airpanel has built-in support. Wireless configuration requires extra steps, however, such as setting the key for WEP security. Even with the correct settings, we often found establishing a WLAN connection to be a hit-and-miss affair.

The device weighs 1.1kg and comes with a built-in lithium ion battery that lasts for about five hours. An optional extended battery pack doubles this to 10 hours.

The Airpanel 100 provides a number of pre-installed local applications, including WordPad, Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows Messenger for CE and Media Player. It also comes with CalliGrapher, which converts writing from a stylus into text.

Price: £999 + VAT

Contact: ViewSonic 01293 643 900

Have your say: contact IT Week