HP's Slate tablet pc was published for $799

Whether HP's Slate tablet pc was published has been a riddle when mentions for the first time after Windows 7 released conferences at the October, 2009. Today, Hewlett-Packard has released its Windows 7 Slate computer before the end of the year.

Hewlett-Packard's $799 device called Slate 500 attempts to replicate the PC experience in tablet form - in contrast to rivals who've brought more of a smart phone feel to their devices. The Slate runs the same version of Windows 7 used by many companies on their standard PCs.

The Slate 500 is based on Intel's Z540 Atom processor, which runs at 1.86 gigahertz, and has up to 2 gigabytes of DDR2 RAM. For storage it uses flash memory units with up to 64 gigabytes of storage.

It's built around an 8.9-inch diagonal multitouch screen and has 802.11 b, g and n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0. The device weighs 1.5 pounds and is 0.58 inches thick. It's overall case is 9.2 by 5.9 inches.

So how will the HP Slate 500 stack up? Over at zicocn,james abe says the HP Slate 500 doesn't stack up, and that's the point – the HP Slate 500 is an entirely different type of device. "The Slate is running the same operating system as your desktop PC and laptop, assuming you're a Windows 7 user," Elgan writes. "It's running components designed for PCs, including 8 times the amount of RAM that's in an iPad. It runs PC applications unmodified."

HP said this Slate 500 "for rarely work in the traditional desktop computer, but need to be in a safe, familiar to professionals working in the Windows environment, it is a perfect PC."