HP Slate 500

Characterized by the Palo-Alto based company as the ideal tablet device for “professionals who don’t usually work at traditional desk”, what would make this slate win over other tablets is its operating system – which of course a preferable choice for those who always want working in Windows environment they are accustomed with. Of course, that will also depend on its price point, which until now I’m still waiting for my source’s updates. What we know so far is it’s priced at $799 in the US. But I’m expecting Philippine price would be cheaper due to the tight competition.

Just in case you forgot what are from within the HP Slate 500, it actually features:

• 32-bit Genuine Windows 7 Professional OS
• 1.86 GHz Intel Atom Processor Z540
• Intel SCH US15W Chipset
• 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• SSD Storage up to 64GB
• CD/DVD R/RW via External USB 2.0
• 8.9-inch WSVGA touchscreen display
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Video Accelerator
• Integrated 3MP Camera; Integrated VGA webcam
• HP Slate Digital Pen
• HD Audio, Integrated Stereo Speakers,
• Integrated Mic, Combo Stereo Headphone/Mic Jack
• USB 2.0
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0
• 2-cell (30 WHr) polymer battery, with 5+ hours life

Hopefully, I can take my hands on this slate; probably when HP follows its event schedule here in Cebu, which is set on the last week of April. By the way, my source also mentioned the HP Touchpad probably won’t hit the local shelves until next quarter. So that’s going to be a long wait until we see that first webOS tablet. Surely, we’ll let you know once we get more updates of its release. So, just stay tuned!

Update: I received another update after the said HP event in Manila earlier today and the HP Slate 500 has just been showcased, but was never launched. No, not yet in Asia-Pacific; just in the US for the time being.