The HP Slate is Finally Official; It Costs $800!

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Please, stifle your incredulous gasps, we don't want to scare it away.

It's been a long time coming guys, but it looks like the HP Slate has finally been confirmed. Well, reconfirmed. First announced as the Windows 7 tablet at CES in January of 2009, the company shelved the device in April (just when people were starting to believe those June launch rumors). HP was expected to launch it before the year was out, but it would no longer be a consumer device. The company was said to be targeting the enterprise market with the Slate. This week, speaking about previous plans to target the consumer market, HP's CTO and VP Phil McKinney said the company had been "bullish" about the direction the tablet would take.

"The first videos of the slate showed a consumer product with functions like e-reading, video calling and media creation. And we talked about how it fit snuggly into a new category between cell phones and netbooks," Phil said. "We were bullish about the direction we were taking at the time, but an unanticipated development gave us an opportunity to refine our plans.

"When HP acquired Palm this year, we saw huge potential in webOS as the foundation for a whole ecosystem of connected consumer devices," he continued. "We quickly realized that we had to include the slate in that equation. Imagine the slate connecting to the cloud and working in concert across all your devices. We adjusted our approach, shared our new vision and confirmed that a webOS slate will reach the market in 2011."

So HP's plan was to go full steam ahead in targeting the business market with the Windows 7 Slate PC. Well, here it is, the 8.9-inch HP Slate for business customers. It's been described by some as a netbook without the keyboard and it's easy to see why. The tablet boasts an 8.9-inch (1024x600) display, a 1.86GHz Atom Z540 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 64 GB SSD, a Broadcom Crystal HD chip for playing 1080p video, a front-facing camera for video conferencing along with a traditional rear-facing camera (3-megapixels), and one USB port. The external dock that comes bundled with the tablet packs two more USB ports and HDMI out.

The tablet is available now in a bundle that includes the docking stand, a carrying case, and a stylus and retails for just shy of $800. Though it's aimed at business consumers, anyone can buy it from HP's business website, so if you're really dying for a Windows 7 tablet and have $799 to drop on one, pay HP a little visit.

Check out HP's brand new commercial for the Slate below.

Source: HP

Jane McEntegart
66 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dkant1n
    If I had plenty of money I would buy it if I needed something of that form-factor. But for less money you can have a netbook with keyboard and same (or more) functionality.
    This is for executives so they can show off their new toy, just like iPhone was at the time (now its a war)
    Reply
  • mlopinto2k1
    dkant1nIf I had plenty of money I would buy it if I needed something of that form-factor. But for less money you can have a netbook with keyboard and same (or more) functionality.This is for executives so they can show off their new toy, just like iPhone was at the time (now its a war)HYPOCRISY
    Reply
  • sliem
    Too darn expensive!!! You are not APPLE, you are HP!
    Reply
  • mlopinto2k1
    That damn thing looks ridiculous. No one in their right mind would agree with using a fully featured OS on a MOBILE DEVICE. It's like putting a Yugo motor in a Chevy Suburban.
    Reply
  • thejerk
    YEEEEEEEEEEEEEOUCH!
    Reply
  • HP has never been a good experience with me. Their software is like a parasite; its there doing something worthless and very annoying to remove. I removed their software a month ago, but i found out last week that it was still in the kernal program hogging cpu performance. After removing it my computer, it runs as fast as it was new. Sorry guys, but i just don't like HP at all, software and hardware.
    Reply
  • rmse17
    Business execs will get Apple ipads for much cheaper..
    Reply
  • dsolom3
    Looks like a semi-decent value proposition from my end. Come on, Atom Z540 (dual core!) @ 1.86 GHz VS A4 single-core ARM 1 GHz, 2 GB RAM VS 512 MB, Broadcom HD video chip @1080p VS PowerVR SGX 535 @720p. Beats the living crap outta iTampon 64GB for 100 bux more, that's for sure. iTampon's stand + case + stylus would run for more than $200 from the fruity-themed toymaker, so there is your price difference. I'd guesstimate the power of the cpu to be about 3-4 that of A4, 4 times the RAM, similar screen size. However, this tablet is an actual computer (capable of compiling its own programs), something an iTampon is most definitely NOT. And if I can get the refund for Windows, then it will be even cheaper than that too. I could run Ubuntu 10.10 (with touchscreen support) and/or compile Android for it from git (come on Intel, make that x86 Android!). Just hoping that Broadcom put out a good driver for their chip for linux... However, it does nothing useful to me that my Aspire One 8.9" (with Ubuntu) doesn't do already, touchscreen is useless when editing documents for school but can be fun for the web, and lack of included keyboard is a put-off for me, so you got some work cut out for you HP!
    Reply
  • jojesa
    For half that price, my EeePC 1215N can do more.
    I will wait for competition to arrive and let's see if HP keeps that price.
    Reply
  • wotan31
    Wow that $599 iPad is so overpriced. Apple is always overpriced. I'm gonna buy an $800 HP tablet instead so I can save money and get better value.
    Reply