ElitePad 900 vs. iPad 4: Can HP Tablet Outdo Apple’s Retina Display?

The debut of HP's (Hewlett-Packard) ElitePad 900 tablet in India last week led many to believe that the American PC maker made a late entry in a market that is already dominated by Apple, Samsung and other low-cost Indian tablet manufacturers like Micromax and Karbonn.

Apple had released the 9.7-inch fourth generation iPad way back in December 2012, and has made strong sales in India. According to recent market survey, Apple has emerged as the top three companies in the Indian tablet business which is lead by Samsung and Micromax in the first two positions.

HP ElitePad 900 and Apple iPad 4 are high-end tablets, with the latter being a popular choice. With the launch of HP's new tablet, consumers are wondering if it packs enough ammunition to take on its American rival. 

Here's a breakdown of specs between HP ElitePad 900 and Apple iPad 4:

Display:

HP ElitePad 900 sports a 1280x800p resolution display, but it's still no match to iPad's retina display which is rated as one of the top display features in the tablet industry.

Processor:

Apple's fourth generation iPad runs on the company's latest A6x chipset with 1.4GHz CPU speed. HP ElitePad scores a few more points with a faster 1.8GHz Intel Atom processor.

Camera:

HP ElitePad 900 is one of the very few tablets in the market to a feature an 8.0-megapixel camera in addition to the 1.2-megapixel front camera. Despite having a 5.0-megapixel camera, iPad's main camera is no less superior to its rival's camera. The iPad 4's iSight camera comes packed with five element lens, hybrid IR filter, face-detection and many more features.

Operating System:

In this aspect, Apple once again trumps HP tablet. iPad runs on one of most secure and biggest operating ecosystem -Apple iOS. The Apple OS holds largest collection of more than 700,000 apps in the industry.

HP ElitePad 900 runs on the Windows 8 Pro OS which was released only a few months ago in the market. It only holds a little over 150,000 apps.

Price:

Apple's 9.7-inch iPad 4 variant prices are listed on Reliance Digital's subsidiary iStore. The fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi only variant is priced at ₹31,900 for 16GB, ₹37, 900 for 32GB and ₹43, 900 for 64GB. The cellular variant is priced at ₹39, 900 for 16GB, ₹45,900 for 32GB and ₹51, 900 for 64GB.

The price of HP ElitePad 900 is expected to start from ₹43,500.

Here is a breakdown of comparison between HP ElitePad 900 and Apple iPad 4 [Spec-Wise]: