HP goes after business with ElitePad 900 tablet

The highly dock-able ElitePad 900
HP unveils a new tablet that's ready to work

Today HP announced its premiere Windows 8 tablet for 2013 - the HP ElitePad 900.

Similar to HP's EliteBook line of notebooks, the ElitePad 900 is designed for business, with a 10.1-inch 1280x800 display covered with Gorilla Glass 2, and an aluminum casing that meets military-grade durability tests for drops, dust, and extreme temperatures.

What's more, the ElitePad 900's internal hardware sports a "next-generation Intel mobile processor," which likely means an Atom CPU from Intel's Clover Trail line. With an x86 compatible CPU, HP's new tablet will be able to run the full Windows 8.

It also packs 2GB of RAM, either 32GB or 64GB of storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a front-facing camera capable of taking 1080p video, a microSD card slot, and a stylus for pen touch input.

It's business time

Measuring 9.2mm thick and weighing 1.5 pounds, the tablet will also be compatible with several business-focused accessories from HP.

An optional ElitePad Smart Jacket can protect the tablet and comes equipped with an additional battery to extend the tablet's battery life by up to 80 percent.

Meanwhile, the ElitePad Productivity Jacket features an integrated keyboard, additional connectivity ports, and a full-sized SD card reader.

It will also be compatible with an ElitePad Docking Station, providing 4 USB ports, HDMI and VGA out ports, and an Ethernet port.

The suite of accessories will all be sold separately when the HP ElitePad 900 launches in January 2013.

Pricing is still up in the air at this point, with HP saying it will announce the cost closer to the tablet's launch.

One hangup

Following the ElitePad 900's launch announcement, PCWorld published a report that pointed out a flaw with the tab.

Though the 1280x800 display is no joke, it falls shy of the resolution requirements needed to run Windows 8 Snap.

Snap allows users to run two Metro-style apps simultaneously, side-by-side, and requires a resolution of at least 1366x768 to do so.

It lets users do things like watch a YouTube video while scanning Twitter and browse the web and track emails.

HP explained its resolution shorting by saying it wanted to achieve a 16:10 aspect ration, which the company said works better than 16:9 for desktop business applications such as Outlook and Excel.

The 1280x800 ration is the highest resolution that can be reached with 16:10 using the Clover Trail tip.

Remember, this is a business-centric tab and won't even make its way into retail stores, so HP went with the option to flush out its 16:10 and not feature Snap, perhaps to the chagrin of those looking for a mental break from their business operations.

Via HP, PCWorld