HP Slate is one of the devices many await for, in hope that it will outperform iPad in sales, celebrity and user respect (that one might not be true) as it was announced somewhat at the same time with the iPad, in a classic Mac vs Windows duel. As expected the two different ideologies meet also here, with the iPad being light, fast and features a great design while the HP Slate is heavier and slower (‘thanks’ to the Atom netbook CPU) and is not really a design marvel.

    A few moments ago a Spanish site had published an early preview of the HP Slate that throws more gas on the fire, confirming what we were expecting: slow performance overall. This is something users will be aware of from the first time they boot up the device and start playing around with it. Size wise, it’s pretty small, with a nice polygonal pattern on the back, but is heavier than the iPad.

    HP Slate user interface

    HP Slate user interface

    Even if the HP Slate has some advantages over the iPad, namely a few USB ports, an HDMI dock, and a built-in camera, it doesn’t necessarily make the Slate a better product, all because of the way it moves and the fact that the Windows 7 OS, even if it was optimized for touch more than other Windows versions, it’s still not what it should be. Interestingly enough a Broadcom chip brings to HP Slate the possibility to run HD content (Flash or not) which makes it a better media consumption device at this chapter. Oddly, the 1 GB RAM is not upgradable, which is a miss, if you ask me. We’ll have to wait and see the final device to make our own impression, but I bet it won’t be good.

    The back features an interesting pattern

    The back features an interesting pattern

    Source: Liliputing