MSI's Slatebook 10-inch Atom tablet is not what we've been waiting for
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 11th 2010 9:42AM
posted May 11th 2010 9:42AM
posted May 11th 2010 9:42AM
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HP has just spent a boatload of cash on Palm, so they are hardly unbiased about the performance potential of win7 on a slate, until we actually see how they turn out in reality it seems premature to write them all off.
@knAuz
I dunno why you were downranked. I too want to run another OS on this device. I'd love to see Chrome OS on here.
My feeling is that most tech-people in the know aren't interested in iPhones or iPads, and instinctively hit the [-] button when they see such terms.
What people want from a tablet is so simple and predictable, it is so frustrating to watch these manufacturers put out devices that just completely miss the mark in every way.
Simple formula for what people want from a tablet:
- Give the device a slim, elegant design aesthetic. The surface should be all display with minimal border, very thin, light, and durable. This really isn't complicated.
- Nice CPU/GPU/RAM. Give it the guts of a nice smart phone like the Pre Plus or the Nexus One or something similar.
- Smart Phone OS: Android or WebOS. Maybe Windows Mobile 7 when it comes out, but people don't want traditional desktop Windows.
- Throw in a few sketching/design apps to showcase the a large-format multi-touch interface.
@giesen umm, I don't want a smartphone OS, this isn't a phone. I want an extension of my desktop in the form factor you described. Why does It have to be limited to be useful? There are a number of us at the office here just waiting for the first decent Windows 7 slate to be released that we would purchase instead of a netbook.
@giesen I don't want a smatphone OS I want a windows 7 slate. There is very little you can do with a smartphone OS compared to Windows. Mobile OS apps are not ootimized for a large screen and all look stupid blown up to fit. You can't even display 2 apps on the same screen. A windows computer is worth a lot more than a smartphone computer.
Dear MSI, if you're going to release a Windows 7 slate make sure you focus on it being a netbook killer and not an iPad killer. Therefore I don't care if It gets 5 hours of battery life, just give me the power to do some real work. I recommend you release an Android tablet also, this will at least keep the so called "experts" quiet so they can have something to compare to the iPad and get more clicks. Speaking as one of the Millions of Windows Users out there, if I'm going to buy a slate, I'm buying it instead of a netbook, so make it the best dam netbook killer you can.
www.savehpslate.com
Other companies just don't get it. Apple does.
@John52
Apple just doesn't get me. I want a useful computer not just a short lived novelty toy.
@cool8man Apple makes a cute (albeit expensive) coffee table toy. But some of us like to be productive and a slate should enable that with an optional stylus and a real OS.
@John52 The above reply was meant for jon not cool8man
I don't get it, you all bitched about the ipad how it's just a big iPhone and the OS doesn't work on a device that size, and yet you all seem to want a tablet that's just a big nexus one! Please tell me what I'm missing.
@jellotime91 Don't worry, you're not alone in your observations.
@jellotime91 I believe the word to call those people is "fandroids." they are a loudmouthed, obnoxious, hypocritical people, and should not be disturbed. If you see on in the wild, just stand still, for they have poor eye site and need to see a moving target to lock on.
It is a long journey from a list of dream-specs for an iPad competitor to an actual working product. No actual product can compete with the imagined products listed.
Seriously, all this "iPad-killer" stuff is getting old. They're never going to kill the iPad, just like the PS3 is never going to kill the X-BOX 360.
The first comment anybody made about the iPad was "Oh, nobody's ever going to buy that."
1 million iPads later: "Well, nobody really likes it. They'll stop using it after they see how useless it is."
Millions of apps, books, and dozens of YouTube videos later: "It's just a short-lived trend. It'll be obsolete before you know it."
Interesting…
Criticizing the iPad is like criticizing Norman Rockwell. His paintings portray the real America, not glamorize or mudsling it. The iPad is a real tool, not an expensive toy or a disposable cheapie.
MSI and others are just trying to copy the iPad (like Germany's SMS Nassau (poorly) copied Britain's HMS Dreadnought before WWI). The iPad has achieved market dominance in its area—why not make a great touchscreen desktop? That's where the untapped potential is right now.
@LEM Eagle Or could lead to new innovation and new ideas that the company would have never thought of without those complaints.
@LEM Eagle Well said!
I used to be a huge PS/PS2 fan (mostly because SquareSoft would make games only for that system), then when to PC gaming for quite a while. My husband recently bought an XBOX 360 so he could play Bad Company and his selling point to me was that Final Fantasy XIII would be out on it. Little did I know that FFXIII would be available on all platforms (PS3, PC & XBOX 360), but it was good enough for me at the time. While I would love to support PS because of fandom, Square has branched out to the other operating systems so I have little need to try them out anymore. This may not be the point you were making, but I thought it was interesting you made it. I know this is a completely different topic, but I'm wondering what would happen with Microsoft competition if Apple were to present their version of a console gaming device on the market.
My main point:
I have been a PC user my entire life. It's what was always available in my home growing up. I am very familiar with Windows and thus, like it very much. However, I have recently been having some seriously disheartening experiences with my PC and Windows and that is greatly raising my desire to start investing in Apple products. If I were to consider a tablet today, I would go with an iPad vs. a Microsoft supported one. Just for the sheer fact that I know I would have less operating issues with an Apple product than I would with a Windows product.
@LEM Eagle Who wants to lean over their desktop monitor and touch it all day? Ask HP about touchscreen desktops and how people would rather touch something on their lap (har har) than a giant screen on their desks.
MSI is apparently still evaluating market demand before making any such commitment.
MSI: Intel roughed us up for announcing an ARM tablet.
Intel: We never said nothing about anti-competitive with ARM.
Personally after having used an ipad recently, I feel like it is kind of a POS, the web sucks on it, the touchscreen was laggy and all in all there isn't a whole lot you can do on it that is unique.I for one am far more interested in a full desktop OS on a slate since I can actually see using it for something other than having a big device that crashes or shows broken symbols at every web page that I visit and doesn't have application support for anything that i want to do on it, even if it is as people claim- a little more cumbersome to get around in..
@whormongr I'm curious about what the main functions are that you want to do, that you couldn't do an the iPad?
MSI, it's this easy...Include Tegra 2 = possible buy, no tegra 2 = no fucking way.
You know before Apple changed the world as we know it by releasing their magical iPad people were buying netbooks in droves and were apparently very happy with them. Now all the sudden netbooks suck and are incapable of handling any task more complicated than playing videos and browsing web pages. And regardless, if its UI is anything less than being easily operable cross-eyed and with your big toe, it is useless anyways.
This is some extremely backwards thinking. In the coming months and years Intel will release more powerful Atom processors that consume less and less energy. The distinction in speed between todays laptops and tomorrows netbooks/upmc's/desktop OS tablets will vanish far quicker than the time it takes Apple to patch its iPhone/iPad OS with limited versions of features desktop operating systems have had for decades.
And how is redesigning the UI of a phone OS to fit a tablet a better idea than creating a finger friendly application launcher that runs on top of Windows 7? What, Windows 7 does not have many finger friendly applications available for it? Well guess what, tablet versions of Android and WebOS have even less, if any at all. Yet 90% of the people here would ask developers to concentrate on publishing new applications for these fractured targets with currently zero penetration, when there is an OS with almost infinite penetration, well known and regarded development tools, more applications available for it than there are atoms in the universe, and is already proven to run well on limited hardware (but oh noes, it probably won't be able to play movies on max brightness for 48 hours straight without plugging in).
Trust me, if Apple had decided to release the iPad as a tablet laptop that ran a full blown version of OS X, no one would be suggesting that a phone OS be used on any tablet computer. They choose the route they did because it was easy, and gave them more control over their users, then spread FUD about how slow and power hungry modern computers are to justify the limits they imposed. FUD that naturally everyone ate right up as it is now common knowledge that no computer hardware could hope to run a desktop OS for more than 15 minutes without being hooked directly into a nuclear power plant.
The power of Apple's reality distortion field is reaching epic proportions.
@m00g00
+1
"The power of Apple's reality distortion field is reaching epic proportions."
@m00g00 I agree with 1 exception: Apple didn't just release the ipad with the phone OS because it is easy but also because it has a built in revenue base since if it were OSX you could install 3rd party apps or use the general system apps w/o apple making a dime, but the app store is a built in revenue stream. Unless you jailbreak the device apple gets a cut of everything you pay for on it.
Less bezel, please.
I just wish someone would release something. All this talk and showing off stuff without any actual products is kind of embarrassing for the rest of the market that wants so desperately to take out Apple.
Truth is that none of that stuff will ever showcase well against the iPad and will only strengthen the niche industry that Apple has basically created with their 'tweener' device. And forget about Flash my lovelies. If Flash was supposed to work well on a mobile device it would've happened by now. Instead it's been over 3 years and it's still in the development stages.
I'm glad they're using a real desktop OS and not a worthless cellphone operating system. I have no use for a computer running a mobile OS. Windows 7 is excellent for touch screen devices. I will be keeping a eye on the MSI, Asus, and ExoPC slates because they are all using Windows 7. Hopefully HP will release their Windows 7 slate too. I do not want a slate that is anything like the iPad. I have no use for an iPad.
@cool8man Yep, I have to say I agree with you. ExoPC is so far looking like the logical choice. We just setup the WiiMote Whiteboard using Windows 7, went searching for tablet apps for windows and found a boat load and wow this thing is amazing. Windows gives you soo many choices it blows my mind when I hear people talk about these limited mobile OS's. Oh well I guess times are changing, we seem to loose a level of geekness with each passing generation. Remember the Movie Wall-E?? Could that be our future?
I'm tired of engadget trashing every single Wintel slate computer that is announced. That is such biased reporting as they haven't had hands on with any of these devices. Very unprofessional writers working for Engadget.
msi are fools...that's there is to it..
even hp fears the iPad..that's why they scraped the HP slate...
do the low life folks at msi really believe that some piece of crap running windows is gonna sell at all?!?!
So even HP realized that Windows 7 was not an appropriate OS for a tablet. They dropped it, acquired Palm and have now plans to go tablets Web-OS-based.
MSI is just trying to play catch up. The "me too" game. I personaly think putting Windows 7 on a tablet is a non-sense. I'd never buy anything like that.
If the nerds were allowed to make and sell computers we'd still be using DOS on 640k machines with green or amber text screens. Windows is and always will be nerdvana for people who need feel needed by people oppressed by updates, registries, and running DOS scripts, and malware. Mobile devices don't need all the gewgaws and switches. Most old people get confused with files and folders.
As an example, Because of poor ATT coverage, I switched to a Verizon Touch Pro 2 running Windows Mobile, and now I'm thinking about going back to AT&T and iphone. They cant even get the phone to lock properly to not turn on and call people randomly from your pocket. Im digging around File Explorer trying to delete extraneous files to free up memory. I have to reboot when he damn thing freezes.
Same thing would happen on a windows slate. There might be some superficial eye candy but deep down, you have to mess with settings and registries and virus software. No Thanks.
I tried to use two netbooks including Acer and Dell Mini 10V. Both were awful torture machines because of poorly thought out touch pads and keyboards, and video stuttered while running iTunes.
Sent from my iPad
I love this decision by MSi, keep up the good work guys. Right now, its a race between you and the ExoPC guys for my money.
This is a disappointment to see, it seems as they are either displaying another line of tablet, maybe to try and cover another customer base?
please MSI, " feel free to experiment. However, Keep focus on Android Based tablet. work with google on this device. optimize the screen, id like to see an Android 2.2 (froyo) + Nvidia tegra 2 based tablet with wireless n, possibly a wimax (4g) option unlocked, please spend lots of focus on customizing and tweaking the android OS with your device to run smoothly an efficiently. This Can be done in software. (open source is defiantly the way to go with this device)
offer SD
usb
or if you want classy a Solid State Drive
I want my ARM! I was really excited about this product when it had the Tegra2. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole now that it's Atom.
Why, oh why would you ship a tablet with any OS but Android, and when you're not using Windows there's no reason to use a power-guzzling Atom, you can use a power-sipping Tegra2 instead.
Fools!
You put an inductive stylus (ala HP TX/TM, or Motion) on it and I'll darn sure give this a go. I have said often, if you give me a tablet, give me something to actually write on it with. Not a q-tip, or a pencil eraser on glass, something that reacts like a pencil on paper. Doesn't have to do recognition, but if you've ever experienced Win7 on a convertible, it is pretty good. I typically take notes with a pencil or pen, not finger paints. I like my iPad, but any sort of entry sucks unless you bring up the on screen keyboard. If you are going to have to bring up a keyboard, and it takes half the screen, what's the point. Just get a netbook.
What is it with all this "X+Y+Z = FAIL" sounds like something a 12 year old would say... Sigh, I must be getting old LOL
I do think that when a company produces a tablet most seem to overlook how the user will input into the system, maybe a reason why they have never taken off before now? A normal desktop OS is not an efficient way to run a tablet. I have installed a touchscreen onto my NC10 and while it is useful when a button is big enough, it can be tricky with many of the smaller controls (scroll bars and the window buttons). I messed about with an Android port to X86 on it. It really transformed the way you can _potentially_ use the machine. The touchscreen became something more then a novelty and was actually useful. Okay the current port isn't complete for the NC10 (no sound and other problems) but it has shown to me that with the right OS you don't really need a keyboard or mouse. Although I have to say, a capacitive TS is the best way. Using Android on the resistive screen wasn't as enjoyable as on my old Magic's capacitive!
I would love to see Windows 7 on this device. Most of the things I do on my computer require applications that run only on Windows. Some have Android version but they are crippled.
Moreover, I often switch between multiple files when I work. That's one thing that's hard on an OS made for cell phones (Android).
If this tablet with a Windows operating system were to ever act like my Windows operating system on my desktop...I do not want.