Hewlett-Packard has passed on Google’s Chrome OS and loaded the more customizable Android 4.3 on its new Slate 21 Pro all-in-one.
The PC, announced on Sunday at CES, has a 21.5″ screen that can display images at 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The desktop will ship in the US from March starting at $399 with a keyboard and mouse.
The Slate 21 Pro is HP’s second Android all-in-one after the Slate 21 AIO. The PC has a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, 16Gb of storage, 2Gb of RAM and Wi-Fi.
The all-in-one is designed for business users, and has a user interface much like those on Android smartphones and tablets. HP is hoping users will store most of their data in the cloud through online storage services such as Box.net and Google Drive, as users of mobile devices do.
The limited storage and reliance on cloud make the Slate 21 Pro similar to competing Android PCs from Acer, Asustek and Lenovo, as well as to LG’s Chromebase all-in-one, which uses the Chrome OS. OS flexibility, cost and customisation features prompted HP to load Android on the desktop instead of Chrome OS, said Pavana Polineni Gadde, global product marketing manager at HP.
“With Chrome, Google owns everything,” Gadde said. “You do not have independence to select any updates, or select how the device needs to be set up. You don’t have any kind of customisations; it’s one size fits all.”
HP has also tried to keep the Slate 21 Pro affordable at just around or under $400, and the all-in-one with Chrome OS would have been more expensive to build.
“From Google’s perspective, Chrome is the premium OS, so the bill-of-materials cost goes up,” Gadde said.
HP wants to offer users operating systems from Microsoft and Google in multiple devices. For users who want Chrome OS, HP offers Chromebooks with 11″ and 14″ screens, a HP spokesman said.
The Slate 21 Pro comes with Kingsoft Office Suite to open Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. The PC also doubles up as a touch monitor, and laptops can be connected through an HDMI port. An app called Portrait will help run applications written for small screens.
HP will ship the desktop worldwide. A separate Android OS image will be loaded for the China market, where access to Google Play is not available.
The PC maker also announced the ProOne 400 all-in-one, with a 21.5″ screen. Offered with the ProOne 400 is a choice of Intel’s latest Core, Pentium or Celeron processors based on the Haswell architecture. The screen displays images at a 1920×1080 resolution, and features include DisplayPort monitor port, USB 3.0 ports and a webcam. The new all-in-ones are easily serviceable and parts can be easily interchanged, said Bob Ducey, category manager for all-in-ones at HP.
The ProOne 400 AIO is priced started at $749 and will ship in March for US consumers.
Agam Shah IDG News Service
@agamsh agam_shah@idg.com
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