Check out our review of the HP ElitePad 900 tablet.
HP knows it needs to get back into the tablet world, but after the HP TouchPad disaster (a tablet that sold so poorly HP had to hold a fire sale at $100 a piece), it’s treading lightly. The ElitePad 900 is the first attempt to dip a foot back in. It skipped the Windows 8 launch entirely and though it’s supposed to come out anytime now, we’ve barely seen it. Until now.
The ElitePad is one of the better Windows 8 tablets we’ve used. With a 1280×800 pixel 10.1-inch screen size, a new 1.8GHz dual-core Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, and 8-megapixel camera, the ElitePad meets all the standard specs you’d expect in a Windows 8 tablet, but doesn’t push the envelope. HP doesn’t appear to be packing a lot of custom software on the ElitePad either, which isn’t necessarily bad.
HP’s hardware does raise the bar a little, however. The ElitePad has a nice aluminum body with a decent feel to it, reminiscent of Motorola’s Xyboard tablets a year or so ago. More interesting than how it looks on the outside is how its put together. Instead of screws and bolts, the ElitePad’s back panel is actually held together with a special kind of magnet, allowing the panel to be popped off quite easily and serviced, providing you have a fancy tool.
If you don’t frequent power outlets very often, HP also has a snap-on battery extender, which adds some bulk to the fairly thin tablet, but also nearly doubles its battery life from about eight hours to 14-15. HP also sells several docks and a keyboard dock, which also extend battery life.
Overall, HP’s ElitePad 900 isn’t pushing any new ideas, but it may become a popular device among those looking for a stable, decent Windows 8 tablet with good battery life. It’s not always the innovators who do best, and HP has learned that first hand. But at $650, it’s no bargain.
I don’t get it how you can say that the ElitePad would meet all the standard specs you’d expect in a Windows 8 tablet. Let’s see..
* 1280×800, perhaps 5 years ago that would be true, today that’s sub par.
* 2GB of RAM for a modern windows is insanely low, it will end up constantly swapping the memory to hard drive slowing the entire system down.
* 64GB of internal storage, consider half of it taken up by Windows 8 leaving only ~30Gb free.
This doesn’t deserve to be called Elite, it should be in the budget segment.
This is a tablet for the commercial business not for consumer. So the specs are perfectly fine
You are not expected to store movies and play games in it. It’s for business . So I guess you understand why it’s standard.
Author didn’t say it was a tablet for commercial use. The $650 price seem to put it in the budget segment compared to many new tablets. I never mentioned games or movies. As a tablet for commercial use I would expect better resolution, long battery life as well as more security features. All it offers (based on article) is a long battery.
I work for HP . So mark my words its for business not for photoshop or playing games
Don’t expect the article to say everything. Read many articles or go to a store to find out more. For commercial use people don’t expect very high resolution.
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ad/elitepad/overview.html
Unfortunately I can’t take your comments seriously. As you work for HP you’re clearly too biased to give an objective view. I don’t blame you, I’d most likely do the same in your place.
As I use my computer for my daily work, I’m considering a tablet as a supplement when I’m out in the field. I consider it unprofessional that you consider all commercial users to have the same requirements indicated by your last statement. It’s that kind of thinking that kills even large coorporations as they don’t adapt to market demands.
you don’t have to take my comments seriously. to confirm whether its a business tab or not jus chek in hp website.
and over there you will see the specs and everything.
completely disagree. Atom processors are not suited to run many business applications.
I haven’t read precisely how much space Windows 8 takes up, but Windows RT takes up about 13GB, from what I’ve seen.
Official Windows 8 Pro hard disk requirements are currently exactly the same as for Windows 7, which is minimum 16-20 Gb for 32-64bit version, 3 – 7 Gb more than RT. Good news is that you can use an existing Windows 7 installation to estimate your own personal requirements. After all we all have different software needs.
Microsoft Office would add about 3 Gb.
Visual Studio perhaps 2-4 Gb.
Web browsers, Skype, Photo Shop, Anti Virus, …
Yikes. I cannot believe how bloated the OS still is.
If these are supposed to be for business and replace the desktop I think the reviews are missing the boat. I currently use an older rugged tablet running XP yet but the key is that I take all my notes on it -90% handwritten in MS One Note and I use PDF annotator to be able to make notes on contract docs etc. I have little to no use for paper. I have a 12″ screen -the 10″ is a bit small to me. At the desk I use the tablet as my “note pad” and second screen and connect a monitor and wireless kybd mouse. If it had a 12″ display, I would probably buy it now.
I have had this tablet for 3 days, yes it is designed for business users. We are testing to get users off of ipads. It may not have all the bells and whistles of some tablets, but performance is fine. I have crashed it once installing office, SAP, and Java all at once. The battery seems to be good, I had it completely drain one night, I think I had things installing. The hard drive needs to be larger and I would like to see 64 bit and 4gb of ram. I haven’t noticed lag though. The biggest problem is getting used to Win 8, not with the equipment.