HP Slate 500 Tablet PC Finally Appears - With Windows 7 Professional!

[Michael Knutson]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/hp-slate-finally-finally-official-rings-up-at-799/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/...ings-up-at-799/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"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."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1287723379.usr17748.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>The long-awaited HP Slate may be available soon, starting at $799. At 1.5-pounds (0.68kg), the Slate sports an 8.9-inch capacitive screen at 1024x600 resolution, 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD, Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator for 1080p video, Windows 7 Professional, a Wacom active digitizer, front-facing VGA camera, and a 3MP back camera. Also a USB port, and a CONTROL + ALT + DELETE key, vital for Windows. With a rubberized back and metal edges, it has a very substantial feel, but still, some quirks, like a slide-out Windows license, and a digitizer, but no place on the Slate to hold the included stylus. This is intended for business and enterprise users, so no additional touch layers, tweaks or skins, but we expect that it will be available for consumer purchase from HP. No information on availability other than that it'll be released in the U.S. first, with other markets to be evaluated. A bit smaller than the iPad, it should run -business software- &nbsp;(like Microsoft Office)&nbsp;that is lacking on other tablets. Looks pretty good to me, but I do wonder about battery life.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
EDIT: 22 OCT 2010. I just ordered an HP Slate 500 from HP's Online Store. Expected ship date is 12 NOV 2010. I can't wait!

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

If battery life can exceed 3-4 hours, I think it'll do well enough for me. Wacom digitiser too, wow!

[Jason Dunn]

Not bad - probably about as good as it gets for Windows 7 slates right now at this stage...ultimately Windows 7 is just the wrong choice for a slate device.

[Michael Knutson]

Not bad - probably about as good as it gets for Windows 7 slates right now at this stage...ultimately Windows 7 is just the wrong choice for a slate device.

Probably. But I do need to be able to run excel, and all the alternatives just don't have all the bells and whistles. I've tried most.

[Sven Johannsen]

Not bad - probably about as good as it gets for Windows 7 slates right now at this stage...ultimately Windows 7 is just the wrong choice for a slate device.
I disagree. I don't find Windows 7 particularly awkward on a tablet. Some friends have been discussing just this in another venue, and I think there is just some lack of education on what Windows 7 actually already provides for touch. Adam Lein provided the following links.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBtEhQqS1dw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eAIUHG1CPI
He is doing this on an HP TM2, but I would rather not have the bulk of the base/keyboard all the time. I would have no problems access mail, videos, netflix, games, as I do with my iPad , but when I stick it in a stand and want to do some real work with a keyboard and mouse, it would be nice to run real programs, Office, Visio, etc. When I want the portability of a tablet, I won't mind a little effort in interface, but when I need to do some work, I can't do it without the full OS at this point. I'm saving up my money for the Slate. (already have the BT keyboard and mouse. ;) )

[Jason Dunn]

I disagree. I don't find Windows 7 particularly awkward on a tablet. Some friends have been discussing just this in another venue, and I think there is just some lack of education on what Windows 7 actually already provides for touch.

I've had a touch-screen based Lenono M90z set up in my kitchen for the past week and a bit, and I'm now very familiar with what works and what doesn't work well with Windows 7. It's still not great. Some things are nice - the IE9 beta works really well with pinch to zoom, and up-down motions with the hand - but it fails utterly when you're trying to tap on the itty-bitty "X" to close a single browser tab. Other apps are touch-ignorant, such as Chrome. And this is on a 23", 1920 x 1080 screen - on a smaller screen with a higher PPI, the small UI elements would be even harder to touch.

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBtEhQqS1dw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eAIUHG1CPI

OK, I watched Adam's first video and learned a couple of new things - but in the first video at the 4:29 mark, it took him three tries to click on the minimize button. That's the kind of thing that gets really frustrating, really fast. IE9 is even worse, because it's been optimized to use up as little screen real estate as possible - the controls I mean - which means it's pretty hard to press on some things. It's even worse when you have a device that has a screen bezel.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

but it fails utterly when you're trying to tap on the itty-bitty "X" to close a single browser tab.

Bit of a stupid question, but why didn't you increase the size of the buttons?

[Jason Dunn]

Bit of a stupid question, but why didn't you increase the size of the buttons?

How? Via the system-wide DPI boost? I've never had good success with that - so many apps don't understand how to cope with that, so you end up with dialogue boxes that are truncated, etc.

Or is there another method I'm missing? :)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Ok, this is a bit more obscure in Windows 7, so here goes:

Go to "Personalize...", then click on "Windows Color", then the link to "Advanced Appearance Settings...". This brings up the classic Windows Apperance dialog.

Select "Caption Button" from the "Item" dropdown; you should be able to select the size.

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, this is a bit more obscure in Windows 7, so here goes...

Sweet! I've never used that functionality before. Thanks for sharing. That improves things with minimize/maximize/close, but the 'x' on browser tabs and whatnot is still tiny.