Windows tablets are gradually flooding the market and today you can find a suitable device for almost any category of users. Do you want a compact and inexpensive solution that can replace a netbook? Here is the Acer Iconia W510. You need something more impressive - keep, for example, ASUS VivoTab TF810C. Requires replacement of a personal PC and a powerful filling - at your service Acer W700 or its updated lightweight modification called P3. For lovers of the exotic, non-standard solutions and simple tasks, there is even a Microsoft Surface on a kind of Windows RT system. But what about business users who are worried about the safety of various data? For them, HP has delivered the ElitePad 900 in a virtually indestructible case and equipped it with a wide range of optional accessories to increase productivity and perform various business tasks.

Specifications HP ElitePad 900:

• Platform (at the time of announcement): Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8
• Display: capacitive, 10.1", 1280 x 800 pixels, IPS, Gorilla Glass 2
• Camera: 8 MP, 1080p video recording
• Secondary camera: 2 MP
• Processor: Dual Core Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail Dual Core 1.8GHz
• Graphics Chip: Imagination SGX545
• RAM: 2 GB
• ROM: 32GB/64GB/128GB SSD
• Memory cards: microSD
• WiFi (802.11a/g/n)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 3.5mm audio jack
• MIL-STD-810G protection
• Accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, digital compass
• Battery: 25Wh
• Working time: up to 10.5 hours
• Dimensions: 260.2mm x 177.3mm x 9.2mm
• Weight: 630 g
• Form factor: monoblock with touchscreen
• Type: tablet
• Announce date: October 2012
• Release date: January 2013 (worldwide), February 2013 (Russia)

Video review

Design and construction

The tablet arrived for the test without packaging, but the package bundle does not imply anything particularly interesting, and all accessories will have to be purchased separately. There are both pros and cons to this approach. The main advantage is that the device could be made thin and light. Measuring 260.2mm x 177.3mm, it's just 9.2mm thick, weighs 630 grams, and it's made from a single piece of machined aluminum. Alas, for this we had to sacrifice all the additional ports, but we will return to this later. Let's see what the HP ElitePad 900 is.

On the front side there is a 10.1” IPS screen with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels, protected by Gorilla Glass 2. The display is bright, contrasty, the viewing angles are maximum, there are no color distortions. Also here you can see the Windows button, front camera and light sensor.

On the bottom side there are two powerful and high-quality stereo speakers, as well as a proprietary connector for charger. The charger itself in the test tablet did not hold tightly, perhaps someone before us (or the ElitePad socket) loosened it. At the top you can see the power button, two microphones, the screen auto-rotate lock lever and a 3.5 mm headphone port. The left side is equipped with metal volume controls, the right side is equipped with a slot for microSIM (for the tablet version with 3G) and microSD cards.

On the back panel there is an 8-megapixel camera with a flash and an icon that notifies us of the presence of an NFC module in the tablet. The black patch that hides the communication modules is made of rubberized plastic.

The build quality of the tablet can be called perfect and this, in fact, is its main feature. Designed to military standard MIL-STD-810G, the HP ElitePad 900 is designed to withstand vibration, dust, drops, perform at altitude, and perform well in cold, hot, extreme temperatures, and wet environments. Are there many such devices on the tablet market?

Software

The tablet runs 32-bit Windows 8 Pro. Its capabilities and features are already familiar to almost everyone, but if you are not one of these users, follow Acer review W700 at the link where you can read about all the details.

Here I would like to talk about the distinctive pre-installed software, but this was not found in the test sample. According to the official website, the tablet is supplied with a proprietary set of HP Client Security software for data encryption and protection against virus attacks. It includes utilities such as Security Manager, Credential Manager, Password Manager, Device Access Manager and Just In Time Authentication, Computrace, Sparekey, Drive Encryption, HP BIOS Settings. The rest of the preinstalled software (again according to the site) includes HP Wireless Hotspot, HP ePrint, Cyberlink YouCam, Cyberlink MediaSuite, LANDisk Management Suite, HP PageLift, Evernote, Skitch. In general, an excellent set, both for a business user and for a not very advanced user.

Camera

The camera installed in the tablet has a resolution of 8 megapixels and can record videos in Full HD quality. Photos are far from the worst for a tablet, so taking a picture or video of something on the go will not be a problem, and for more, a camera in a tablet computer is not needed.

Performance and Accessories

The device is based on a typical chip for this class of Windows 8 tablets - Intel Atom Clover Trail Z7260 with 2 cores and a frequency of 1.8 GHz. The chipset was originally created for the needs of Windows 8, so the operation of the system itself on the tablet can be called almost ideal. No glitches or brakes are found on any of the tested devices based on this chip. However, the performance of the Z7260 is only enough for browsing, watching HD-video and typing without complex operations with tables and graphs and games of the Halo Spartan Assault level, which is a must-try for all owners of Windows tablets and smartphones based on WP8. For everything else, it is better to look towards more productive solutions.

The claimed battery life of 10.5 hours is realistically obtainable in mixed usage, but, for example, if you watch HD video at maximum brightness and volume, the tablet will last for a little more than 6 hours (the discharge is 15% per hour). Interestingly, HP does not indicate the actual battery capacity in the description of the tablet, but judging by the declared battery life, it is similar to that in the same ASUS VivoTab TF810C, that is, about 4000 mAh. There are several ways to increase battery life, and here we smoothly approach the commercially available accessories for the HP ElitePad 900.

The HP ElitePad Expansion Jacket is a rubberized plastic case with two USB ports and an HDMI port, making it a must-buy for anyone who needs to frequently exchange data via flash drives or hard drives. In this case, you can insert an additional battery (sold separately) and then the operating time will increase up to 20 hours. In total, such a set will cost about 5,000 rubles.

There is also a similar HP ElitePad Productivity Jacket with a keyboard stand and docking station, but it already costs 7,000 rubles, and this is without a battery. The disadvantages of these solutions are obvious: an increase in the size and weight of the device.

Another option would be a set of wireless Bluetooth keyboard and HP ElitePad Docking Station with up to 4 USB ports, HDMI and VGA port. The keyboard will cost about 1,500 rubles, and the dock itself will cost 5,000 rubles. When docked, the tablet will charge from the mains, so this option is suitable for those who want to use the tablet as the only computer at home or at work.

For creative people or just for lovers of handwritten notes, there is an HP Executive Tablet Pen on sale that allows you to write something on the screen and transform what is written into printed text. Such a pen will cost 2000 rubles.

For those who need additional protection from falls, there is HP ElitePad Rugged Case - a case of increased strength, but without additional connectors. It costs about 3000 rubles.

Output

The HP ElitePad 900 is definitely one of the best Windows tablets on the market with unique features, a business-oriented focus and a wide range of branded accessories. The basic version of the tablet with 32 GB of memory can be bought already from 19,000 rubles and the device is definitely worth the money. But to use it without additional accessories to its fullest in this case will not work, which means that you will have to spend another 5-10 thousand on various attributes. On the other hand, a business user who understands what he needs from such a device and why he needs it is unlikely to cause difficulties. But the average user will have to think many times whether it is worth overpaying a considerable amount for a metal durable case and additional accessories, or is it better to look towards slightly simpler, but more affordable competitors.

We often consider it as a platform for multimedia playback, gaming applications, surfing the Internet and chatting in in social networks. For some reason, initially our attitude to the tablet is defined as a kind of toy that makes our life more diverse.

Meanwhile, there is a category of special, so-called professional devices that serve specific purposes. Such gadgets are not so well known in wide circles, but they are actively used by those who know their work, who need not a universal solution, but a specific product.

Meet one of those is the HP Elitepad 900. In this article we will review the tablet, try to consider its strengths and weaknesses, as well as highlight some of its specific features.

Model View

Let's start with the general concept of the device. Before us is a tablet for business HP Elitepad 900. The developers define it as such for the reason that the computer has a special integrated software that is different from what can be found on other tablets. In particular, the computer operates on the basis of Windows 8, which allows us to talk about equipping it with such products that will make the user's work behind it much easier and more convenient.

Positioning the device as a business-oriented product makes it possible to use the same approach for the design of the device, its full development in a given vein.

True, we will not run far into this and other issues, but we will begin to fully characterize the HP Elitepad 900 tablet.

Design

Of course, first of all, we will describe how the object of our review looks like, what the user initially sees when purchasing it. In this regard, of course, HP Elitepad 900 is not far behind.

The tablet is made in a strict aluminum case with rounded edges and dark color inserts. Even without taking the device in hand, we can say that it looks quite expensive. In its shape and color selection, the computer is very similar to Apple iPad, but that's where the similarities between the devices end.

The manufacturer claims that due to high-quality case materials, as well as carefully fitted parts, it was possible to achieve moisture and dust resistance of the tablet, as well as the ability to withstand shock in the event of a fall. Therefore, again, when working with a gadget, you can not worry about the safety of your data on it.

The layout of the elements of the HP Elitepad 900 (64Gb) is classic for a device with a horizontal orientation. The device is equipped with two external speakers on the bottom (covered with a steel mesh), next to which there is an input for the charger. On this occasion, I would like to note that this is an unusual microUSB for us, but a specific connector (which can lead to a deadlock if the owner of the device forgets his native charging while on the road).

On the left, if you hold the tablet horizontally, there is a “rocker” for changing the sound level, and on top next to it is the Power button. The right side has a cap for slots where a memory card is installed, as well as a SIM card.

On the rear panel (in the upper part) there is a strip of dark color, effectively contrasting with the light surface of the device. The camera eye and flash are also located here.

Screen

The display dimensions of the device can be said to be ideal for work. So, with a diagonal of 10 inches, the tablet has a screen resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, which allows you to create a colorful picture with high detail. The tablet can recognize up to 5 simultaneous touches.

Reviews from those who have already been lucky enough to use the HP Elitepad 900 tablet note high level device reactions: the gadget literally responds as quickly as possible to every touch, which is very convenient for work.

It should also be said about the protection provided for the display. So, if you believe the technical characteristics, the model has a special glass 2, which prevents the occurrence of scratches, chips and scuffs. It cannot be said that this coating is 100% capable of making the screen of your device invulnerable, but nevertheless, it will be able to survive some damage.

Another advantage of the tablet are the wide viewing angles. This means that if you tilt the device, the picture on it will not change, but will remain just as bright and colorful. This is provided by IPS technology, on which the screen functions.

Battery

The autonomy of any device or for work) plays a huge role in the whole experience of interaction. Let's put it simply: how long your device can work without recharging determines the level of satisfaction from working with it.

According to the manufacturer of the gadget, HP Elitepad 900 is able to work for 10 hours without the need to connect to the network. Of course, many of those who purchased the device wrote about this in reviews of the device. The judgment turned out to be true, even with Wi-Fi turned on and non-stop operation, the device lasts 6-7 hours. By turning off Internet access, you can probably extend your work session by 2-3 hours.

True, and this may not seem enough for those who value autonomy. It is these users who will like a special accessory - a case equipped with a battery. In fact, this is an additional battery that can give the device another 5-6 hours of operation.

CPU

For such a high-end tablet, you would need enough powerful hardware to be able to quickly and smoothly reproduce the work. operating system and various application programs. Therefore, the device operates on the basis of a processor having two cores with a clock frequency of 1.8 GHz. To work with office applications and basic work tasks, this power is enough; even if we talk about colorful games, then the HP Elitepad 900 (3G) tablet will not let you down in this regard. The secret lies not only in the performance of the processor, but also in the optimization of its work with the software. Only in this way can such a result be achieved.

Operating system

By the way, speaking about the software on which the tablet works, it is necessary to mention Windows 8 in more detail. This is a product that was originally designed to work with mobile devices, as well as with PCs that support touch screen as a control module. Today, however, more a new version this OS, following the one on the HP Elitepad 900 (Windows 10). It will not be possible to install it on the tablet we are describing, since the policy of the software development company does not allow such updates and transitions. The only thing is that it is possible to carry out an update within the framework of the same G8. To do this, turn on the HP Elitepad 900 tablet, enter Bios. If you are doing this for the first time, we recommend that you consult a specialist or take the device to a service center.

In general, when you start working with the device, you will be taken to the familiar Windows interface with windows, navigation elements, a bottom bar, and tile-like applications. Everything is placed very conveniently and, most importantly, getting used to it is also quite simple. Don't worry about how difficult it is to put your finger on the frame of the window to perform some actions with it: the interaction of the system and the sensor makes it very easy and simple to complete all tasks, the tablet literally guesses what you want to do next. Therefore, we can sum up a little: the possibilities Windows systems 8 allow you to perfectly cope with any work task by means of office applications. Yes, and the HP Elitepad 900 does not need drivers: the tablet can function out of the box.

Internet

In addition to working with the Office suite, Windows 8 also offers tools software Internet Explorer for Internet access. Of course, on the tablet, this browser is installed as the main and basic one. You should not worry about the speed of its work or convenience, on the contrary, due to the integration of this product into common system the tablet user will be very easy to switch between tasks, and nothing will distract from surfing.

So, access to the desktop is carried out by swiping to the right side from full screen mode. No delays or slowdowns - everything is intuitively simple and very fast.

Text

With text input mobile devices As always, there are a lot of problems. This is due to the lack of a physical keyboard and the availability of an exclusively screen version. Those who designed the HP Elitepad 900 32Gb tablet tried to solve this problem in several ways.

First, it provides a choice of the type of keyboard with which the user would like to work. Without the need to go into the settings and waste extra time, you can simply choose the interface with which it will be more comfortable for a person to work. Secondly, the developers made sure that the screen outside the keyboard was scaled, that is, presented in a more complete form than we see it on most modern devices. Thirdly, obviously, work has been done to determine what the tablet user is going to write. This probably helps the device guess which letter will be selected next.

Given that all the tools from the package are available on Windows 8 Microsoft Office, we can conclude that the tablet will make an excellent office tool on the road.

Connection

The gadget, in addition to all of the above, is mobile due to the ability to connect communication options. In particular, here, as already described above, there is a slot for a SIM card (the device is capable of catching a signal in 3G networks), as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules. These features are nothing new, today they can be found on any device. Nevertheless, they significantly expand the functionality of the tablet, making it a full-fledged Internet access point. And this is completely new level interaction, allowing, for example, to drop files from Office programs directly to the Skydrive cloud. And we haven't even mentioned working with email clients and the ability to edit work files directly in Dropbox and Google Drive.

Camera

The tablet is equipped, as it has already become traditional, with two cameras: the main one (for taking better pictures) with a flash, and the front one (which is additional, has a resolution of 2 megapixels and serves, for example, for organizing video calls). The resolution of the matrix that is located on the back of the case reaches 8 megapixels. The camera is equipped with a stabilization mechanism and autofocus, which allows you to take clear pictures even on the go.

Entertainment

Do not think that the computer is only an office gadget that is not capable of supporting multimedia and games. On the contrary, the device is completely open in terms of the purpose of its use, and you can easily download any amount of content. Given that there are two versions - a 32 and 64 GB tablet, and that each of them has a slot for inserting a memory card, we can testify to the huge potential of the device, its ability to be used as a portable data carrier, or as a mobile device. player. A large colorful screen and a high-speed processor can ensure the operation of the device at the proper level.

2 years ago

A good, comfortable tablet with Windows 8 upgradable to 8.1. There is 3G, WI-FI and Bluetooth

2 years ago

Build quality

2 years ago

lightweight, inexpensive. battery is pretty durable. sensor is normal. the sound is good. The cameras are great +.

2 years ago

The quality of materials and assembly is very good, you can immediately see an expensive, high-quality assembled thing. Solid and expensive appearance, looks cooler than the iPad, the interest of those around you is guaranteed. It is not a shame to get it at some serious event, such as business negotiations. Built to a military standard, impact-resistant aluminum chassis and gorilla glass 2 screen. HP says it can safely be dropped from a height of about a meter and will survive 20-30 such drops. But I did not check it =) The screen is of high quality, does not glare, the color reproduction is excellent, the viewing angles too, no complaints, except that the resolution is a bit low. The screen has an oleophobic coating, does not collect fingerprints so much and they are easily erased. Weakly heated, no air ducts and fans, respectively - no noise. The processor is here though

2 years ago

Normal Win8.1, professional, not RT. Good screen, good build, nice to hold. Shustro works.

2 years ago

Win 8 is more convenient than other OSes, especially since this tablet can save files from the Internet, unlike a bitten apple and does not stupefy like a green robot / you don’t need to get used to the device if you use Windows at home / fast light 10 "very long battery life, all the more with such a diagonal, using auto navigation - many of those passing by "wrap" their heads in curiosity, especially at night, a clear and quick response from the display - without "brakes" and freezes, applications from the store are installed without problems few people - plus a memory card up to 64 GB is a tablet all the same - why store so much data? With similar characteristics - it will be in "service" for a very long time, unlike other devices that have to be changed

2 years ago

Low screen resolution.
Accidentally broke the touchscreen. Then I tried to find a new one. It turned out that the touchscreen for this model costs the same as new tablet, in addition, it must be ordered from abroad. For comparison, for a Korean tablet of similar parameters, a touchscreen will be built in the region of $ 80-100 and is available in Moscow.

2 years ago

Not only the time is periodically lost, but also the date, a friend has the same problem. Not enough of its memory, but you can increase the microSDHC. One USB connector only with an adapter that does not fit very well in the socket

2 years ago

Weak WiFi, unable to upgrade to Windows 8.1 due to lack of Microsoft video driver, screen not responding well to touch input device, case gets warm when placed in a case.

2 years ago

not enough memory (own). Lots of extra hp Google installs. Doesn't charge from computer. One USB port with adapter only

2 years ago

There are no usb ports, you need to buy a cover with usb ports. The cover is only original HP and it is not cheap. But there is bluetooth, you can connect mice with it.
Weak processor, it is enough for office work, watching videos and the Internet, but the trouble is with games. It pulls only very unpretentious or old ones, until about 2003. All sorts of Heroes and diablos go without problems.
Expensive accessories, although they have a huge selection.
32GB of internal memory is not enough for him, the system eats a lot.

2 years ago

The impossibility of charging from anything other than a native hefty power supply (like a large laptop), its own, original connection connector, if everything is with it, khan.
While any other tablet can be recharged almost anywhere, including from an additional battery, this tablet is only from a wall outlet.
The concept of "jackets" inherited from the Compaq handhelds of the early 2000s, which even then showed its inconsistency. When will the #obscene# who promotes this concept finally be fired from HP? That is, if you want to use it normally, for example, to have USB connectors - buy a special case that costs like half a tablet, and even kills the main advantage of the tablet - compactness. And if you want other possibilities - buy another cover and change their places.

2 years ago

the only connector, but there is an adapter for USB in the kit
cover bought somehow, but bought, and leather
3G available, no LTE, but you can connect an external modem
a little expensive of course, but we did not regret the money for the purchase, and now we do not regret it!

From typical tablet reviews, my story will differ primarily in the choice of the main benchmark. Along with my tests, I actively used the Windows Assessment Console (WAC). It clearly shows how the operation of the OS corresponds to the ideas its creators about optimal performance in real user tasks.

By and large, the review evaluates the performance of not just a specific tablet, but a whole class of mobile PCs based on the Clover Trail platform. The common denominator is the Intel Atom Z2760 CPU, PowerVR SGX 545 graphics, eMMC SSD and 2GB of RAM.

The HP ElitePad 900 is positioned for business, and I'll look at it from that angle. But home users won't be bored because the WAC tests cover all of our main tasks.

Today in the big program

Specifications and prices

You will find a complete list of characteristics on the official website, and I will limit myself to the main points.

At first glance, the tablet looks quite "home", and only the professional edition of Windows 8 indicates its positioning in the business sector. In the course of the review, I will tell you what trump cards for organizations are hiding in the sleeve of the HP ElitePad 900.

HP has released six models on the Russian market, a clear difference between which cannot be understood using a comparison on the company's website. However, its representatives kindly explained that they vary the edition of the OS, disk capacity and the availability of 3G.

They sent me the D4T16AA for review.

Appearance

Many companies design their mobile PCs with Apple in mind, but the previous generation of Windows tablets couldn't even come close to the iPad in terms of size and weight. With the advent Intel processor Atom Z2760 and the release of Windows 8, the situation has changed.

Design

The first impression is that the tablet is very thin and light! Although the HP ElitePad 900 is not the smallest or lightest 10-inch tablet under Windows control 8, it outperforms the iPad 4 in terms of weight and dimensions. The only exception is the width, which is a consequence of the larger diagonal of the screen.

The aluminum back panel curves elegantly towards the short sides of the tablet...

... creating very thin side edges (I would even say sharp if you squeeze the tablet tightly).

The volume buttons are located under the left hand, and on the right side the compartment for SD and SIM cards is recessed into the case, which opens with a paper clip.

Unlike the sides, the top and bottom edges of the tablet are flat. The power button is on the top left, and the screen rotation lock switch and the 3.5mm headphone jack are on the right.

Speakers are located on the bottom edge, and between them is a proprietary port for connecting a charger or adapters, of which only USB is included.

Due to the lack of USB ports in the case, this is the only way to connect a flash drive or external drive.

Screen

The 10-inch Gorilla Glass screen supports five touch points, which should be sufficient in a corporate environment. From a number of other tablets on Windows 8 with such a diagonal, it stands out with a non-standard resolution of 1280x800 pixels, which, before switching to Windows 8.1, automatically makes it impossible to place two contemporary applications (the Snap function is available in Windows 8 at a resolution of 1366x768 and higher).

The HP ElitePad 900 has a very bright display!

I haven't measured it, but it feels brighter than any of my mobile PCs, including the HP Pavilion dv7t 17" multimedia laptop. As a result, I felt quite comfortable with the display brightness around 60%.

Summary: Appearance

In my opinion, the device looks modern and stylish, although the design lacks some zest. Probably, for a business tablet, the main thing is to look “decent”, and the ElitePad 900 fits this definition quite well.

The small diagonal of the screen is partly compensated by the resolution of 1280x800 pixels. But the lack of USB and HDMI ports in the case can only be made up for with accessories.

CPU and GPU

The heart of the tablet is the Intel Atom Z2760 chip. Thanks to Intel Burst technology, the clock speed of the processor varies depending on the system activity, reaching a maximum of 1.8GHz during periods of peak load.

clover trail

Clover Trail is the name of the platform, and a separate SoC is called CloverView and consists of two 32nm Saltwell Atom cores, each with 512KB L2 cache. In principle, these cores could support a 64-bit architecture, but Intel only stated support for 32-bit.

Far inferior to the graphics in the iPad 4, it is closer to NVIDIA Tegra 3, which is bundled with Surface RT tablets on ARM.

Clover Trail does not support SATA, so mobile systems eMMC SSDs are installed on this platform, and the ElitePad 900 is no exception.

USB 3.0 is also not supported, and the number of USB 2.0 ports is limited to two, although there is nothing stopping manufacturers from implementing a USB hub in the dock. The ElitePad 900 doesn't have USB ports at all, as I noted above.

The main advantage of the Z2760 over previous generations of Atom processors is the combination of high performance and low power consumption.

Feel

The ElitePad 900's interface is very responsive, although the modern interface feels smoother than the classic. Perhaps Modern UI is just more convenient for finger control.

As soon as you start interacting with applications, the Z2760 is actively involved in the work. Even with simple typing, the Word 2013 process jumps to 20% of the CPU (the desktop window manager is also active).

While loading web pages, the IE process takes up to 25% of the CPU, but then its activity decreases, and scrolling and zooming pages are smooth. However, I cannot say the same about scrolling in Excel - the selection of 250 rows in three columns with comparable CPU usage was jerky.

A significant load on the processor does not block multitasking. While installing updates, I was browsing photos and web pages, although it was slower than in the absence of background CPU tasks.

Clover Trail makes it easy to play HD 1080p and 720p movies as well as streaming video high resolution. Yes, the processor is working seriously, but it easily digests MKV into VLC when default settings. My old Atom on a netbook can't do that, and I'm saved by this trick.

Before moving on to the benchmarks, I want to point out that they were all run in balanced performance mode, except where noted.

Windows interface performance test in WAC

During the test, you can see firsthand how it opens home screen, a search is performed, etc. In the WAC results, the numbers are color-coded according to the principle of three traffic lights, so it is very easy to navigate.

WAC details match the speed feel contemporary interface - ElitePad has everything in order in this aspect.

Unfortunately, there is no separate performance evaluation in WAC traditional interface, but you will see some aspects below as part of the image processing test.

Monte Carlo test in Excel

For example, I expanded the node with the number of temporary failures when playing videos with different resolutions in WMP. Since the WAC scores excellent results within 10,000 failures, a few hundred can be neglected.

Photo processing test in WAC

The Windows Assessment Console has a set of images that emulate typical actions with graphic files- work in the explorer and photo processing. Of course, speed is not important in all business scenarios in these aspects, but one can easily imagine preparing pictures for a presentation or photos for showing to a client.

The ElitePad 900 generally does a good job of manipulating files and browsing thumbnails in File Explorer, but image processing falls far short of Windows creators' expectations.

In these operations, the speed of the disk is also important (for example, for sorting files and displaying search results). And that brings us to the drive found in the HP ElitePad 900. But first, let's sum up the subtotal.

Summary: CPU and GPU

The Atom Z2760 handles typical home and light office tasks well, working hard to complete them. Of particular note is the excellent playback of high-definition video.

The Clover Trail platform can also handle processor-intensive business tasks, heavy web browsing, and image processing, but these will take longer to complete than Intel Core tablets.

SSD and disk space

All modern tablets are equipped with an SSD, but often the drives in them are built on cheap eMMC flash memory in a single package with a controller.

eMMC SSD

The Windows 8 Task Manager is very aware of the type of storage in the ElitePad 900.

The same memory is used in SD cards, so it's not surprising that it is optimized for reading and writing. large files images. However, eMMC is not well suited for occasional OS and program operations, especially when actively multitasking.

In practice, the slowness of eMMC flash will show up under significant background I/O loads such as application installations, antivirus scans, and so on. For serious multitasking, swapping will be another slowing factor for the ElitePad900, which comes with just 2GB of RAM.

CrystalDiskMark test

eMMC SSDs are still faster than hard drives, especially those often bundled with mobile PCs. So, the disk in the ElitePad 900 has a speed of random recording of 4K fragments three times higher, and random reading of 4K is 25 times higher than that of a "laptop" hard drive Toshiba. With a large queue depth (QD32), the difference becomes even more noticeable, although on a tablet, QD is unlikely to exceed 5.

However, eMMC drives are far inferior to any typical SSD (such as those on SandForce), and this is a common problem in the industry.

File handling test in WAC

The task in WAC emulates real user actions with a set of files, and the results clearly show how the system works in line with the Windows creators' ideas about good disk performance.

Despite the relatively high performance index, the drive did not show any excellent performance during file processing.

The weakest point of the drive in the ElitePad 900 is copy speed, which is three times slower than expected. I also observed a value in the region of 24MB / s when transferring files from a flash drive to an SSD. Moving and deleting files is at a very average level.

Disk space

The tablet provided to me was equipped with a 32GB drive, which is very modest by the standards of modern Windows and programs. In addition to the deployed system, the recovery partition, as well as the necessary hibernation and swap files, take up space. The ElitePad 900 has disabled system protection to save disk space, but it's still low.

After installing the five most popular apps Office 2013 and all updates from Microsoft Update and Windows Store free space significantly reduced on disk. But all other business applications have yet to be installed.

I note that subsequently the SoftwareDistribution \ Download folder will lose weight by about 500MB, temporarily swollen from the installation of the first updates. If you have an SD card, you can move about 1GB of the Office cache to it using a symbolic link.

Summary: eMMC SSD and storage space

The storage in the ElitePad 900 will handle most typical office tasks with ease. However, a tablet with an eMMC SSD might not be the best choice if your employees are using programs that are disk-intensive or memory-hungry, leading to paging.

It makes sense for companies to purchase models with a 64GB storage capacity, or to supply tablets with SD cards immediately or as needed. In terms of cost, these options are roughly comparable, as well as in terms of performance.

Battery

The HP ElitePad 900 tablet comes with a 25Wh battery. In comparison, the Dell Latitude 10 and Lenovo ThinkPad 2 (also 10-inch business tablets on the Clover Trail) come with a 30Wh battery. At battery life the balanced power plan is set to 40% screen brightness. Given the very bright display of the tablet, you can work quite well, but I liked it better at 60%.

The HP ElitePad 900 comes with only one power plan out of the box - balanced, so new user plans are created based on it. You can only switch to the default energy saving and maximum performance plans from the command line.

Battery Life

I tested the battery life by playing HD video. For testing, I took a one-minute 1080p MPEG-4 clip from the WAC set and a 720p MKV recording of an NFL match. The video played in a circle until the charge reached 2%, after which the system went into hibernation.

This is a good result, given the CPU load during video playback. The beauty of WAC is that for each test, ETL reports are generated that can be examined in Windows Performance Analyzer. Here I will limit myself to just a schematic graph of CPU and disk activity during MPEG-4 1080p playback.

Battery drain while sleeping

The 254g case can accommodate an extra battery (190g) for extended battery life. However, the battery is held in place with four screws, so you'll also need to carry a screwdriver with you. The price of a cover in the Russian Federation is about $150.

There is also a hard case, and a Productivity Jacket with ports and a keyboard that can be used as a stand is also planned. The latter weighs 850g and does not contain an additional battery, which hardly makes the purchase worthwhile.

Summary: accessories

The HP ElitePad 900 is equipped with an impressive line of business accessories, which, however, are not without drawbacks. Even the consumer 11.6” HP Envy x2 on the Clover Trail allows you to work longer and be more productive with a detachable keyboard with an additional battery and a total weight of 1.4 kg.

Detailed specifications all accessories are available (EN).

Conclusion

HP turned out to be a good business tablet for typical office tasks or special applications (example) - stylish, thin, light, with a bright 1280x800 pixel screen, a powerful enough processor for confident HD video playback and decent battery life.

However, it also has some of the lesser strengths of the Clover Trail platform—relatively weak graphics, slow eMMC storage, and limited RAM. It is unlikely that the performance of the tablet will suit people who work a lot with graphics, or IT professionals who juggle heavy applications.

The small dimensions and design of the device turn into the need to connect to USB ports and HDMI using adapters, as well as the inability to charge the tablet when it is in a stand case. These inconveniences can be offset by the cost of a docking station or a special case. However, the assortment of accessories did not include a light case with a keyboard, or at least a heavier one, but with an additional battery.

In the configuration I recommend for business tasks with a 64GB drive, the HP ElitePad 900 tablet costs 30,000 rubles, and the 3G model will cost 35,000. By comparison, the Lenovo ThinkPad 2, which has all the ports and a larger battery, costs $32,000 in a similar configuration.

NB! Clover Trail for home

The devices on the Clover Trail will easily handle all typical household tasks. If high peak performance is not critical for you, I recommend taking a closer look at a wide range of Windows 8 tablets on the Atom Z2760, including those with a diagonal of 11.6”. Battery life on Z2760 devices is on par with Windows RT tablets on ARM that can't run third-party desktop apps.

I want to thank readers Ruslan Drinko, Lev Nikitin and Vasily Gusev, who kindly agreed to run Monte Carlo and IE tests on their tablets. The review uses photos of Intel_DE, published on Flickr licensed under CC.

Discussion

Big post - big discussion? :) In addition to the actual ElitePad 900 and Clover Trail, it would be interesting to discuss the following points.

Material supply

I rarely write about devices, although the Windows Phone and Kindle posts have been very heavily discussed. But there was, only the experience of use, and then there was also the performance assessment. Were you interested? What exactly? What would you add?

Tests

Everyone has already shared their impressions of the tablets. What about your PC's performance in numbers? While reviewing Clover Trail, I compared all my mobile PCs with it. By doing the tests you are interested in, you will do the same!

Post the tests you are interested in in the comments, not forgetting to specify the configuration!

Upd. 07-Jul-2013. This review was written as part of a competition run by HP, which I learned from ads on the Windows Facebook page.

After some thought, I decided not to write about the competition in the review and leave the ground for speculation to those who like to think that everything is paid for :) However, in the comments I mentioned that the tablet left after the review.

One way or another, HP representatives recognized my review as "the most objective and interesting", and today the prize tablet came to me. I don't know where the rest of the contest reviews were posted, but one was definitely on Habré.

Upd. 18-Oct-2013. HP representatives, which has a list of all the reviews at the end, so you can look at the Elitepad 900 through the eyes of other reviewers and compare their material with mine.

You can mark fragments of text that are interesting to you, which will be available via a unique link in the browser's address bar.

about the author

While the HP ElitePad 900 isn't the smallest or lightest 10-inch Windows 8 tablet, it does outperform the iPad 4 in size and weight. The only exception is the width, which is a consequence of the larger diagonal of the screen.

In my opinion, the word "superior" here is confusing, and one gets the feeling that the dimensions and weight of HP are larger than those of Apple, although this is not so, judging by the table.
Vadim, your articles or reviews of something are the standard in terms of the presentation of the material. I like that there are many "real" tests and only a little "synthetics".
What I would like to add: data on temperature (enough for feelings - comfortable or not).

Dmitry Sokolov

Appearance copied from Apple.
For everything else, there was no strength and desire.
What are the battery on the cogs.
It is immediately clear that any leader, employee or employee who the device is designed to carry with them screwdrivers, pliers and a soldering iron all the time :-)

Denis Borisych

HP, as always, is in their repertoire, well, they have no desire to do good models, if the battery is 20-30% less than that of competitors.
If the iron is either like everyone else or weaker, but the price tag is always higher.
How many HPs did not buy, only 1 device left good impressions, but that was a very long time ago.
The appearance is stylish, only I saw it somewhere, mine on Ainol 10.
By the way, don't you think that the atom and ai3-7 make no sense to compare, well, none at all. Compared with other models of atoms, at least with netbook platforms, because it is their tablet that will replace. It is not correct to compare 1.8 GHz and 1.0 GHz stones, due to the bias of such a comparison.
The battery is as always dull. I have the first chinese tablet played the video for 6 hours.
In short, as always, HP turned out to be an ambiguous device for an expensive price,
the only pluses of which are the appearance and windows 8.

Alexander Sentyurin

Great review, Vadim. Thanks!

I don’t understand one thing - what do marketers think - do they hope for fashion for tablets?

A netbook on such an atom costs 10 tr. I don't understand why you pay two or three times more here. For a price less than the cheapest option, I bought an Acer V5-171, i5, and for another 5 tr. I put in an SSD and another 4 GB. Having received a small workstation :) with the ability to spin a bunch of virtual machines.

Ruslan Drinko

Vadim, thanks for the good review, and especially for the tests that are as close to real problems as possible. And then some journalists like to catch up with the fog with synthetics, that then the devil himself will break his leg when trying to evaluate the real performance: D

By the way, the tests also confirm my subjective assessment that the bottleneck of the new atoms is disk operations. Everything else is enough with a margin, even a kind of low-performance video core, which, nevertheless, copes well with FullHD playback and light games, not to mention office tasks.

PS
As a business solution in the same niche, DELL devices will still be preferable - http://www.dell.com/ru/business/p/latitude-10-tablet/pd and Lenovo - http://www. lenovo.com/products/us/tablet/thinkpad/thinkpad-tablet-2/

Vitaly K. ©

Browser tests are tailored for IE, so I consider them not objective.
I would like to see the performance of video playback with 10-bit color.

Ruslan Drinko

Pay for:

1. Passive cooling.
2. Long autonomy.
3. Performance
4. Weight.

In addition, do not forget that the tablet discussed in the article is intended for the business segment. You need a simple consumer device and for a reasonable amount - take a closer look at the Acer W510 / W511, the cost of which is one and a half times lower than the subject.

Ilya

I understand a Surface Pro device with a keyboard, but why roll out something like this to the market just what it is?
And it’s still not clear what it means to give an amorphous “business” user bad screen, a bad battery and bad hardware, they say the office plankton doesn’t need more.
And in general, you don’t think that Windows similar devices died at the start?

Vitaly K. ©

Vadim Sterkin: Vitaliy, browser tests are indeed tailored for IE. Well, that's how they were performed in IE! Therefore, there is nothing biased here.

You never know what else they screwed up there.