The HP ElitePad 900

Let's take a look at HP's new Elite Pad and its offer to the present need of computing.

HP is announcing the HP ElitePad 900, a touch-friendly business tablet that gives you all the options to tailor it for your personal way of doing business. The ElitePad is ergonomically configured to fit comfortably in your hand with a thin, lightweight design. It also comes with a series of business accessories to customize your tablet experience for your specific business needs.

Like all of HP’s Elite products, the ElitePad is built to meet rigorous military-spec standards so it can take the wear and tear involved with frequent mobile use. The touchscreen is made from Corning’s ultra-durable, scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 2. The tablet also features HP BIOS Protection and Security Manager to keep your confidential data safe. An optional self-service tool even allows access to the ElitePad’s panel, battery and motherboard to troubleshoot any problems in-house.

Getting into the world of Touch

Having Windows 8, the one keyword you hear most often is "touch." That means touch-screen tablets and slates, touch panels added to traditional clamshell laptops, and touch-enabled all-in-one desktops. It also refers to Microsoft's new emphasis on touch gestures for touch pads, as well as the ambitious plans component companies such as Synaptics have for touch input in Windows 8.

Computer mouse had transformed, with its left and right buttons, scroll wheel, and single optical sensor (or trackball, for the old-schoolers) has changed little over the years, aside from shedding the USB (or earlier PS/2) cable for a wireless dongle or Bluetooth. A handful of models have added touch sensors along the top or extraneous side buttons, but the basic concept is the same, and increasingly far removed from how we interact with the rest of our high-tech devices.

HP Spectre had just-announced one all-in-one. This $1,299 desktop with a 23-inch 1080p display doesn't have a touch screen, but has  standalone touch pad, which matches up with an also-included wireless keyboard. Together, the pair looks an awful lot like the Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad combo sitting on my desk right now.