I'm excited about a Win 7 slate on launch...It basically has everything I'm really looking for in the tablet market space...an even more portable platform to extend Win 7 for me.  The key is going to be the battery life of the device, and while I don't expect 10-12 hours, it's definitely go to be more than 6 to justify me dropping $400-600 on a device like this. 

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-7-Tablets-iPad-iOS-Android,11047.html#commentaire

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nice! competition is always good for the customers!

Correction, EVERYTHING is better than the Ipad.

The performance is good, especially considering that it's loading a much heavier OS, but it looks to be at least twice the size and the interface looks somewhat clunky (chunky zooming, cramped keyboard, and please tell me that trackpad wasn't thrown in because it's necessary). It does leave a lot of questions about price, battery life, idle time, and cooling. Anybody know if there are any netbooks out there that don't require a fan?

In other tablet news, HP claims to have a WebOS device out in Q1 of next year. WebOS itself is great, but its app community is as dead as a norwegian blue parrot.

Even though there's nothing on the horizon yet except some Chinese knock-offs, I'm still betting that Android will be Apple's biggest competitor in this sector. I expect Win7 tablets to basically keep the same niche market that Windows tablets have cultivated for the last decade. Call it the high-performance tablet market.

Very Nice.

Win 7 slate for Christmas!

Win 7 Slate is definately the winner here. The USB ports make it more valuable straight away. You can connect a Keyboard and Mouse if you want to.

Also it processed much quicker than the I Pad to. 

To think I nearly bought my wife an I Pad. Sheesh.

Yeah, I saw Ballmer introducing the HP Slate, and ws pretty excited about it, then the Ipad was announced, and I was itnerested, but once I actually played around with it at the Apple Store, I knew there was no frigging way I would spend my cash on one...If the Windows Tablet didn't run Win7, I would probably not be as interested in it, but if it didn't have a USB port(s), it would definitely be a nonstarter for me, so lets hope this is item sked for delivery. 

Pricing on this will be critical, since Apple has really set the bar on what people will be willing to be, even if it it only a perceived value...as in, you're limited with only 16GB.  The problem for M$ is how effective will this device be at running the software we already have for Windows?  Hopefully, they've learned from Zune's launch, and will price this accordingly. 

It's gonna be a tough market for tablets.. Apple has taken the lead and every day the competitors aren't releasing theirs it gonna be hard.. HP is coming with one.. RIM is coming with a blackberry tablet.. but will they get the support Apple has with their apps? I had this meeting with a big magazine publisher pushing us to release Appstore versions of their magazine..

Apple has a sizable jumpstart, but look at the Iphone slippage to Android, and yes, it's probably due somewhat to only being on AT&T, but never the less, I don't think the Ipads position is as strong as the Iphone's was at anytime.  The demand for Win7 is very strong, and the Win7 Slate is soemthign that will be a viable business expense.  I think another huge advantage is mobile gaming...developers won't even have to worry about converting anything, and they will be able to easily port a product from WinMo7 to Xbox to Win 7 Slate.