Engadget: new iSlate data leaked

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/05/hp-slate-to-cost-549-have-1-6ghz-atom-z530-5-hour-battery/ (nice comparison slide)

With an SD Card slot, USB2.0 Host port, expandable memory, webcam, Flash support and true multitasking, HP's iSlate would be, in fact, a true laptop replacement for me.

My 3 key computing activities on a laptop are:
- Uploading pictures from my digital camera to our webserver.
- Full web browsing experience
- Photo editing in Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop Elements, and Thumbs Plus

iPad supports none of these, but any Windows tablet should support them all. Well, I take that back. There is a Photoshop iPhone app, and interestingly, it is able to condense Photoshop into the 5 tasks you are most likely to do in PS - which suggests that some apps really are overblown and aren't worth multiple DVDs and multiple 100's of $$.

In addition, a plus would be, and it remains to be seen whether any tablet can do this:
- video editing
- digital scrapbooking in PS Elements (processing/memory intensive, file sizes up to 300MB)

Pen support may make extended text entry a joy. I know my 1 year old HP TouchSmart tx2's handwriting recognition is absolutely superb. In addition, it changes the way I write because it forces me to slow down. I can type almost as fast I can compose in my head which isn't necessarily a benefit because it all comes out unedited and out of order. But when I write instead of typing, i fall into a different cadence and I express myself differently.

The wierdest thing that I have to remember about the iPad is that since it has to sync to a PC, you cannot sync your iPhone or iPod to the iPad. You have to sync them all to the laptop/desktop that you couldn't get rid, of which is now just a big iTunes repository.

Back to Photoshop, I first realized the power of the iPhone when I was able to take a picture, crop and colorize it, put a cute frame around it, and post it to my blog - while standing in the middle of Disneyland - all in less than 60 seconds. That is game-changing. I didn’t realize that I had digital workflows in my personal life that were crying out to be streamlined. Even my Blackberry can't do that (crop and colorize). And it remains to be seen in what ways the iPad will also be game-changing but it will probably be just as surprising.

So yes I suppose I'll have to get a 3G iPad or iSlate or somesuch for "research purposes". For now I'll wait to see which one becomes the most compelling.