Hewlett Packard, one of the leading manufacturers of personal computers, recently announced a host of touch capable devices featuring the new Windows 8 and the most recent addition to that line of products is tablet aimed at the business segment. The new tablet is called the HP Elite Pad 900 and features a 10” screen, a Clover Trail Intel Atom processor and advanced enterprise security solutions.
Thought the ElitePad 900 is not going to be available in the market till January 2013 at least, the specifications have been released already and they are pretty impressive. The tablet is going to feature 2GB of RAM coupled with either a 32GB or 64GB solid state drive and is going to come with Bluetooth 4.0. The device has impressive multimedia features with an 8 megapixel primary camera and a secondary camera that can record 1080p video. Other specifications include NFC, GPS and optional mobile broadband connectivity. The display features a rather mediocre 1280×800 resolution, but comes in 16:10 aspect ratio. This is quite against the trend of Windows 8 tablets that prominently feature 1366×768 or 1080p resolutions with 16:9 aspect ratios. The battery is quite durable with 10 hours of runtime and this can be increased to 18 hours with the addition of a secondary battery via an external case which also features additional connectivity ports.
The design of the tablet is pretty impressive too and the aluminum casing is reminiscent of HPs Elite Book laptops which had similar exteriors. This tablet seems like a good upgrade to HP’s current business tablet, the Slate 2, and though the specifications are not exhaustively superior, they are powerful enough to keep it abreast of growing business needs. Probably the most alluring aspect of this tablet is the ElitePad Productivity Jacket, an office accessory that makes it more like a laptop. It features extensions to connect USB, Ethernet and HDMI accessories, virtually turning it into a laptop and enabling efficient networking and external displays. The tablet also comes with the Executive Tablet Pen which will allow on-screen writing but it is unclear whether it will be superior to existing stylus hardware currently supplied by other manufacturers like Samsung.
The pricing details of this device are unclear right now, just as with the other Windows 8 tablets but it is sure to give other generic tablets stiff competition.
