It looks like the HP Slate 500 is starting to ship. Tablet PC Review forum member heatlesssun got his hands on one of the first units.
HP is positioning the Slate 500 as a business tablet rather than a consumer-centric iPad competitor. The computer runs Windows 7 Professional and should be able to handle a wide variety of Windows apps. In addition to a capacitive touch panel, the Slate 500 has an active digitizer for pen input and inking.
Heatlesssun reports that the pen input works well, but palm rejection isn’t that effective out of the box. Third party software can help. The computer reportedly has decent viewing angles, but doesn’t really compare to the iPad’s IPS display on that front. The HP Slate 500 also reportedly offers silent operation, thanks to its fanless design.
You can find more unboxing photos at the Tablet PC Review forum.
The HP Slate 500 is available from HP for $799 and up.
via SlashGear
please any one who knowns how can i ship a hp slate plz tell me…am from Egypt (cairo)..thank u
I am a proud owner of one of these beautiful devices. My biggest concern was all those palm renjection fears. I am happy to report that palm rejection works just fine (heatlussen updated his post).
I also agree with some reviewers that my primary input method will be inking, and not a virtual keyboard. While a virtual keyboard makes sense on my Android phone, a device the size of the slate just screams stylus. Although dialkeys is an attractive alternative.
The HP Slate is snappy, runs MS Office just fine, and Onenote is a joy. Perfect for meetings and has become my goto device at home.
My only complaint is that the stylus does not fit within the slate itself.
I would love to buy one, a real pc, a real tablet, a real pen
Why can’t you people let everything stand on its own merit. Just because maxipad was forst out does not mean it is the gold standard and not everybody would even condider buying a piece of fruit with a byte taken out of it.
Compared to world population and approx. 5 mil of those things sold that is not even 1% doesn’t sound like it is setting the woods on fire now does it??
So Brad… at that price…. do you think this product will be a hit? Personally I can’t see people paying that high a price, but I could be biased 🙂
Having bought (and subsequently sold) the top of the line iPad for $829, I think the price is very competitive at $799. The Slate 500 lacks built-in 3g of my iPad, and the screen is smaller (8.9″ 16:9 v 9.7″ 4:3), but it includes USB, SD card slot, active digitizer, docking startion (with 2-USB and HDMI), custom folio case, and full Win7 Pro.
I won’t argue that the iPad is superior on screen quality and overall “snappiness” but you would be comparing apples and oranges. The iPad is the superior media tablet, and a mediocre business device. The Slate 500 is just the opposite – superior business machine (face it, runs full MS Office and no amount of tinkering gives you 100% file compatibility with third party software on the iPad) and a mediocre media device (although it does support 1080p out – where’s that on the iPad).
Pricing is actually very good for a x86 device which includes a digitizer and Windows 7. Businesses typically are willing to spend significantly more than the average consumer as well. So it should be a very attractive option in that regard.
But in the end it depends on how useful it will be to the intended market and whether a ARM solution may be more practical, at least for companies that can invest in specialized apps, but that remains to be seen.