actually, I thought you we trying to tear yourself away from this forum...

good luck with the wife (not noticing)

I installed the mini bluetooth keyboard from newegg. This is sweet. I can take the slate with me and use the on screen keyboard, finger input, pen input, mouse and keyboard, etc.

Well, time for Quickbooks.

So far, so good with the wife not noticing. I expect she will notice in Mexico...Hopefully by then she will be distracted with a shiny rock...girls seem to like shiny rocks...

One thing I need to figue out is how to turn off the wifi without disabling the driver. When I'm using the 3G phone, I want to conserve energy.

And for the crack about the GPS, I found my external GPS which I can hook up via bluetooth.

I'm pretty impressed so far. This is now going to be my portable machine. Next I need to get VPN working on it...And I still need to test Skype and the rear camera.

fwiw, the Apple mini bt keyboard is what I use with my tablet. It's slick in that, when stowed, it somewhat nests with the tablet, providing a hard cover for the screen.

fwiw2, I also have a bt GPS. I don't like that it's one more piece of hardware to keep track off (esp when traveling) and one more device to be charged. --i'll likely get a $30 GPS USB stick for my tablet/UMPC, unless I find a replacement UMPC with it built in.

fwiw3, I've also used mine as a Remote Desktop to my workstation. Screen size kind of sucks - going from 2560x1600 to the tablet's 1024x600 pulls all of the desktop's icons way up and to the left of the workstation ...and doesn't return them, when I go back to the big screen.

The Zippy I bought is 8.86" x 3.90" x 0.93", or about 2/3rds the size of the Slate. The Slate came with a hard leather cover.

FWIW - Galaxy Tab teardown:

Samsung Galaxy Tab Teardown (Sprint) | ZDNet

I have no idea WTF you guys are talking about, but I like the photoshops.

More please ;)

The HP Slate 500 is a Windows 7 Pro tablet PC.

It is a Netbook (mini laptop) without a keyboard and a touch screen interface. Basically, an iPad with a full operating system, not a phone operating system.

HP decided to make 5000 of these. 9000 were ordered on day one and the demand continues.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292370826.jpg

It cost more than a dollar

So how is the ownership experience at this point, James?

I might be interested in a Slate.

Was this close to buying one but... Surfs the web on AT&T 3G... non exsistant in my area :(

No wifi at home so no surfing at home so no Nook color :(:(

Still have XP on your tablet?

I don't have the window rearranging problem on Win7 to Win7, they changed something in RDP.

When I log onto my work PC from home, it puts all the windows on one screen, when I get back to work they spread back out, it didn't always do that. On Vista it was doubly-annoying because it'd leave my gadgets on the wrong screen.

I really like it. It is the computer I use on the sofa in the evening. It can still run my business applications and VPN into my network. But most of the use is e-mail and surfing.

The touchscreen works well, but some of the menu items can be small on some software. Setting the font size larger helps. For "precision" work, use the stylus. The stylus is also what you use for handriting recognition. I have found that the on screen keyboard is good enough for most of my input needs. I don't know what they have done to the screen, but it doesn't show fingerprints/marks nearly as bad as my HTC HD2. It's really well done.

Voice control works well, but it annoys my wife when I use it :) The microphone is built in, so no need to add an external one.

As with the iPhone and iPad, the screen will change from landscape to portrait by simply tilting the unit. This can be annoying at times, when you really don't want it to change.

It comes with the charging stand and a case. I bought a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for "serious" work. One trick I've learned is that if you install the Slate into the case inverted, the case makes a very good portable stand.

Processor wise it is more than double the capability of "netbooks". It uses a 1.86GHz, dual core ATOM. Most of the Netbook are 1.3 or 1.6GHz single cores. It also has a video decoder so watching videos is very good. I haven't used it with Netflix, but I do make video files from DVD for use on the machine.

OS is Win 7 Pro. Again, it is setup to be a serious business tablet.

It comes with 64GB of Solid State disk. With the built in SD card reader, you can expand that as needed. I purchased 32GB and 64GB DC cards. This also makes it really easy to transfer files from my PC to the Slate.

Wireless N.

The only thing I have had any issue with is that you need to be careful with your hand/palm since it can be taken as input. Also, if you do any heavy work, the unit's back can get noticeably warm. Not too hot, but still, you'll feel it.

I don't know about other phones, but it "tethers" easily to my HTC HD2 over bluetooth. It can also do the same with USB.

Real world use, I haven't had it go battery dead yet. They say it is good for 6 hours of use between charges. I have watched movies for several hours on a plane and use for e-mail in the airport before and after. It still had 40% charge.

Speakers are a bit weak, but better than my old Netbook. A good set of headphones helps on a plane.

With it being as light as it is, I usually take it with me whenever I leave the house.

Again, if you want to run real business applications, the Slate is the way to go.

Great review James. I think the slate is the way to go. I want to ditch my laptop when I travel for work. The Slate should make that possible.

I bought a really nice Dell Lattitude E6500. I ended building a drafting work station with high end parts and it has become my daily use machine. Virtually everything else is my Slate.

I do bring my Dell with me on business trips for minor drafting work. With the exception of that, the Slate does everything.

I got the iPad so I am tableted out but I am curious what kind of battery life you are getting...

6+ hours

Not bad

So I bought a Slate 500 last week.

Nice bit o' kit

The only issues I have with it are screen brightness in direct sun and the lack of hard keys (I'm learning)

that is my 6 year old Samsung Q1 ultra has both hard keys and brightness levels acceptable for the beach on a sunny day.

The size is right in between my old tablets.

Samsung Q1 Ultra (2005) 7" - HP Slate 500 (2011)8.9" on dock - HP TC1100 (2003) 10.1" on keyboard
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1316542978.jpg

The thin Slate 500 is nice to hold, but I prefer the rounded edges of the others, for ergonomic comfort.

And to get an idea of relative full brightness here is the HP next to the old (but brighter) Samsung LED screen. (exposure set on brightest display to avoid dynamic clipping)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1316543198.jpg
...I never found the brightness spec for the Slate. ...280_nits?


Redbeard, hopefully you've found the Pen/touch input settings by now. You have 4 options there to control pen or finger, to avoid palm interference.

Oh, and a small tip, that I just discovered, the screen rotation can be locked by sliding up the power button.

Now I need to figure out a car charger...

Buy a second charger before they discontinue everything. They are selling the correct one after I tore them a new orifice for selling me the wrong one.

I set all of the icons to be as large as possible, which helps with finger input. Holding your finger on something is the equal of right clicking. The keyboard button is really nice, if it doesn't come up automatically, or if you need the keyboard. The shift,alt and ctrl buttons temp lock on when you tap them.

If find that when I'm in a place for any length of time, I use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. When I'm not, i use the on screen keyboard. Yesterday at the airport, i needed to send out 4 purchase orders. Since I was in a rocking chair (San Diego airport!), I just used the on screen keyboard and the finger controls. Worked fine.

The real use of the Slate 500 is that it runs all windows applications, like Quick Books and Full Outlook and Microsoft Office.

What did you pay for your Slate? If the price drops, I'm buying a couple more.

I don't think that they'll discontinue everything. ...just the consumer-consumption-bent Web-OS stuff. --they'll let Apple and Android have that market.

Right-clicking, yes, the press and hold is the old way. On the Slate you can touch with one finger, and briefly touch with another finger to the right. (much like right-clicking a mouse) Try it, you like it.

I've been using tablets for a long time now.... This is better, for a screen-only experience. Now that Windows 8 is out for developers, it's ended up on the Slate. There is a Youtube vid or 2 out there. Search (windows 8 metro slate 500)

here is one story Windows 8 developer tablets go for $3,500+ on eBay - Computerworld

Hmmm. I am hoping that win 8 will run on the Slate. My understanding is that 8 isn't much different from 7, except for the tablet features.