Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Oct 22, (THAINDIAN NEWS) After the Samsung Galaxy Tab yet another contender to Apple’s iPad has landed and it is no other than the much awaited HP Slate 500 tablet. The stupendous success of the iPad has made other companies sit up and think about the potential in the still nascent Internet tablet market. iPad sales continue to grow and it has surpassed many other devices of the Cupertino based company in terms of sales within a few months of its launch. So, can the HP Slate tackle the iPad head on after its launch. The Slate does cost higher than the iPad and much more than the Samsung Galaxy tab. At approximately $799 it is definitely not cheap.

It is quite clear that Hewlett-Packard is targeting the hardcore business consumers with Slate 500 tablet. It exudes a quintessential corporate look. It is slightly smallish than the iPad in terms of screen dimension. As expected it runs the Windows 7 Professional OS of Microsoft which is Apple’s arch rival. One can now buy the HP Slate from web and also through the channel partners of the company. HP redesigned the Slate 500 after buying out Palm Inc earlier this year. The weight of the device is only 1.5 pounds. The inclusion of the VPN network indicates that it is meant for the business users who need to connect to the virtual private networks.

HP Slate does have its strong points over the iPad. It has an Intel Atom Z450CPU and 2GB of RAM. The 64 GB SSD is adequate for users who need to move a lot. The inclusion of a HDMI port and Broadcom’s Crystal HD accelerator is a good decision on the part of HP.