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HP Slate shown on video, has built-in Ctrl-Alt-Del button

updated 10:50 am EDT, Thu September 23, 2010

 

HP Slate prototype gets unofficial video look


HP's long-delayed Slate 500 has surfaced in an unofficial video (below) with unique details of how it works. The 8.9-inch Windows 7 tablet has its own dedicated controls to make up for the lack of a true tablet interface in Microsoft's OS. It includes both a button to bring up an on-screen keyboard at any time as well as a reported "Ctrl-Alt-Del" button to load Task Manager or reboot the Slate after a crash.

The device is described as being "fast" on its 1.6GHz Atom, although the video shows the tablet being rough in scrolling and slightly unresponsive. Windows 7's multi-touch support does give it support for certain functions that aren't present on the iPad or other tablets, such as swiping backwards in a browser to move back a page. HP was already known to have outfitted the tablet with both front and back cameras, USB, a card reader and an iPad-style docking connector for attaching to a charging dock with HDMI video out.

HP is still due to ship the Slate in the fall but is no longer thought to have any significant effect on the iPad. While Microsoft hailed the Slate as its hope for preempting Apple in the tablet space, it hasn't shipped in the nearly 10 months since its first preview and has been relegated to enterprise sales after HP decided that webOS would be better for a mainstream tablet.


By Electronista Staff

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Intel, computers, industry, gadgets, Microsoft, HP, Palm, tablet, Atom, Windows 7, Apple, webOS, iPad, slate

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Previous Comments

  1. aardman

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2009

    +17
    09/23, 11:06am | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    The "Guaranteed, I Will Crash" button

    A dedicated Control-Alt-Delete button! This is something you'd expect to see in an article from The Onion. What a joke.


  1. Hillbilly Geek

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2006

    +8
    09/23, 11:29am | report spam | reply

    that'll get...

    a LOT of use


  1. OldMacGeek

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2010

    +13
    09/23, 11:37am | report spam | reply

    Wow

    No punchline needed for this. It's great when they write themselves, isn't it?


  1. DerekMorr

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2010

    +2
    09/23, 11:37am | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    ctrl+alt+delete used for more than crash recovery

    The Ctrl+Alt+Delete combination is used for more than crash recovery. It's also used to trigger the login window.


  1. JTh

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2007

    +7
    09/23, 12:24pm | report spam | reply

    He should

    use the HP Slate to film the web browsing experience on the iPhone and send it back to MS with instructions on how to do it right.

    ...The entire video just shows the exact things that would completely pi** me off about using that thing...


  1. ricardogf

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2003

    +1
    09/23, 12:56pm | report spam | reply

    Hah

    That POS deserves no further comments...iPad killer? Sure ;) Only Testudo would wish to buy that Winblows-powered brick...next, please!


  1. icewing

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2008

    +5
    09/23, 12:59pm | report spam | reply

    Epic fail

    @JTh, completely agree. A button to show and hide the keyboard?!?!

    This thing looks like Balmer designed it.


  1. lamewing

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Aug 2004

    +3
    09/23, 01:02pm | report spam | reply

    Missing the ...

    This device should not be marketed against the iPad. Instead it should have included full stylus support (along with multitouch) to allow use of Windows 7's great handwriting recognition software instead of relying solely on a virtual keyboard (which requires a button to pull it up!! Why?).

    I would LOVE to have a tablet that allows me to input mathematics equations and Japanese (or English, etc) as if it were an actual notepad. I have done this on my old thinkpad X61 tablet and it works wonderfully...BUT the computer is too heavy for that type of work. THIS is where a Windows 7 tablet or an iPad with stylus support ( stylus sold separately, of course ) and licensed handwriting software from MS would actually HELP students!!!

    Of course neither Apple nor MS is going to actually use this idea...instead we are forced to use our big ole sausage-like fingers as input devices...grrrrrrrr


  1. Geoduck

    Junior Member

    Joined: Jan 2010

    +5
    09/23, 01:14pm | report spam | reply

    Mythbuster

    Fast Busted, that felt slow to boot and slow to react

    Well thought out Busted, A button to bring up the keyboard? Speakers on the bottom where they will be blocked when you use it on your lap or a tabletop?

    Stable Busted. A Ctrl-Alt_Del hardware key? Sure you can use it for other things but most users only use the command for one thing.

    Good touch interface Busted. for all his glib chatter I saw him having to hit things a couple of times and then waiting to see what came up.

    True this is a prototype but this is awfully late in the game for major changes or improvements.


  1. jreades

    Junior Member

    Joined: Feb 1999

    +7
    09/23, 01:31pm | report spam | reply

    Er...


    I'm with lamewing on this -- there's no way that this can compete with the iPad, and HP should have taken advantage of the full features of Windows 7 (as best it could on this hardware) to make something that hit a different market.

    I also found the presentation a little... suspicious. "Lighter than the iPad", "Sorry about the video quality, I'm recording on my iPhone" (er, and what *phones* do record good video? My Sony Ericsson was about the only one I've ever had that ever took truly nice photos, but I never expected it to manage video.) and "I like the full browser. Very fast. Very fast." (Said while the browser is doing very little, very slowly).

    But to me it's really the buttons that will do this in: 1 for power, 1 for Ctrl+Alt+Delete, 1 for the keyboard, 1 for volume, 1 for home, and then connectors on three sides. Apple would never be this foolish.


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