Leaked: HP Slate specs compared to iPad

Jacqueline DiOrio 8 Apr, 2010 at 3:18pm ET Article published in Tech

A memo has recently been leaked, which details the specs on HP’s upcoming Slate tablet and how it compares to the iPad. HP has analyzed where its product has advantages over Apple’s iPad and where it has disadvantages.

HP lists several areas where they have an advantage. To begin, the Slate has an SD card reader, a USB port, HDMI out, a webcam, a 3-megapixel camera and a more conventional SIM card tray. These features alone address many of the concerns critics have expressed with the iPad.

The HP also has Pen/Digitizer support and 1080p playback. HP also lists their processor, the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 as an advantage over Apple’s 1GHz Apple A4, designed by P.A. Semi and manufactured by Samsung. It’s unclear as to why HP seems to think that that’s an advantage, considering Apple’s chip is better suited to the power requirements of a tablet.

There are also several ways in which the iPad poses a threat to HP. The iPad has a much longer supposed battery life: Ten hours to the Slate’s five, though neither will probably reach those numbers with average use.

HP’s tablet has a smaller screen than the iPad, and retails for a high starting price, with the 32GB Slate going for $549 compared to the iPad’s 16GB version starting at $499. (The high end products compare better for HP, with their 64GB selling for $599 versus Apple’s 64GB, which is $699.) The iPad also has a better wireless, using N instead of the Slate’s G.

HP appears to have only analyzed the hardware when comparing its device to that of Apple’s, as no mention of software is made beyond the OS, with HP and Apple touting Windows 7 and iPhone OS 3.x+, respectively. Considering that it is really the software and usability that sells Apple products more than the hardware, this might be a mistake on HP’s part.

More fortuitously, the Slate will have many of the software features that the iPad lacks. Considering it will be running Windows 7, it will undoubtedly have flash support and it also won’t force consumers to buy a raft of custom peripherals.

Ultimately it is anybody’s guess as to how the Slate pans out, but it will surely attract those that are interested in the market’s new fascination with tablets, but not with the limitations presented by the iPad.

Comments

8 Apr 2010 ~ 3:22pm Tim Wow, I thought the iPad was bad enough, but HP wants to make it even worse. First, they built a similar product. Then, they charged MORE money for it!
8 Apr 2010 ~ 3:29pm Thrax You can't read.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 3:43pm MAGIC

Thrax wrote:

You can't read.

Lol.

One thing is that IMO nobody has been able to compare to Apple in is the intuitive feeling of the touch technology in their products. If HP can get that down i think a Win7 tablet would be an awesome product.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 3:52pm Cliff_Forster Needs the AMD Neo paired with the 785G, then we will be on to something good.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 4:31pm kryyst The slate will have adopters but it's not going to be an iPad killer any more then any other device that spec'd similar to the iPhone has been an iPhone killer.

What other manufacturers don't seem to get is you can't compete with Apple by making something comparable to their products. You have to carve out your own niche and market something differently.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 5:09pm Basil

SD card reader

Yes.

onboard USB

Yes!

1080p HDMI out

YES!

1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530

FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
8 Apr 2010 ~ 5:18pm QCH

Tim wrote:

Wow, I thought the iPad was bad enough, but HP wants to make it even worse. First, they built a similar product. Then, they charged MORE money for it!

Base price for the iPad IS less than the base HP Slate but with wireless added in and HP has the lead. Go for the top of the line iPad and the HP's top Slate is WAY cheaper.

Lets look at the fact that the Slate will come with Windows 7 and not a phone OS. It will run Office, Web (with flash), support so many more devices and whatever else you have on your Windows 7 system.

I have no use for the iPad. It's not powerful enough nor adaptable to replace my laptop. It is too big and is not a phone to replace my phone. The Slate COULD replace my laptop. It's light, skinny, runs the basic apps I need for daily work, it does 1080p video play back, allows me to plug in
SD card from my camera, and it's $300 less than the top end iPad.

HP... I will try to buy you. I will try... and I will probably love you.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 5:19pm Thrax If the system supports 1080p with a Menlow Atom, then it has some sort of onboard HD decoder chip--likely Broadcom. That means flash accel and an otherwise decent OS experience.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 5:29pm mas0n I'm still happy I picked up a T91MT. Does everything the iPad or Slate will do and for the rare occasions that I really need it, the keyboard is worth the weight.
8 Apr 2010 ~ 5:29pm QCH Another PLUS for the Slate---
GPS
It IS smaller and lighter... by a tiny amount.