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HP slate in the wild.

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MRU

macrumors Penryn
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Aug 23, 2005
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http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/hp-slate-prototype-caught-in-the-wild-booted-to-windows-7/

So Engadget have video of the HP Slate, whilst the hardware itself looks nice after watching the video I couldnt help but feel that running Windows 7 as it is, clearly is the main failing of the device.

Watch how something as simple as scrolling a web page is utterly cumbersome on the device.

Not sure why HP hasn't given up on Windows 7 as we all thought they had (but clearly this video shows they have not) as it's just not suitable, even if it does boot relatvely quickly on it, there is still no instant on from standby etc..

Nice hardware, hampered by software.

It's a prime example of why we should not pay too much heed to system specs.
 
MacRumorUser said:
...Watch how something as simple as scrolling a web page is utterly cumbersome on the device.
Click to expand...

the very word "slate" seems to imply something slow, heavy (made of stone), and prehistoric/behind the times (didn't the Flintstones write on slate tablets?), and cumbersome to use or carry.

I'm reminded of this every time Ballmer mentions a slate PC
 
My god that looks completely unusable.

Look at how tiny the keyboard buttons are!

The browser looked awful too, can't do anything until the page is completely loaded (slowly).
 
It was like the guy was looking at a different device to me. He kept on saying that it was fast when to my eyes it looked very slow and clunky.

Plus he didn't even touch on the challenges that Windows 7 tablets have; such as battery life, speed and reliability of starting from standby, tiny icons and lack of software specifically designed for a touch-screen. On the evidence of this video I can understand why HP are now selling this as an Enterprise device.
 
I like how he kept saying how fast it was as it was waiting to scroll down the page. Even the start up, while faster than a normal desktop, is still pretty slow. I'd have to try it out and see how fast it is compared to iPad/iPhone from full off mode. It seems a full OS is just not in the cards right now for tablet devices. I don't know if I want a full OS, just something that could be stand alone. I like syncing over iTunes, but I would like to get software updates OTA.
 
blackNBUK said:
It was like the guy was looking at a different device to me. He kept on saying that it was fast when to my eyes it looked very slow and clunky.

Plus he didn't even touch on the challenges that Windows 7 tablets have; such as battery life, speed and reliability of starting from standby, tiny icons and lack of software specifically designed for a touch-screen. On the evidence of this video I can understand why HP are now selling this as an Enterprise device.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. I thought I was nuts. But that thing looked very slow to me. I am glad that I buy products from Apple who care about form and function :).
 
blackNBUK said:
Plus he didn't even touch on the challenges that Windows 7 tablets have; such as battery life, speed and reliability of starting from standby, tiny icons and lack of software specifically designed for a touch-screen.
Click to expand...

I have a question...since this tablet is running Windows 7, would this device be susceptible to viruses just like any other desktop or laptop running Windows 7?
 
TwoSocEmBoppers said:
I have a question...since this tablet is running Windows 7, would this device be susceptible to viruses just like any other desktop or laptop running Windows 7?
Click to expand...

Of course. It's your standard Windows 7. Definitely need to run an antivirus on that bad boy.
 
It looks nice to me...I just wish the screen wasn't so reflective...

I don't think it is any slower or clunkier than the iPad...maybe initial bootup takes a bit but if you put it in standby after that it would be fine. My laptop stays in standby and the second I open the lid, it is up and ready for me to log on...I don't really understand the comments about no instant bootup from stand by.

I would probably have less program crashes on it compared to my iPad too. Oh man that would be so nice.

I really like the keyboard and the keyboard button. I am constantly having to manually close out of my iPad's on screen keyboard because it messes up dropdown boxes so that seems like it would be nice to me.

I also think it is cool that it is lighter than the iPad.
 
Guy kept saying it was fast and all I saw was slow, clunky, and awkward. You have to press a button to make the keyboard appear and disapper? :eek:

Yeah, that's the ticket. ;)
 
melman101 said:
Of course. It's your standard Windows 7. Definitely need to run an antivirus on that bad boy.
Click to expand...

I dont run AV on my Windows 7 with no issues. I keep an on demand scanner though. Also the Cntrl+alt+delete is probably to bring up login for Enterprise users (people who need a Windows slate for actually work)
 
blackNBUK said:
It was like the guy was looking at a different device to me. He kept on saying that it was fast when to my eyes it looked very slow and clunky.

Plus he didn't even touch on the challenges that Windows 7 tablets have; such as battery life, speed and reliability of starting from standby, tiny icons and lack of software specifically designed for a touch-screen. On the evidence of this video I can understand why HP are now selling this as an Enterprise device.
Click to expand...

I really was expecting fast performance indeed. Fast as in the iPad is soooo slow. But eehm, this slate isn't ready yet.

battery life, reliability, etc. are things that could be developed and tweaked further. But if the performance on a prototype is already that unbelievable slow, how will it get better on a retail version of W7 where there usually is more software running in the background?
Either HP or MS have a lot of work to do and most likely both will have to do lots of work before an iPad killer is available. If it ever comes in 2011 at all. Toshiba has been making touch-screen laptops for at least 5 years now and none of them worked. I had one, my coworker had one and I've used several, but none of them where really good. And it's not the hardware so much. The hardware was not bad. Just the OS (windows XP at the time) was so horrible at capturing pen-strokes and understanding what you wanted to do that I never used it as much as I wanted.

I'm guessing neither HP nor MS will catch up any time soon. Just look at how much time it cost Android to get this far on phones? And still it's not as polished as iOS. From what I can see Android still is at least a year behind iOS and every body can see that Google is pushing hard, much harder than HP by the looks of it.
 
It was only 5 seconds slower than my iPhone from full off mode. Not bad in my opinion actually. It's just everything else seems slow. The iPad keyboard is nice because it pops up automatically when touch a spot that requires input. I wonder if this has the syncing abilities for media like the iPad.
 
The startup wasn't bad? If it's got standby it'll be just like our ipads.


To show that you're all fanboys, did nobody else notice the swipe to go back in the browser? I think that's a pretty sweet little feature, it would be nice.

It looks extremely thick though
 
bdavis89 said:
The startup wasn't bad? If it's got standby it'll be just like our ipads.


To show that you're all fanboys, did nobody else notice the swipe to go back in the browser? I think that's a pretty sweet little feature, it would be nice.

It looks extremely thick though
Click to expand...

If you like things slow and laggy, then the sweep was OK. About speed, I'm not talking boot speed, I'm talking about running apps. If you don't think those apps are slow then you're a Windows fanboy. ;)
 
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