HP Slate gets spec'd and priced out 77
Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:57 am EDT 
HP’s Windows 7-powered Slate tablet computer has seen more than its fair share of drama over the past several months. Ever since HP bought out Palm, questions have swirled about the potential future or lack thereof for the device, but HP has remained determined to get it to market. Sure, it’s taken longer than the Palm Pre took (for real), but things are finally getting close.
Evidence? CNET got their hands on a slide image from HP that finally gives us a glimpse at what kind of hardware the Slate packs. First things first, the screen is 8.9 inches, responds to finger multitouch and pen input (hooray?), and is 1024x600 pixels. The device itself weighs in at 1.5 pounds and packed inside you’ll find an Intel Atom Z540 clocked at 1.86GHz, a 64GB SSD, 2GB RAM, integrated Intel Broadcom graphics, the usual non-cellular connectivity, and two cameras: a rear-facing 3 megapixel shooter, with a smaller VGA camera up front for candid self-shots and video conferencing. Considering that HP intends to market the Slate towards the business crowd, we’d expect more of the latter. At least until the boardroom meetings start getting extra slow.
Now how much will this package cost you? $799, that’s how much. Yeah, that’s more than every version of the Apple iPad, excepting the 64GB 3G version, but that comes with cellular connectivity, which is not an option for the Slate. Granted, that $799 is for a different breed of device than the iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it also includes a handy dock with HDMI-out and a carrying case (for the Slate, not the dock).
Even with this device targeted exclusively at the enterprise crowd, it’s still a tempting proposition. A full-fledged full-portable computer for eight hundred bucks? We suppose the Slate’s success or failure will boil down to the user experience, or at least it would if it were being released in the corporate space. By focusing on the corporate space, HP only has to convince a few execs and IT chiefs that the Slate will make their business better. Still, we’d love to get our hands on one to give it an unprofessional uncorporate go.
77 Comments
I do like the specs on this tablet, makes me feel good that when webOS tablet will come out it will come out with even better hardware specs.
So it can be 2x more expensive than this?
More than likely a webOS tablet won't need specs better than this because webOS uses way less RAM than a full blown PC OS like Windows 7 or MacOS. I think they could actually make a webOS tablet run very smooth with a less spec'd tablet. I guess patience is the keyword for now.
Windows has finally arrived on a tablet. It's an idea who's time has come. It's what the world has been waiting for. They said it couldn't be done. Does innovation like this know no bounds? Yawn.
I agree can't wait for the hp webos tablet.
yeah, i'll be in line to be the webOS tablet when it comes out if it has that good of specs!
Too expensive and no cellular options...fail.
Yeah, but it's tantalizingly close. If, for instance, I can find this somewhere for $600, I'll probably get it. (I'm rarely anywhere where I need net access but don't have wifi. Plus, won't all our phones eventually be mobile hot-spots?)
On the other hand, I can't even imagine why I'd need or want a webOS tablet.
This isn't a consumer slate. It is for enterprise, hence the built-in Wacom digitizer and pen.
That alone adds a couple hundred to the price.
Not nearly as cool as an iPad, no games, webos 2.0 kind of immature, non-ARM architecture, no comments on battery life, doesn't look like a winner to me.
Which is why it is designed for the corporate world. Games probably were not a major concern.
No games? Are you a complete idiot?
1. It's business oriented, they're not gonna talk about games.
2. It runs windows 7, any game you can load on a windows 7 machine, you can play on this. Not to mention loading software like Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Revit, full Microsoft Office and anything else you can run on a Windows 7 machine.
This isn't a tablet running a mobile OS, it's a tablet running a REAL OS.
You're damn skippy! I agree completely. I'd love this device to replace my current laptop.
A totally portable PC that will hook up to a TV or keyboard when needed, play awesome games like Borderlands should the craving arrive, can watch better streaming video than an iPad or any othe MobileOS pad would, or will be able to do.
Price it at $500 for the holidays and I'm buying it.
I think you missed the demographic boat on this one. this belongs in the office, not at home.
That was irony, right? 'Cos if it was cluelessness that would just be sad.
The demographic means nothing. A person will get and use something the way a person wants to, regardless of what the object was made for.
This isn't a tablet running a mobile OS, it's a tablet running a REAL OS.
Therein the problem. Microsoft thinks that the easiest, fastest way is to release a tablet (which they saw Apple had great success, so they would try their hand at it again), and then release it with a half-ass attempt at coupling a desktop OS to a touch-based interface. do you know how lame and tired that is? its the reason why microsoft has seen the light of innovation for awhile.
for business users it might not even matter that much. maybe they've been waiting for something like this to shake their stylus at. maybe they like overpriced products that do less that their competitors for more of the price. let's hope so.
Not ANYTHING you can run on Windows 7. Remember this is still an Atom based system.
hahahah u responded exactly how i did in my head... but i think he was thinkin more on the lines of touch screen style games made for mobile OSs... has any1 designed emulators of any of the cerent mobile platforms for windows yet? i mean i could just google that right now but im going to ask here instead
Should probably save "webOS hate" for a tablet that is running webOS. This one runs Windows 7.
Um. This thing runs basically every program ever. Yes, even games.
It will run PC aps, Flash and do any thing a desktop will and you're comparing it to an oversized Ipod Touch that won't run Mac apps?
Love the specs (and pen input! *drool*) But the price is pretty hefty.
I have been waiting years for a tablet with capacitive touch and Wacom pen inputs together. If the PalmPad is the same with an ARM processor and webOS, I'm all over it. This is great!
I use a Lenovo Tablet PC at work and find it absolutely necessary to use a pen input for note-taking. However, it's a little big and heavy with it's keyboard to be a true walk-around device and it's too low-powered to be a good work pc when docked. Using a fast desktop or a power laptop with one of these as a companion to take your fully synced Outlook and Onenote to meetings would be a killer setup for me.
Touch interface is great for browsing and surfing media, but for true personal computing on the go I need a pen or keyboard! Really looking forward to this release, instead of getting the next top-of-the-line tablet pc, I could get this and a faster desktop for the same money and have the best of both worlds.
First-off, as far as I see it: as long as there are people that want what's effectively a touchscreen/pen-input netbook, then -- why not?
NathanB131 -- a question: assuming WebOS 2.1 included full outlook sync (ie: not just email, contact & calendar but to include tasks & memos) over the air -- why would you want to lug around a tablet when your Pre fits in your pocket & provides the same (fully synced) data?
Admittedly, OneNote might be your reason, but, I had to ask.
Personally: I'm a smartphone/PDA + laptop guy -- I just don't see the need for a tablet. That said, others do & all the more reason for HP to make a PalmPad.
If WebOS 2 did a really robust one-note outlook sync then that may be what I need. Though a watered-down mobile version of OneNote doesn't cut it for me. I like to preserve my notes in original form and link all tasks, calendars, and hyperlinks to them AS they are being written. That way I don't have to re-visit them later as just another thing in a 'notes' inbox I need to make decisions about. I'd rather categorize and prioritize on the fly which is why I'm rather obsessed with trying to make note-taking with a pen on a tablet work. Maybe some day I will give up on that dream and just get it done with a smartphone. But I'm holding out hope. This machine looks like it could be what the TC1100 was supposed to get done when HP released it with winXP tablet years ago.
the conectivity is no the BIG deal, but the price. If the webos slate is a little, just a litle bit better will cost mor than a week of hard earned cash.
I'm thinking like a crazy the fact that is runnig win 7 you can use any carrier usb modem, and conectivity solved.
The only problem with your USB idea (which is good and hadn't occured to me) is that the device only has 1 USB port. It really should have had 2.
Windows = horse manure
i like windows 7 a lot... never has it given me problem. no crashing at alllll
It seems like everyone wants their phones OS on a bigger screen (since thats pretty much what a webOS tablet is). How come no one thinks this is cool too? To me, this is more than just running apps. This is a full fledged computer. It has more to it than the iPad so I think they can fairly sell it for more. I think this is a good product for people who are looking to replace their laptop. Not people who just want to play angry birds on a bigger screen.
Still thinking laptop is a better investment.
No thanks.. If Hp price the PalmPad or whatever it's called more than the iPad than it's a #fail ..
And yet one could still purchase an HP - Laptop / AMD Athlon
Two issues with your comparison. First is that if this is being targeted for business use it's probably going to be using Windows Pro or Ultimate edition. Those two versions add between $80-$200 to the price over the Home version. Second is that as devices get smaller component wise they become more expensive to make. Trying to compare a tablet to a laptop in price and hardware specs alone is a stupid thing to do. The things to compare would be performance and size/weight. If those things along with the price don't balance out verse the laptop THEN you can complain about this price.
Most businesses are looking for value-add and ROI. Any tablet has to show a value-add over existing technology to be adopted. This is similar to the $40k Chevy Volt compared to the $20k Cruze it's based on. Sure, coal-powered vehicles are neat, but is "neat" worth $20k more for basically the same capability? Or back to $800 Win 7 tablet, what does it let me do that my $400 laptop doesn't?
Good point. I guess this device will be targeted to a very specific audience, businesses that love the idea of doing everything that a computer can do on a smaller touchscreen device. Something else that's nice about it though is that it is more portable, meaning you can possible connect it to a wifi or bluetooth projector and walk around with it while doing a business presentation or seminar and presenting all the slides and information while being mobile.
This is a MUCH BETTER VALUE THAN AN iPAD.
Buying an iPAD is buying nothing more than a screen with a web browser on it *yawn*. There is no productivity software on it except for whatever bare bones stuff Apple sells you through iTunes. If I am going to pay a couple hundred dollars for a slate, I want something I can load anything I want on it that I have on PC.
Not only that but a screen with a web browser that can only use half of the web...
Worst iPad description, ever.
$799 does not equal "a couple hundred."
800.00 for a tablet? Come on HP... Windows 7 is not worth the money...
those specs would make for a sweet ass phone...well except the cameras...
...just saying
For personal use, apart from the screen size, I need to think about why this is a better option than a netbook. While you could load Photoshop on this, I'm not sure it would be good experience to run Photoshop it on this machine. This device would probably not persuade me to retire my laptop.
For the enterprise, the situation may be different. I could keep this parked in the dock at my desk for e-mail and all my other low power business apps and then take it with me to meetings, or to work at home with or without a second dock. I could see this getting some acceptance in the business world.
Having said that, I am looking forward to a webOS tablet. I would expect it to cost significantly less and, for me, be every bit as functional.
I need this like I need another hole in my head. Intel Atom? Gimme a break!
Slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow is what that will be.
For this being marketed to business, it's nice to see this.. It's nice..... Price needs to come down to be more competitive.
Or how about half that price for a laptop that's not all that much bigger but has 4gb ram, 250gb hard drive, and comes with real keyboard and dvd/rw drive. Other than the "cool factor", I don't see the value-add for Windows-based tablets.
Do you see the value in a webOS based tablet? Other than the "cool factor?" I think thats all tablets are. "Cool"
Mostly, no. Tablets are nice if your cell phone screen is too small. The big selling point for the iPhone was the apps, most of which were FREE or less than $2. That's the value add, TCO with all the apps you want. I had a Windows Phone (Blackjack 2), and all the apps were $10, and there must have been tens of them. A full version of Windows gives a business a lot of management capabilities that I'm not sure exist in iOS or Android or WebOS. But once I'm on a full version of Windows, what's the value add for a tablet over a netbook for its intended function? There needs to be a lot to justify the $400 premium. Appropriately priced tablets can make sense for a consumer where the "cool factor" comes in, but in the enterprise, the main "cool factor" is cost/benefit and ROI.
This has a 64gb SSD in it, that's a big user experience difference and makes it mostly an 'instant on' device like a smartphone or ipad. The ipad 64gb is $699, and that's running a phone OS without pen input options. This is a walk-around device, meant to replace what many of us use notepads or smartphones for. Try taking meeting notes on an ipad with gestures and an onscreen keyboard and let me know how that works for you. Or use One-Note with a pen interface and see that this isn't just another toy for amusement and single-purpose 'aps'.
Yeah. This thing isn't for everybody. But for the people it is for, this thing is awesome.
great conference tool, especially running windows 7. We'll be picking up at least one
for all the complaints about price: it's a business oriented product. the price reflects the margins you've come to expect as a corporate buyer. pretty unlikely they'd charge the same for a similarly spec'd product aimed at consumers with WebOS on it.
It comes with Win 7 Pro. Not your standard home addition. It appears to run it very well. I would like more storage, but at this point if they go over 64GB, it would cost a lot more. I would deninately buy this before I would buy a iPad (toy), Netbook or Mac Book air. However, I will probably just buy a new laptop. For $800 dollars you can get a nice one.
People who are not convinced that this is better than iPAD need to look at the following video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFKPXg4_Y9w&feature=&p=9DA10DC202D74E79&i...
iPAD is sold as a media consumption device but it does not support flash, has really miniscule amount of ram (256 MB) which causes safari to crash all the time (I should knw I own one). Does not support a lot of apps especialy productivity related apps. iPAd also does not have a very good keyboard and no expansion slots. Lets compare Slate 500 to ipad
Processor: Atom z550 (1.86 Gz vs 1GHz Arm Cortex A8
Memory: 2 GB Vs 256 Mb
Storage: 64 GB + sd card slot + usb port Vs 16, 32 or 64 GB versions with no expandability
Apps: hundreds of thousand of apps both free or paid available Vs 20,000 ipad apps majority of which are games and offer less functionality than their Desktop OS counterparts
Media Consumption Device: Netflix, Hulu,Full web + download, Flash, all codecs are supported VS specific apps that limit what you can do and may require fee e.g. Hulu plus, no flash that limits majority of media sites on the web requires specific codecs
Expansion slots/Options: SD card, usb, hdmi (on the dock) Vs just an iphone connector Everything costs EXTRA
Camera: front facing and rear facing Vs nothing
Dock: For those times that you need a full keyboard a dock with HDMI out and 2 extra usb orts is INCLUDED along with a case.
Pen Input: Virtual keyboards on such a big device are really bad plain and simple a pen is needed for one hand operation and that is included with slate 500
Newspaper/Journals: Zinio on desktop offers more Journals than Zinio on ipad they are not the same Also, slate 500 will support Adobe Air this is still up in the air for iPAD.
Multitasking: True Multitasking vs pseudo multitasking that might be even more limited due to ipad's low memory
Size/Weight: 8.9" 1.5 lbs Vs 9.7" 1.5 Lbs (for wifi version)
Resolution: 1024x600 Vs 1024x768
Battery Life: One are where ipad excels, Slate 500 is rated at ~5 HR Vs 10 Hr battery for ipad, standby times and usage are also better for ipad
Performance: Contrary to poplar belief a netbook with 1.66 GHz will do most common tasks without any problems. Atom has trouble playing 720p or above media files or flash but this device has broadcom crystal HD accelerator to overcome that issue and the processor is also faster. iPAD is fast for most tasks but it is not lightning fast as most people believe. If a windows machine did one thing at a time it would also be lightning fast.
With HP slate you really have no limitation other than those imposed by 2 GB of memory or 1.866 GHz processor but if you needed more memory or power you would not be using a slate device anyway.
I think the price point is completely valid a sit is much cheaper than an equally configured iPAD.
I am sure I have still missed out a bunch of features/advantages that Slate 500 has over ipad but you get my point.
You mentioned the processor & accelerator on the slate. They are saying the slate can play back video at 1080p vs 720p on the iPad.
how much is the licensing fee to use WIN 7 on any computer?. Maybe palmpad will be cheaper since hp owns webOS?
Certainly cheaper for HP, but will they pass on the savings or offset the cost of the Palm purchase?
I can guarantee that the "PalmPad" will be cheaper than the Slate. At least by $100 if not $200. In fact, I see HP releasing at least two different sized "PalmPads". 5-7 inch size and 8-10 inch size. I hope if they do make two different sizes the the smaller one will be in the $500 price range.
Here is my ideal scenario though:
5.5 inch- $450
7.5 inch- $550
9.0 inch- $650
Released all at the same time and HP would have an insane hype release.
PalmPAD with the same hardware/formfactor will be awesome :) I am hoping for a Tegra 2 or Ti 4440 though.
$799? No thanks. $500? Sure. $600? Sure, but over $600, no. If I were an executive with an executive salary, sure, but I'm not, and therefore don't see the use for it. More interested in what the WebOS Tablet and the playbook have to offer. I already have a laptop that meets my laptop needs, so a laptop with no keyboard won't do it for me.
rather buy an abacus.
Yay broadcom!
my future employer is making me proud already.
Anyway,
People have been making tablets with windows since the. XP days. I have a Fujitsu convertible tablet and I love it. It's ten times more powerful than this too.
I'm glad to see Broadcom is keeping up its tradition of hiring the best and brightest!
If my Pre Plus had a 4" screen, it would be my "Tablet". :-)
As someone who loves his netbook, I would seriously consider this device... If it was just slightly cheaper. I could see myself getting a lot out of it both for work and for home. Much as I love my netbook, using the touchscreen on my Pre has gotten to feel so natural that I try to do it to my netbook as well.
Well LOL! Finally! A Windows device...ummm..now lets see...docking station but no keyboard....umm...pen touch...like that...was at a conference..folks got up to speak and had their notes on their IPAD...coool....and handouts to boot....was totally envious.....I just want a keyboard...light powerful touch and a keyboard..whats so hard about that?
Just had another thought....when will what I put on my phone show up on my computer..you know..kinda cloud stuff..I pay so that my notes, contacts and personal calendar turn up...my work uses web for outlook for out of office...and I can get google..but I hate their office stuff and dont use it....It would seem to me someone out there would find this a useful and efficent way to use computers and smartphones and build it in for us business folks...does anyone have a clue who is designing this stuff..or is everyone thinking games and games? LOL!!!!
Enterprise user here. This would be PERFECT! And if the people who control the purse strings can spend $10k on my business class flights, $700 should be chump change.
Put webOS on this and I'll wait outside in the rain to buy it, iPhone-style.
HP, are you listening? Everyone here has been complaining about the Pre 2 and suddenly they're all drooling.
Fail.
Yeah HP failed on this one... $799... I might as well buy a new laptop for that much... or get an iPad for cheaper... yes I said it, an iPad... $499/$599 is where they should have been... unfortunately I think like the 1st $200 is the OS license which is very sad to say the least... I'd taken an OS free Slate even if I could if I could knock it down and just put my own on it...
This is not for consumers. This is for Enterprise. Business users need things that are actually useful and productive and will pay for them. You can't do anything productive on an iPad, so who cares if it costs less.
$200? If I waste 30 minutes because I cannot get something done, my firm loses $200. Literally. So do you think they are going to care that the iPad is marginally cheaper?
You are %100 correct. I hate how people keep comparing the iPad price to the Slate. Seriously people, the iPad is a HUGE iPod touch. The Slate is a productivity tool, not a toy. So obviously it's going to be a bit more expensive than the iPad. On that note, the iPad is way over priced for what you're getting. $600 for a over-glorified iPod touch...
For a full function business device I don't think that $799 is out of line, although I still say it needs 2 USB ports.
A webOS PalmPad needs to be cheaper though. I would ditch the pen interface and cut the RAM in half. WebOS doesn't require the RAM that a full version of Windows does. As far as the pen interface goes, I see the usefullness, but it's a feature that adds cost and appeals to a very limited group of people, while a reasonable price appeals to everyone.
Bells and whistles are great, but HP needs volume and that will be driven by price.
I'd love a form factor like this for travelling so could leave laptop at home.
Battery life is the killer question.
This is a fully featured windows table. It is good. Perhaps if they made a lite version of windows, lighter than their "basic". It might last longer.
If they wanted to put a mobile OS that is windows, they would've done WP7. Its not their target. Its clearly an enterprise gadget that consumers can use.
If I it was 600, I would get it. Load ubuntu linux for netbooks on it and have a go. Someone will eventually do it.