Dell announced last spring that it would enter the tablet PC market later in the year, and earlier today, PCW Editor in Chief Harry McCracken and I got to see one of the first Dell Latitude XT tablets in a briefing with Dell executives. Dell says it will begin taking orders for the Latitude XT–a convertible 12.1-inch notebook with a capacitative touchscreen–in the next few weeks.
Here’s what the Latitude XT looks like as a notebook…
… and as a tablet (all images courtesy of Dell’s press kit).
As usual, Dell brings its own spin to a product category that others pioneered more than five years ago with a special version of Windows XP. (Dell’s tablets run either Windows Vista Business Edition, Windows Vista Ultimate Edition–both of which integrate tablet features–or Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005.)
First, there will be two versions of the Latitude XT: A lightweight (under 4 pounds) version with an LED-backlit LCD screen, and a slightly heftier version that uses a CCFL LCD screen optimized for use outdoors. Either way, Dell says, the Latitude XT is still one of the most lightweight tablets to incorporate capacitative technology (i.e. it detects and responds to variations in pressure).
Additionally, Dell’s tablets incorporate multitouch technology–the same type of technology that enables all the cool fingertip tricks on the iPhone. However the tablets do not ship with applications that use the technology; Dell expects third-party software developers to produce such apps down the road.
Dell will offer its customers a range of configuration options including single-core or dual core ultra-low voltage Intel processors; several types of hard drives (40GB/80GB 4200 RPM; 120GB 5400 RPM; or 32GB/64GB solid-state drives); 1GB, 2GB or 3GB of RAM; and a slew of wireless options including draft-802.11n Wi-Fi and several integrated EV-DO modules.
You don’t get to pick your graphics, though; all Latitude XT’s will use ATI Radeon X1250 UMA integrated graphics, which makes me worry for people who go for the minimum 1GB of RAM.
Dell says prices will start at an expensive-sounding $2499, but good touchscreen digitizer technology doesn’t ever come cheap. We’ll look forward to getting a unit in for hands-on and benchmark testing.
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