Reputable Spanish publication
Clipset has the first concrete report on pricing and internal specs for
HP's Slate. Seemingly obtained from HP itself, the €400 ($546) price tag positions the Slate a notch above netbooks and bodes well for
the expectation that it'll undercut
the iPad's entry level pricing. Straight currency conversations are inadvisable in such situations, so we'll just have to wait until official stickers for the iPad in Europe are known or HP announces US prices for the Slate. Further info includes an Atom CPU,
Flash support, USB connectivity, a memory card reader, and a back-mounted webcam (see it after the break). The launch of this Windows 7 device is slated for June, while retail availability in Europe is said to be expected at some point "before September." It's not clear what all that means for the US, but we doubt HP will be making its home turf wait longer than the rest of the world. Rest assured, we'll be reaching out to HP HQ before they've had their first cup of green tea to find out.
Update: HP's response to our queries has been typically tight-lipped. The company refused to discuss
Clipset's specs and pricing, which would suggest that -- even though they may be spot on -- they are not yet official.
posted March 19th 2010 6:27AM
Damn, that cheap and it seemingly confirms no Wacom pen support. If it had that I'd be interested.
@jhoff80
Seemingly confirms no wacom pen support? I do see the Tablet PC Input Panel docked to the side, which should be a sign of some kind of stylus support...
@jhoff80
Are you gonna run Photoshop on an Atom???
@jhoff80 I think the what would really be cool if this Windows 7 slate had the ability to ALSO boot into the Windows Phone 7 OS. The best of both worlds. Boot into Windows 7 for the full OS experience and then switch to Windows Phone 7 OS when you want a more single app geared for touch experience.
@graey
The input panel is an integrated feature of the OS regardless of active v. resistive.
By the way, I believe this has two cams. The back is obvious, but images show a front facing webcam in the upper left.
One more thing. Anybody else think the screen size of this thing will be closer to 7 inches and not 10?
@Michael Scrip
why shouldn't you want to run PS on such a tiny nice littel slate?
btw, Autodesk Sketchbook would make much more sense, sadly useless without a pressure sensitive Wacom pen.
But you don't need a pen for drawing only. You could also use this slate as a real notebook, taking notes in OneNote, Windows Journal, annotating PDF files, Powerpoint sheets, such stuff.
All impossible with a capactive touchscreen only.
So I would like, at least an optional option to buy this slate with an addition Wacom digitizer behind the display panel.
What we really need is for someone to start selling good quality netbook to tablet conversion kits for different brands of netbooks.
You simply take the guts out of your old Asus 1005 netbook and stick it into a prefabricated tablet case with capacitive touchscreen.
I would pay $200 - $300 for that :)
@One Love Thats a great idea! I would easily pay a few hundred for something like that plus it would sell well to the geeks and you could imagine the type of mods and customeization that could rise. Anyways great idea, I like the way you think
@angermeans I wish you could go the other way as well - upgrade an existing tablet, which I have, with a new motherboard. PCs are the great erector set of technology, standard parts that connect with cables that usually only fit one way. Anyone can build a PC from scratch with off the shelf parts. Would very much like to see this ethic for notebooks as well.
@Michael Scrip i've been running photoshop on my eee for months.. it only bogs when i'm watching youtube too.
@jhoff80 Sigh, if this had pen input, it would kill the iPad in soooo many markets, especially with OneNote.
To everyone else: stop thinking so narrowly. Just because you wouldn't use a feature, does not mean that many others wouldn't.
@Michael Scrip No, but I'd love to run OneNote on it, as mentioned below.
@jhoff80 Er... above.
@nedy78
judging from my experience on the original 7 inch eee PC, 7 inch screen is a baaaad idea if you're running full blown Windows.
@jhoff80 i can handle the no pen support. but a BACK mounted web cam. someone needs to put down that crack pipe
@eddieexe The screen size doesn't matter so much, it's the resolution. The original Eee had a 800x480 screen, which was much bigger of an issue than its 7" screen.
@Michael Scrip
No - but it would be the perfect one-note notepad!
@jhoff80 HP has always been striving to innovate and trying to be competitive over the past few years. If ever this tablet pave way to the lack of inputs that the iPad has. For sure this slate will be fantastic to see. first reactions: http://is.gd/9ZX5w
@jaxim
Agreed!
@zweihander Did you run Windows 7 on it too?
@Michael Scrip I am running it just fine on my wibrain w/ a via
@nedy78
I know, but why would you show it on a press shot if your product doesn't support some kind of stylus? Capacitive/resistive doesn't matter, there are styluses for both kinds.
@Michael Scrip
Not if it has NVidia Optimus!!
Bye bye iPad.
@ultrakomm
Dont worry, they will both have a market.
@ultrakomm
Never thought about iPad or even an ebook reader. I was waiting for this all the time.
@ultrakomm
I doubt it will offer any competition to the iPad. Just remember that all the Windows geeks love their little $350 convertible netbooks which are supposedly 5X better than ANY tablet. HP won't be able to move this Slate PC at all. Hands up! How many netbook users want to give up their physical keyboard. Nobody put up their hands. I rest my case.
@MosesusedaniPad Me for one. I have a proper laptop if I want to do any real work.
@MosesusedaniPad
My hand's up if it has stylus support. The convertibles are a good idea, but the added weight of the keyboard makes them really annoying to hold for long periods of time.
@ultrakomm
Don't follow Apple much I see? Just because HP has a similar product in no way threatens Apple's product success. That's just typical troll talk from an Apple-basher that is common on Engadget.
@ultrakomm The HP Slate will be a solution for the people who want more power than the iPad delivers. I only watched the first few minutes of the iPad keynote before I knew it wasn't going to meet my needs, and that Apple obviously targeted non-power users. The HP Slate fills in the holes.
I've had a netbook since 2004, a Sony Vaio pcg-tr3, and I'll be adding a Slate to my collection when it comes out.
The possibilities are, as opposed to the iPad, endless. Within (a) week(s) of the Slate's release, Android will be dual booting. With real usb ports and a full OS, modifications will naturally come.
@ultrakomm Bye bye iPad... What! Why? I agree this HP slate looks pretty impressive but my concern is that it runs Windows! Tablets running windows have been around for years and looks at their terrible sales figures, Windows is too complex for a consumer item like a tablet. Windows Mobile 6 is a good example of an OS aimed at pen based PDA's that failed miserably for finger operated phones. Windows 7 is the same, it's aimed at powerful PC's that can do a lot, not low end processors with limited input options. Good luck to HP but I certainly doubt their sales figures will be anywhere near those of the iPad's.
@ukSamo Not quite. The basic versions of Win7 run quite well on Atoms, and with the integrated touch features, I expect will pair nicely with the Slate.
That, plus I'm not locked into Apple's app store, AND I will almost certainly be able to tether this with my Blackberry, so I don't have to buy another full, expensive data plan. That's a win.
@ukSamo
I agree with this comment about the Windows based operating system. I'm not some Apple freak, but the Apple approach does have its benefits, like instant-on, no hard drive, zero-configuration.
Sure it's fun to tinker, but from a fundamental, CONSUMER point of view, I want the device I use to just work the way I want it to. I don't want to have to personalize settings, or configure wireless cards, or work my way through a byzantine file storage structure.
The HP Slate may be a more powerfully spec'ed device, but at the some time, the Apple iPad might be a more functional device because of its simplicity and an operating system designed for specific hardware with nothing extraneous (in fact, some things missing that some might consider very important).
The approach is different. Apple is building a device and software in conjunction to serve a very specific purpose. HP is using generic hardware and generic software and building an additional layer of abstraction to simplify it and merge the two into one unit.
I am more compelled by Apple's approach, to be honest. I think $500 is a little on the high-end of reasonable, but still reasonable. I'll probably wait for the iPad 2G, or at least the OS 4.0 update, before I consider buying an iPad... but as a Tablet device, I find Apple's simplistic approach to be better. I want to grab the device and be doing what I want to be doing in seconds.
How long does it take a netbook to boot up, or even to recover from standby? The first generation iPhone does it within 1 second with 256mb of RAM ... the HP Slate has a harddrive, a full operating system that's functioning whether you need that specific operation at the time or not, and how much RAM to keep active? Anyone with an Atom netbook? What does it take, 10 seconds to come out of standby and accept clicks or load an application? I can have the New York Times webpage at least partially loaded in that amount of time on an iTouch device.
@MosesusedaniPad
I agree. Device like this need ARM processor and smartphone like OS and not desktop OS with modified GUI. If HP will have Atom there is no point for me to give up physical keyboard of my netbook.
@James Sonne
Good point with the small exception that the 2G and 3G iphones only have 128MB of RAM
only the 3GS has 256 RAM
@James Sonne
iPad and Slate will both use solid state disks. As for instant on, my netbook with windows 7 returns from standby instantly. 1-2 seconds max.
@James Sonne It takes about 2 seconds to come out of standby on my samsung nc10 (this is on the oldest atom). it has around 6 hours battery life and throughout the day, i never turn it off, i just put it in standby. at night, i charge it. in addition, word, excel, the browser, winamp, powerpoint, reason, windows media player, quicktime, skype, onenote, etc etc. all open in under 6 seconds. i can also surf in chrome with more tabs open than is useful.
@James Sonne "I want the device I use to just work the way I want it to." With the i you have a device that works the way Steve wants it too. If that works for you, good for you. However there seems to be a large group of people for which that is not acceptable. Hence why Jailbreak is alive and well and other non Apple products exist.
@James Sonne
1. the iPad uses SSDs, so will the HP Slate
2. my underpowered laptop from 7 years ago running windows 7 on a normal HDD boot up from standby instantly, taking about 1-2 seconds to recognize the touchpad. It starts up from being off within about 20 or so seconds...for a 7 year old laptop, thats good
3. you still have a convincing arguments, you for one actually know how to argue unlike other fanboys that support their companies, trusting that its night time if they say it is even if the sun is clearly still up.
@abedinthehouse Video of your 7yo laptop booting in win7 in 20 seconds or it didn't happen ;)
@abedinthehouse SSD or integrated OneNAND?
Interesting, kinda hoped for a non-atom, but I guess atom's the only choice for that price point/form factor
@akbc
This almost kills it for me. I was hoping for a Intel CULV. But I know I shouldnt wish such things...
@akbc
Same here, it just killed the product for me...the atom CPU and the high price
@akbc
I am with you guys. Atom is too slow for me, but at that price point I guess there isn't a whole lot of choice. I might get one for traveling though
@WixosTrix
i bet you didn't know there's a restriction on CULVs that they cannot be used on a 10" device or smaller...
and, think about battery life..
i wouldnt want a 10" slate that runs only 2.5 hours for me
@akbc No kidding, I'd think at this price point they can at least through in a CULV, even a single core is way better than the Atom.
@(Unverified)
I didn't know about that restriction. But CULV have better battery life than that. The Asus UL series or whatever have CULV's and they're rated atleast 10 hours, a couple 12.
@WixosTrix Yes, UP TO 12 hours depending on configuration and usage.
That means: least powerfull CPU with most powerfull battery (8cells), power saving features on and no heavy tasks running.