Rod and I have been discussing the early specs on HP Slate device that was demoed earlier in the year by Steve Ballmer. Right now, it appears to use an Atom N450 or N470 processor, which will support up to 2GB of RAM and will run standard Windows 7 and is really a full netbook-level computer. It should be a nice device. Will I buy one? Absolutely not!
My Decision
What gives, you ask. I thought that you were a Tablet fan. Well, it is true that I am a fan of the TabletPC, which is NOT the same a the Tablet everyone else is talking about now. I have owned a TabletPC in one shape or another for more than 10 years now, and I love the functionality, and in spite of the lack of support and emphasis from Microsoft, it has been good to me. In fact, right now I own an HP tx2500 with an active digitizer, which allows me to use a pen, as well as touch, which I never use. I also own a Lenovo S10-3t convertible netbook, also using the Atom N450 processor, which supports multi-touch in a very portable form, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. I am still getting to know this machine, so I am suspending judgment for the moment. But, how can I say lack of support from Microsoft when they produce the OS? In all their applications there is ONE app that truly supports inking and that is OneNote. And there are really NONE that support touch. Other than that, you have to emulate the good old mouse. This is especially true when you look at touch. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Windows 7! I think it is an outstanding OS, well worth the investment, and I don’t have any machines that run anything else except a 10-year old HP TC-1100 Tablet Slate that has no drivers for Windows 7. But Windows 7 does an adequate job of supporting digital ink and pen pointing, it is clearly not built for touch.
What I Want
I am still watching the iPad, but there is no way that I would purchase into that eco-system sight unseen. I need to touch and feel and frankly I am not willing to pay the Apple early-adopter tax. In six months or a year, there will likely be a shift in features, as well as a substantial reduction in costs. What I have seen so far has not been compelling for me. I love the form-factor and the fact that the OS is built from zero to support touch. But I will wait.
My ideal device would involve a similar form-factor to the iPad, but with a more open OS. Possibilities at this point might be Android or the upcoming Google Chrome OS, or perhaps even the Zune OS upgraded to Windows Phone 7 level. But, something built from the ground up for Touch and touch alone. The only other major feature for me would be the inclusion of an SD card slot or maybe a USB port. I am hoping against hope for the Microsoft Courier to arrive, but I just don’t see it happening anytime soon. Oh well. For now, I will continue to tinker with my S10 and see what happens. I am in no hurry whatsoever. How do you feel about all this?