HP New Laptop Launched with 8.9 Inch Screen, Features

Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled its first product for the fast-growing tablet market, a $ 799 device running Microsoft Windows that is aimed at business customers.

HP's offering has an 8.9-inch, multi-touch-enabled screen, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 64 gigabytes (GB) of storage and a digital stylus pen. It gets five hours of battery life.

It comes equipped with Wi-Fi access but no built-in capability to connect to high-speed cellular networks, as rivals including the iPad, Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab and Dell's Streak have.

Features

1. The HP Slate features the Intel Atom processor, which is commonly found in inexpensive netbook computers. Rival tablets run on low-power ARM-based chips found in smartphones.

2. The device is equipped with cameras in the front and back, enabling video conferencing, and a USB port. It comes with a case and a docking station.

3. HP's Slate is now available online, and the company will be selling it to businesses through its direct sales force.

It's $ 799 price tag makes it more expensive than the Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad, which starts at $ 499 and runs up to $ 699 for a 64-GB model. A 3G iPad starts at $ 629.

Verizon Wireless plans to sell Samsung's 7-inch tablet for $ 600. Dell's 5-inch Streak is priced at $ 550 but can be had for $ 300 if bought with a data plan through AT&;T.

HP's Slate 500 tablet

Hewlett-Packard Co. released its Slate 500, for $800 price on Friday.

The Slate 500, which runs Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system and is aimed at workplace users rather than consumers.

The Slate has built-in front- and rear-facing cameras, including a three-megapixel higher resolution camera on the back.It has a USB port that allows it to work with a variety of plug-in digital accessories.

But HP's tablet, which is now available through its retail store and will ship in mid-November, is priced higher than Apple's entry-level $499 iPad, has half the advertised battery life (five hours instead of 10) and does not come with the option of a cellular wireless plan, like Apple's more expensive iPads. Instead, the Slate is limited to Wi-Fi Internet connectivity.

A press release advertising the device says it is "designed specifically for business, enterprise and vertical customers looking for the mobility of a tablet, the familiarity of Microsoft Windows 7 and the ability to run custom or corporate applications."

HP, which acquired Palm earlier this year, is also at work on a consumer device that will use the webOS operating system that runs on some of Palm's smartphones.

Source:hp.com and latimes.com

HP WebOS Tablet, from early 2011

Hewlett-Packard has been eager to get into the tablet game for quite some time and, though it met a few hurdles in its Windows 7 slate PC development, it seems to be making progress in not just this area, but also that of webOS-running slates, the first of which will supposedly debut in early 2011.
Though a number of special purpose tablet PCs have been in existence for years, media slates have only this year become popular, after Apple unveiled the iPad, to be exact.
HP will try to offer a wider variety of tablets, which is why it is working on not just slates running a version of Windows or another, but also one powered by the webOS platform that it acquired when it bought Palm.
The slate in question is, currently, codenamed Hurricane and will likely become the flagship non-Windows tablet.
Source