Once thought to have been dropped in favor of a webOS device, the HP Slate 500 has finally gone official. Rather than compete side by side with the iPad for consumers’ hearts, though, HP is going a different route, pimping it to business and enterprise customers for corporate applications.
Running Windows 7 Professional, the tablet can still be tapped for personal use, just like any portable computer you carry to work. In fact, anybody who wants one can get it right from HP’s site, but the business angle does give it something a little different from what the current crop of tablet devices are peddling.
The HP Slate 500 measures 9.21 x 5.91 x 0.58 inches and weighs 1.5 lbs, making it easy enough to handle the way a tablet should be. Display is an 8.9-inch capacitive touchscreen (1,024 x 600 resolution) for all the multi-touch goodness, with an N-Trig active digitizer to make taking notes a convenient affair.
Details include a 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD for storage, integrated Intel graphics, a Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator for video playback, two cameras (VGA in front and 3 megapixels in the back), WiFi, Bluetooth, a USB port, I/O ports and an integrated mic. Battery is disappointingly limited to only 5 hours of usage, but this is a full desktop OS we’re talking about.
Pricing for the HP Slate 500 is set at $799. It comes bundled with the HP Slate Digital Pen, the HP Slate Dock (with an HDMI out) and the HP Slate Portfolio case.
[HP]