The HP Slate 21 is a computer developed by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

that runs the

Android operating system Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of deve ...

. It was announced on June 24, 2013, via HP's blog The Next Bench with a price of $, and released in September that year. It is described as either an

all-in-one All in One or All-in-One may refer to: Computing * All-in-one PC, a desktop computer with the monitor and computer in the same case * All-in-one printer or multifunction printer * ALL-IN-1, an office automation software package from Digital Equipm ...

desktop computer or a large

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

. The device uses a 21.5-inch

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

and a

Tegra Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...

4 processor, but does not include a battery. It runs

Android Jelly Bean Android Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1 is the codename given to the tenth version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, spanning three major point releases (versions 4.1 through 4.3.1). Among the devices that run Android 4.1 t ...

as its operating system. It received mixed reviews from critics, with reviewers favoring the screen's wide viewing angles and Full HD resolution, while criticizing the lack of software optimization for the large display.

Features

Hardware and design

The Slate 21 uses an Nvidia

Tegra 4 Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...

system-on-chip running at 1.66 GHz. It includes 1 GB of

DDR3 Double Data Rate 3 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR3 SDRAM) is a type of synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) with a high bandwidth ("double data rate") interface, and has been in use since 2007. It is the higher-speed ...

memory and 8 GB of internal flash storage, which can be expanded via an

SD card Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

slot. Connectivity support includes three USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet socket, a 3.5 mm

headphone jack A phone connector, also known as phone jack, audio jack, headphone jack or jack plug, is a family of electrical connectors typically used for analog signal, analog audio signals. A plug, the Gender of connectors and fasteners, male connect ...

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

3.0, and dual-band

802.11 IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer com ...

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

. The Slate 21 uses a 21.5-inch

IPS panel IPS (in-plane switching) is a screen technology for liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). In IPS, a layer of liquid crystals is sandwiched between two glass surfaces. The liquid crystal molecules are aligned parallel to those surfaces in predetermined ...

with a

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

of 1920×1080. The device includes a 2.1 megapixel front-facing camera capable of recording 720p video. It does not include an

accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is accele ...

, which meant that any Android games which use accelerometer controls cannot be played. The screen has a

glossy Gloss is an optical property which indicates how well a surface reflects light in a specular (mirror-like) direction. It is one of the important parameters that are used to describe the visual appearance of an object. The factors that affect glos ...

surface. It is an optical touchscreen supporting two-point

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...

via three cameras, unlike other tablets which use a capacitive touchscreen. The device uses a white plastic chassis, with an

easel An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, easels are traditionally used by painters to support a painting while they work on it, normally ...

-like stand on the rear which allows adjusting the angle of its tilt between 15 and 70 degrees. The device can be fixed to a wall using a VESA mount if the hinge is unscrewed. A USB keyboard and mouse is bundled with the device. The keyboard includes shortcut keys for access to Android menus such as the home screen and music controls, replacing the usual

function key A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard that can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions, a form of soft key. On some keyboards/computers, function ...

s and

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

/Escape keys. It does not contain an internal battery, requiring users to turn off the device when moving it between power sockets.

Software

The Slate 21 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Software bundled with the device include

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...

, HP's own media playback app, and the mobile version of

Kingsoft Office WPS Office (an acronym for Writer, Presentation and Spreadsheets, previously known as Kingsoft Office) is an office suite for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and HarmonyOS developed by Zhuhai-based Chinese software developer King ...

Reception

Cherlynn Low of ''

Tom's Guide ''Tom's Hardware'' is an online publication owned by Future plc and focused on technology. It was founded in 1996 by Thomas Pabst. It provides articles, news, price comparisons, videos and reviews on computer hardware and high technology. The si ...

'' gave a mixed review, saying that the Slate 21 was an inexpensive all-in-one for users who do not require a powerful computer. She appreciated the "family-friendly" price and the screen's quality. However, she criticized the device for its low internal storage and software limitations, including its inability to run two apps on the screen at once and lack of parental controls. Sascha Segan and Joel Santo Domingo of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

'' gave a score of 1 out of 5, saying that "using the Slate 21 is a painful experience" which is only suitable for few tasks. They noted that the touch sensor for the screen was

lag Lag, or similar, may refer to: Lag * Łąg, Poland * Lag (company), a French guitar maker * Lag (cue sports), a brief pre-game competition to determine which player will go first * Latency (engineering), a slower response time in computing, commu ...

gy. They also pointing out that the web browser defaulted to mobile versions of websites where text was too large, and that 8 GB of storage and 1 GB of memory was insufficient. Dave Oliver of ''

Wired UK ''Wired UK'' is a bimonthly magazine that reports on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is ...

'' gave a score of 7/10, concluding that while the Slate 21 could be "the logical next step" in theory, the lack of apps optimized for the large screen meant that the device was "not quite ready" to replace Windows computers. In a positive review, Alun Taylor of ''

The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...

'' described the device as "a rather good notion realised equally well". He praised the screen and speakers and recommended the device for "domestic web browsing, light computing duties, social networking and media consumption".

Variants

HP Slate 21 Pro

The HP Slate 21 Pro was announced during CES 2014. It includes 16 GB of onboard storage and 2 GB of RAM, twice that of the Slate 21. Because it includes an

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...

input and an upstream USB port, it can be used as a touchscreen display when plugged into a conventional

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

computer. The device is preinstalled with

Citrix Receiver Citrix Workspace App (formerly Citrix Receiver) is the client component of XenDesktop and XenApp, developed by Citrix Systems. It was released initially in 2009. Product overview Citrix Receiver is the client component of XenDesktop or XenApp. D ...

. Michael Brown of

PCWorld ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...

rated the Slate 21 Pro four out of five stars, saying that while it was designed for business users, it was a "far better value" than the Slate 21 for consumer usage, with features that are not included in the older model.

References

{{HP Slate 21 Android (operating system) devices Tablet computers introduced in 2013 Hewlett-Packard All-in-one computers