HP Pro Tablet 608 G1 Unveiled For Business w/ 2048 x 1536

For those who were not satisfied with the 8-inch Windows business tablet HP Pro Tablet 408 G1, there's good news, as HP announced an alternative model with much higher specifications yesterday called Pro Tablet 608 G1.

The HP Pro Tablet 608 G1 is a 7.9-inch 4:3 aspect ratio and 2048 x 1536 resolution tablet with Gorilla Glass screen, 64-bit Windows 8.1 / Pro / Pro Education / Industry Pro Retail alternatives, a 1.44 GHz quad-core Intel Atom x5-Z8500 processor, 2GB or 4GB RAM, USB-C port, and a portable dock and retail jacket unlike anything we normally see on tablets.

HP expects the Pro Tablet 608 G1 to become available with Windows 8.1 Pro in July from $479, while it will ship with Windows 10 in August. It's the priciest 8-inch Windows tablet yet, apart from an occasional hard to get Fujitsu tablet. But with specs like these, it should be able to sell. It's still cheaper than an iPad Air 2.

HP Pro Tablet 608 G1 with optional retail jacket

And the rest of the specs should help sales too, like the 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB eMMC storage options with 2TB (!) microSD card expansion, the DTS Studio Sound and stereo speakers, and the 2MP front camera and 8MP rear camera.

Connectivity options are top notch too, so that it will always be able to connect to services in retail and business or personal use. It has dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and optional Qualcomm Gobi 4G LTE connectivity.

It has a lot of configurable security options, with HP Client as standard on all models, but Firmware TPM 2.0, Hardware TPM 1.2 support, and related support is also available.

The weight begins at 420 grams, which makes it the second heaviest tablet in this category after the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 8 with Windows, due to the large cylinder of that Yoga tablet. But it's still light enough for it to be considered a light tablet.

The rear of HP Pro Tablet 608 G1 shown with the optional retail jacket

It has a 5900 mAh Li-ion polymer battery, but I don't know what the estimated battery life is. Given the high resolution, I would estimate between 7 and 8 hours, but of course it depends on the brightness.

For accessories the tablet has it's own HP Pro Tablet 608 Active Pen G1 too, as well as a HP Pro 8 Travel Keyboard, a dock, a rugged case, and finally a HP Pro 8 Smart Cover made for it.

HP have enjoyed a lot of success with the 8-inch HP Stream 8, so I guess they know this market, and the HP Pro Tablet 608 G1 is the first tablet in this segment to overdo or dethrone the Lenovo ThinkPad 8.

– Tom Bowen