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HP Slate 500 finally (finally!) official, rings up at $799
Nope, you're not dreaming, but feel free to pinch yourself, rub your eyes or take a cold shower! You've read right -- the HP Slate is finally official, and after all the teasing, back and forth, and (very recent) leaks, the Atom-powered, Windows 7 Slate will finally see the light of day -- though in a different way than originally intended. While the first videos released by HP may have made it seem like it would be for consumers, HP's tactfully changed its tune (don't forget it's got Palm / WebOS tablets on the way) and is now aiming the Slate at the enterprise and business market. Still, it will be available on HP's site for $799 to anyone who wishes to purchase one. So, what does $800 of your hard earned cash buy you? Well, in addition to the dock and case, which are included in the box, the tablet packs pretty much everything we'd heard over the last year -- it's powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD and packs Broadcom's Crystal HD accelerator for handling 1080p video. (The included dock has an HDMI-out port if you want to hook it up to the big screen.) Obviously, the 8.9-inch capacitive touch Slate runs Windows 7 Professional, but it's got a Wacom N-Trig active digitizer for taking notes, which certainly sets it apart from the other Win 7 tablets we've seen over the last couple of weeks. Oh, and don't forget its front facing VGA cam and 3 megapixel camera on its back. We got a chance to finally grope the tablet earlier this week, so hit the break for our early impressions and a short video. %Gallery-105701% %Gallery-105726%
HP Slate 500 unicorns its way into e-tailers with product code, leaked documents
We'd heard the HP Slate finally had a date with destiny (and corporate pocketbooks) sometime this fall, and it's looking like the device is nigh -- a number of boutique online retailers are taking orders for an HP Slate 500, which purportedly comes with an Intel Atom Z540 CPU, 8.9-inch WSVGA LED-backlit screen, 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 64GB solid state drive, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a webcam, a two-cell battery and Windows 7 Professional installed, all for somewhere around the vicinity of $800 to $900. What's more, CNET's just stumbled upon a document that apparently details the same, plus an HP Slate Digital Pen (no doubt for those who abhor sausages) and a rear-facing 3 megapixel camera. We'd chalk up the CNET leaks to old prototype documentation and the e-tailer product listings to wishful thinking if either appeared on their own, but together we have to imagine there's some sort of wind a' blowing.
