OK, it’s a blurry picture. You get what you pay for. But the HP Slate 500 has arrived … finally. I took a lot of pictures of the unboxing, albeit with the camera of my HTC Droid Incredible. Hope to have that article up soon. In the meantime, here’s a picture of the device in its dock.

My quick reactions? Physically, it’s a solidly built device. It seems heavy, though I believe I‘ll be able to use it one-handed.

Performance is good, though I really haven’t put that to the test; not much multi-tasking so far. 2GB of RAM is nice, though the single-core Atom Z540 processor is a concern on Windows 7.

Touch is responsive, though not as fluid as an iPad, or Galazy Tab.  I need to get used to the digitizer, though inking on Windows Journal (the picture) is OK. No palm rejection, but given the screen size, not sure that will be a problem.

This device stands out because it’s a true Tablet PC slate. It runs Windows apps and has both a capacitive touch screen and an active digitizer. There are a few larger screen and more expensive convertibles which have the same functionality (like my Lenovo X201t), but no slates of this size and price range (about $800) that I know of. Of course, with my luck, CES next week will unveil 10 other such slates with superior specs. Such is life on the cutting (bleeding?) edge.

Please post your questions in the comments. I will do my best to answer them, either in the comments or in a follow up article.

I’m laying on my couch Xmas night, relaxing after working all day. The TV displays an HP commercial. Frustrated about my oft-delayed HP Slate 500, I’m thinking !@#$%^&* HP!  My phone then tells me I have new mail. Surprise, surprise.

The last story HP customer service told me was that the device would ship on December 25. At the time I thought “Yeah, right.” And Santa would be delivering it.

Well, the new mail was a shipment notification. The device is not coming from Santa though. Instead, its coming from Shanghai. The current estimated delivery date is December 29. We’ll see …

Update of the Week 7 update. The rep chastised me for calling, reminding me that last time I was told that the ship date would be 8 weeks from the order date. I replied that today was 8 1/2 weeks from the order date and the date I was told last time the device would ship. The rep changed his tune. He first told me the new ship date was December 25. He then allowed he might have a firmer estimate the first week in January.

HP should come clean with its customers. But like many big companies, they’d rather make their reps lie. Dell is already on my “do not buy” list for this reason. HP is next. Seems like bad business to me. I’d rather do business with a company like Notion Ink that, when it screws up, at least comes clean (so far anyway). But Dell and HP are giant companies, and I’m just a small customer.

Climbing off my virtual soapbox, what to do about my order? I’m confident the Slate 500 won’t ship before CES the first week in January. So my thinking is to just see what’s available at CES, and when, and take it from there.

The saga continues. In my last update, when the last quoted ship date (December 7) came and went, HP customer support quoted December 14 in the phone conversation and December 17 in a follow up email. Of course, December 17 came and went. I again called HP customer support.

This time I was told that the standard ship time was 8 weeks. The rep then put me on hold for a long time to “check with the factory” (probably to eat lunch). He finally came back on the line and said per the factory the ship date was December 23.

I asked him if any units had shipped which were ordered on October 24 or 25. He said he had no access to that information. I asked him about the prior quoted ship date of December 17. He said that could not be correct since the standard ship time was 8 weeks.

It’s become pretty obvious that HP is not telling us customers the truth. It’s a different story every time. Now the issue is whether to cancel the order. I’m tempted. But a Windows 7 slate with an active digitizer would be very useful for me. And I’m not seeing another one on the horizon. Of course, CES is less than 3 weeks away. Where come to think of it, the HP slate was first announced … in CES 2010

Various sites report that purchasers finally are receiving the HP Slate 500 Tablet PC. I ordered on October 25, 3 days after the October 22 launch date. So I figured my turn should come soon. Per HP Customer Support, it will. They advise my unit will ship next Tuesday, December 7. Of course, I’m not taking that to the bank until I receive my email tracking notification.

HP Slate 500 Tablet PC Delayed … but how long? That’s not only an article title. It’s also a question, caused by puzzlement. HP’s email cites a delay of 10 to 15 business days (2 to 3 weeks). But HP’s order status page, linked in HP’s email, shows a ship date of November 14, only a 2 day delay delay from the original ship date of November 12.

HP’s email, in addition to the order status page link, also gave a phone number, 800-888-0292 (option 3), to obtain further information. The good news was I was only on hold for about 5 minutes, and when I got through I spoke to a seemingly knowledgeable rep. 

Now for the bad news. The rep told me the new ship date would be 4 weeks from the order date, which in my case was October 25.

I asked the rep why the order status page had different information. She said that the order status page was not updated that often and calling as I had done would be the way to obtain the most up to date information.

Comments in a SlashGear article offer an interesting conspiracy theory. HP is marketing the Slate 500 as an enterprise device. Perhaps HP received a large order from a business customer, and is moving that order ahead of individual orders like mine.

I did ask the rep about this possibility. I received the answer I expected: “I have no information on that.”

Well, conspiracy or not, it looks like I won’t be receiving the Slate 500 until around Turkey Day. Unless there are further delays. The rep did cheerfully promise I would be notified if (when?) there are further delays.

Just received the following email from HP:

“Due to high demand on the portable system you have selected we will not be able to fulfill the order from on hand stock, therefore we have routed your order to manufacturing for your product to be built. The average lead time to get these portables ready to ship may vary from 10 to 15 business days.” 

Must not have been much “on hand stock” as I ordered the device the very first day (October 25) it became available. So this delay presumably impacted all, or almost all, orders.

10 to 15 business days indicates a 2 to 3 week delay. But I’m not sure that will be the delay. Here’s why. The email directs me to a link to check order status. That order status page indicates a ship date of November 14 and a delivery date of November 15. The original ship date was November 12. So only a 2 day delay … at least per the order status page … as of today.

Not sure what to make of this. I’ll keep you posted.

Became available today for order on the HP website for November 12 shipping. Hmmm … Windows 7, capacitive screen, active digitizer for $799. Did I order it? Do bears sleep in the woods? It’s going to be a long 3 weeks

I ordered the Lenovo ThinkPad x201t Tablet PC back in March, when my Dell Latitude XT2 went AWOL (likely stolen). It’s been a long wait due to Lenovo shipment delays, particularly relating to the Core i7 processor. But the x201t is arriving today per FedX! I will be writing a review. Though it may be a couple of weeks because we are moving next week.