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HP Updates Windows Tablet PC for Professionals

"Moving to a Windows-based tablet is a good direction for HP," said analyst Mika Kitagawa. "But I am not sure how the product will help [boost the] overall revenues and profitability [at HP's Personal Systems Group], as the market is expected to be small at this point."

Having recently reaffirmed its commitment to the PC  side of its business, Hewlett-Packard is poised to launch an updated tablet  PC running the professional edition of Microsoft 's Windows  7 operating system. Called the HP Slate 2, the machine  will enable business professionals to maintain seamless continuity with the entire range of content residing on the machines used by their managers and fellow workers.
The decision to refresh the original Slate tablet launched by HP last year demonstrates that the company continues to see growth opportunities in the professional segment of the tablet market. About 6 percent of all tablet shipments during the second quarter of 2011 went to commercial users -- up from 3 percent in the prior two quarters of 2010, said IDC Vice President Loren Loverde in an e-mail Thursday. "Apple had about 80 percent of that in the past two quarters," she said.

HP experienced strong growth in the U.S. PC market during this year's third quarter -- when the company's PC shipments increased 15.1 percent year over year and its market leading share totaled 28.9 percent, said Mika Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner .

"Moving to a Windows-based tablet is a good direction for HP," Kitagawa said in an e-mail Thursday. "But I am not sure how the product will help [boost the] overall revenues and profitability [at HP's Personal Systems Group], as the market is expected to be small at this point."

Right Mix of Features

HP's new 1.5-pound tablet will enable mobile  workers to create, edit and review business documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other types of Windows-compatible files while on the go. The HP Slate 2 also ships with the requisite mSATA SSM technology  for delivering faster Windows 7 boot times.

Slate 2 integrates a 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor  from Intel , 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, a solid state drive with a maximum capacity of 64GB and an SD expansion card slot. The tablet sports an inward-facing VGA webcam  and outward-facing 3-megapixel camera/camcorder.

The device 's 8.9-inch capacitive multi-touch display, which ships with a new Swype-enabled keyboard , offers support for both pen and touch input. According to HP, touch-screen resolution varies between 1024x600p and 1024x768p, depending on the specific application in use.

On the wireless  side, Slate 2 incorporates both Wi-Fi  (802.11a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 4.0 radios. HP's new device offers support for optional accessories such as a 3G  radio, Bluetooth-enabled keyboard and optical mouse, digital pen, magnetic stripe reader and barcode scanner.

"The HP Slate includes the right mix of rich features, support for custom-built applications, and the security and connectivity needed for today's highly mobile and rigorous day-to-day professional environment" said HP Vice President Dan Forlenza.

Security Enhancements

Under the Slate 2's hood is a TPM-embedded security chip for protecting the integrity of the e-mails, documents and other data  stored on the machine's solid state drive. Also on tap is BIOS support for Computrace Pro -- an application that enables IT managers to secure lost or stolen devices by remotely deleting data at the file, directory or operating-system level.

Slate 2's optional docking station has two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI connector. Slated to launch later this month in markets around the world, HP intends to offer the new machine at prices that start at $699.

Gartner and IDC currently do not differentiate traditional PCs from those media tablets which run the full version of Windows. So it is not currently possible to determine the extent to which Windows-powered tablets are already helping to fuel professional PC sales growth.

"If a device is equipped with Windows 7, it should be counted as a PC for now," Kitagawa said. However, she added, "we may change [this] definition going forward."

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