First thought about HP Slate 8 Pro.

[amit_v]

This device looks like a real game changer for HP.

A real challenger to IPAD mini. Even the looks are identical, imagine the HP Logo as the home button on IPAD mini. If they manufacture a white device people are sure to get confused at the first look.
On a more serious note, it may not match the retina display of the new mini, but has a far better resolution that that of non-retina mini. The processor seems to be one of the best available as of today. Specification wise the device seems to be a winner.

The few cons I can see is, the HP Germany site says that it has only 1 GB RAM. Though not bad, but can make HP fall behind competition. Also in my knowledge this is a first 4:3 android device by some premium manufacturer. Hence the availability of apps for this resolution might be challenge.

Hope HP keeps the cost down as they did for the slate 7.

 

[Amit Vyavahare]

I posted this a while back. But since then lots of reviews have come out for the HP Slate 8 Pro. Which give us a good know how about this tablet.

I am surprised to see that HP still continued with the 1 GB RAM (Mind you they call the tablet "Pro"). Though the RAM might be sufficient but definitely not as per the standard expectations of a tablet as of today. Remember this is not a budget tablet, so would definitely expect at least 2 GB RAM.

How ever I will widen the spectrum of my question. I read a few more reviews about some recent tablets launched with Tegra 4 processor, one thing I found interesting is that all these new tablets launched with Tegra 4 process have only 1 GB RAM. Now what does that say. Honestly I am confused and think of three possibilities.
1. The new Tegra 4 chip is super powerful and does not need 2 GB of RAM.
2. The new Tegra 4 chip is not compatible with RAM more than 1 GB.
3. This is to keep the cost down (I doubt this though considering the high cost of the HP Slate 8 Pro)

Anny comments?

 

[roustabout]

I like the slate 8 quite a bit, but at the same time it's pretty clear HP's heart just wasn't in it. If they'd wanted to sell
many of these, they'd have needed to get review units shipped and do marketing, which they have not.

The display is nice and nice aspect ratio.

Still, the overall feel is of a budget device.

- very heavy
- giant bezels
- lots of empty space inside
- terrible onboard recovery option, truly terrible

It's not anywhere near to being an ipad mini competitor - the design's not in the same league. I happen to like it, but compared to a well designed, well built system, there's just no comparison. My gf actually felt a little guilty she hadn't just replaced the Note 8 for me when she saw this and compared the design to the prettier device.

I think the more interesting device is the 21 inch desktop replacement at only 50 bucks more than this - an Android device, 21" screen, 1920 x 1080, tegra 4. Looks like a really nice kitchen screen device.

However, the T4 is a benchmark beast and the performance is great even with "only" one gig of ram. It's basically twice as fast as the other devices I've been working with lately.