The Tablet.

Everywhere you go online tech-heads and gadget fiends are talking- speculating, dreaming, prognosticating- and just plain blathering about the expected (but in no way guaranteed) tablet from Apple that just about everyone from the Pope on down figures will be announced on January 27th.

Cooler, soberer, and indeed spoiler-sportier heads like to point out that with this being a recession year and all, perhaps a brand new product from Cupertino is unnecessary. Maybe even a little foolhardy. To heck with that! Bring on the concept videos!!! We've picked out a few choice concept videos- two based on the theorized Apple product and one for the known to be in development "Courier" from Microsoft- that clarify what all the hype is about.

First up: a vision from the editors of Sport Illustrated of what the future of their magazine would look like in a tablet-ized world:

Just a little bit huge, that.

More videos after the jump...

 Now the next concept video may not be as awe inspiring as sports and swimsuit models. (What? It was SI. Didn't you watch it?) Starring that constant college companion, the humble textbook, this concept video from Coursesmart [found via TUAW] shows how the college backpack may get a whole lot lighter:

Finally, in the interests of equal time, we present the Gizmodo approved concept video for Microsoft's "Courier" project. Being developed by the same minds that brought you the XBox (yay!) and the Zune (ummm?) the Courier concept takes the tablet PC concept in a different direction. This isn't just a slate to read from and watch video on, it's out to be a Moleskine killer.