ExoPC Slate has iPad looks, netbook internals, Windows 7 soul

[kjk]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/31/8...rnals-windows/

Yes, we realize that it's hard to provide too much visual differentiation between tablet PCs with large, ebony bezels, but we can't help but think that this 8.9-inch multitouch tablet looks a lot like another, recently announced 9.7-inch multitouch tablet. Nevertheless this one's quite different on the inside, delivering "the web without compromise," meaning full browser support with flash courtesy of Windows 7 on an Atom N270 at 1.6GHz, with 2GB of DDR2 memory and a 32GB SSD with SD expansion. Yeah, those specs are familiar too, and while we're not thinking this will deliver the sort of snappy performance seen on the iPad, it will certainly be a lot more functional. Battery life is only four hours, but at least it's user-replaceable, and a price of $599 matches the 32GB iPad. Likewise it will be available in March -- or you can get a non-multitouch prototype for $780 right this very moment. If, that is, you speak enough French to manage the order page.

[CyGuy]

This device is much much closer to what I have been waiting for. I sure hope it is thin and light. Very interested in this or something similar.

[petermillard]

Weight's OK at ~800g (pound and three quarters) but it's pretty chunky at 21mm thick (a hair under 7/8ths of an inch) - if it's that thick I'm surprised they haven't fitted an optical drive... Still, it has slots, and USB ports, and multi-tasking - should be enough to keep the techies happy, even if it is just a netbook with no keyboard, lol.

4 hrs battery life though - and you know you can pretty much halve that, these manufacturers always lie, right?? Still at least you're secure in the knowledge that you're buying from a huge consumer electronics company with solid reputation for customer support and a chain of international retail stores - no wait, that's the other lot; this is a no-mark French outfit that doesn't even have an English website...

Hey, you pays you money and makes your choice; I have.

Stay happy, Pete

[SCION]

Originally Posted by petermillard

4 hrs battery life though - and you know you can pretty much halve that, these manufacturers always lie, right??

[LDBoblo]

I'm probably not even going to bother looking at Atom-based tablets at all. I'm far more interested in seeing what companies do with SoC solutions like Tegra 2.

[dmaul1114]

Really disappointing battery life.

Really seems a waste for companies to put out a tablet that can't compete with the iPad on the battery and price points.

I guess some want tablets that are more like full PCs--but the Tablet PC market never went anywhere. Seems better to try and go the iPad route of making something that's between a smartphone/PDA and a laptop.

Competitors just need to find ways to 1 up the iPad--build in full handwriting support vs. leaving it to apps, have multitasking, have flash etc.

[DawnFalcon]

Eh. This is a tablet. There will be internet appliances like the iPad which have the same kind of battery life...

petermillard - I don't know, ASUS are good about reporting actual battery life (and their 8 hour battery range laptops really are...)

[CyGuy]

If it really is 7/8" thick, that is just too chunky. Looking for something slim and light, but really want Win7.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Eh. This is a tablet. There will be internet appliances like the iPad which have the same kind of battery life...

petermillard - I don't know, ASUS are good about reporting actual battery life (and their 8 hour battery range laptops really are...)

I dont understand your first sentence?

I find recently manafacturers have generally gotton better about quoting realistic battery life I happpily get just over 4 as quoted hours from my Dell Mini 9.

[DawnFalcon]

There's a distinct difference between a tablet PC and an internet appliance.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Competitors just need to find ways to 1 up the iPad--build in full handwriting support vs. leaving it to apps, have multitasking, have flash etc.

Agree

[EowynCarter]

Windows 7 Pro

Ah, now we're talking No crappy windows starter ! (Not that I'm a windows fan, but some app I would like to run requires windows)

Sound good to me, really. Just what I need. And affordable if the $600 turn into 430 Euros.

I guess some want tablets that are more like full PCs--but the Tablet PC market never went anywhere

I can only one affordable tablet PC, the archos 9. Any I missed ?

[zacheryjensen]

Originally Posted by stustaff

I dont understand your first sentence?

I find recently manafacturers have generally gotton better about quoting realistic battery life I happpily get just over 4 as quoted hours from my Dell Mini 9.

I've been continually surprised by the battery life of my 13" MacBook Pro. They promised 5 hours and it meets or beats that every time for me. I do more than the average web browsing as well, since I use it exclusively for work and I'm a software engineer. That means I'm continually pushing the CPU for compiling and running virtual machines and so on. I've been quite impressed.

However, the last tablet PC I bought (and returned shortly thereafter for being a broken piece of garbage) had real battery life of less than a quarter of what was promised, and that was after several battery cycles to condition the Li-Ion cells. So it seems that while certain manufacturers are trying to make a point of improving battery life as well as accuracy of battery life claims, others are still freely offering ridiculous overestimations based on making the machine do absolutely nothing useful during testing.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by zacheryjensen

I've been continually surprised by the battery life of my 13" MacBook Pro. They promised 5 hours and it meets or beats that every time for me. I do more than the average web browsing as well, since I use it exclusively for work and I'm a software engineer. That means I'm continually pushing the CPU for compiling and running virtual machines and so on. I've been quite impressed.

Did you see where Anandtech got 8 hours on his MBP with light browsing and music? http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3580&p=4

[zacheryjensen]

Originally Posted by kjk

Did you see where Anandtech got 8 hours on his MBP with light browsing and music? http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3580&p=4

No, but I'm not surprised. I usually ignore battery comparisons on sites like anandtech since they never test my own usage patterns. But at least in this case it corroborates my experiences. Though I use the smaller 13" MBP so its battery life should, in theory, be a bit better than the 15" due to a smaller screen, normally I'm happy with a laptop that lasts 50% of its claims doing what I do with it

For a comparison, my previous MBP which was a 15" was a late 2007 model and at its peak it never lasted over 2 hours with my same workload.

So Apple's doing something right with their battery tech they decided to bring in-house. Here's hoping it will be reflected in the iPad and that 10 hours of video claim will be realistic.