HP Slate set to battle iPad

Regardless of what type of market you look at, very few times will you ever actually see a true monopoly dominating a niche. The technology companies are certainly no different. What we have seen so far though is that Apple has introduced the iPad, a first of its kind. It is a hybrid device somewhere between a phone and a laptop, but people obviously love the device right now. Apple fanatics have waited in ridiculously long lines just for an opportunity to pay $499 for the device. It is obvious, there is a market for this product out there and Microsoft has caught wind of it. Why let Apple be the only one in the market? Well, they will not be for long!

I guess Microsoft does not want to see their employees carrying around Apple products so they have announced the HP Slate. It is clear to me that they have made this product to compete directly with the iPad. You know what? I think this might be a break-through product for Microsoft. Below I have three main reasons why I think this is going to be successful for them.

#1: Ports Galore

One of the primary reasons why there have been even some Apple fans that opted not to purchase the iPad is because of their lack of ports. I think many people were viewing this as a true hybrid between phone and laptop. How can you even come close to the laptop feel without ports? I personally did not have too much of a problem with it, but do admit that it would have been nice to be able to use jump drives and things like this to work with my iPad. Microsoft on the other hand included at least one USB port for the HP Slate.

Another port they added that I found interesting was the HDMI port. This adds a new element to the device. Not only is it a laptop, but it could act as a portable monitor / television for long road trips for gaming and movies. This sounds like a good thing for sure! Another thing is that you could hook it directly up to your television, allowing for super-high quality video off of your HP Slate.

#2: Better Hardware

Obviously, this device will take some time to manufacturer and with technology only increasing, I think it was important to Microsoft to have something slightly faster than Apple for once. The HP Slate features good specs, a faster processor (1.66 GHz), better video, and probably more memory are just a few things that Microsoft are bringing to the table. I say probably on the memory simply because Apple has not disclosed the amount of RAM inside of the iPad. The 1GB in the HP Slate though is very good for such a device. I am guessing that this is superior to that of the iPad.

#3: Camera Included

The iPad is missing a camera. I guess since I have an iPhone too it doesn't seem like something I would miss. However, there have already been times where I have had my iPad out and it would have been more convenient to take pictures with it than with my iPhone. Microsoft realized that this was just another benefit to the HP Slate versus the iPad. We will see how the people like it once it is released. However, I think Microsoft is on to something!

If you enjoyed this post, please Tweet or

-By Dominic

Web site and all contents © Copyright ComputerTooSlow.com 2012, All rights reserved.