With the advent of the new-ish small form factor mobile Intel processors and chipsets in combination with SSD and a few other technologies, Intel has decided to revive the tablet PC in a new guise, the UrbanMax.

The tabled PC might have been one of the most flawed portable computers in recent times with a very low overall uptake, despite some obvious advantages. However, the rather bulky machines weren't a boon with users and as such, the platform ended up in various niche markets.

With the UrbanMax Intel has gone down quite a different route, as the demo systems were very thin and light, thanks in part to the new processors and chipset. In tabled PC mode the UrbanMax demo systems were about 2-2.5cm thick and looked like a small keyboard-less tablet PC. However, the screen will first slide upward to reveal a keyboard (much like on the original HTC TyTN) and the screen can also be tilted up at an angle as in the picture below.

This gives you three different types of devices in one, and with an 11.1-in 1,366x768 display, HD video playback and HDMI output, these systems might just appeal to some users. Another neat design feature was that a part of the protective carrying case would fold up to create a wrist rest, as the keyboard is located at the forward edge of the system with no wrist support.

The biggest flaw in this case seemed to be Windows Vista, as it's not a great OS for touch screen devices and even the more touch-friendly, front-end that was being demoed (not in the picture) didn't seem fantastic and it was generally limited to media playback and Web-related applications.

We're not expecting the UrbanMax platform to go cheap, though, as with an SSD and a special low power CPU and chipset, as well as having some very specific design issues when it comes to building these systems, whatever company that decides to make a retail ready product will be charging a premium for them.