Apple dropped a major bomb on the Netbook industry when they introduced the iPad at $499. Prior to the keynote, everyone was speculating that Apple would sell the base model iPad for $999. I even heard that they might start out at $899, and end up in the lower $1000 range. Netbook manufacturer’s were ready to sell their already no-margin Netbooks for even less, in hopes to win over the on-the-fence iPad purchasers. Well, Apple turned the tide with their $499 introductory price, but some are saying that the iPad’s $499 price is still too much. That said, they haven’t seen the price that HP is willing to go for with their slate product.
A staff writer for electronista is reporting that HP’s Slate will probably sell for $45 more than the base model iPad. The Slate’s expected price is $544.00. Here is the quote from electornista:
“The in-progress HP slate may actually be more expensive than the iPad when it goes on sale, a Spanish hands-on has revealed. The tablet is said to be shipping to the US in June, and in Europe would carry a price of 400 euros, or $544. While not a direct US translation, the price could make it more expensive than the $499 iPad even while it ships later.”
What I find strange is that the Slate is using Netbook parts, but they are going to charge more for it. According to the article, the Slate will employ an Intel Atom processor. This is the same processor used in Netbooks. So, I gather that the Slate will be a Netbook with only the screen. Unless Intel is charging more for Atom Processors, HP might be actually wanting to make a profit on the Slate. For those who are not familiar with the Intel Atom Processor, it is a low powered processor designed for Netbooks. The real downside of the Atom is that it is slower than most modern processors.
I used to own a Dell Mini 9 Netbook, and I found that it was only really good for checking email and surfing the net. Moreover, I found watching streaming videos on the Mini 9 to be far from acceptable quality. The video would lag behind the audio. It was probably a combination of the processor and video card. Fortunately, videos that were loaded on the Mini 9 or on the SD card played fine.
Whatever price HP decides to sell the Slate at, I don’t think it will hurt the iPad in anyway. Unfortunately, the Slate is going to be running a version of Windows 7 on it that will probably not be fully optimized for the Slate. As where the iPad is running the iPhone OS that has been optimized to run on the iPad with the A4 chip that Apple designed. What are your thoughts on this? I’d like to know. Feel free to leave a comment in the comments section below.
Photo Credit: HP Consumer Notebook Slate
Article Via electronista
