Long Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Yesterday, Dell sent me one of their just-released Latitude XT Tablet PC for review. I took it out for a spin. Here's a snippet of the review I posted on my blog. Dell’s Tablet PC is finally here. After years of wild rumoring and enthusiastic anticipation, the Latitude XT is Dell’s first bet in the ever-bleak Tablet PC industry. Whilst Dell didn’t deliver what everyone have hoped for - the cheapest tablet PC - they did however design one featured packed notebook with numerous innovative ideas and engineering worthy of at least some credit. I’m lucky enough to be one of the first to get their dirty hands on this very popular machine amongst journalists at least. Whilst I would have preferred to review this after university started, but it had to be an on-the-minute decision or I might have not had the chance again for a very long time. Sorry Mossberg, you’ll have to wait until I’m done. This particular model has in it: CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage U7600 (1.2GHz) Memory: 2GB (2?1GB) DDR2-533Mhz 32GB SanDisk Solid State Drive UATA 5000 : ATI Radeon X1250 UMA Graphics (integrated) 12.1-inch WXGA LED back-lit display (1280?800) D-Bay plus 24X CD-RW/DVDN-Trig Native Dual Mode (Electrostatic pen & capacitative multi-touch) Dell Wireless 1505 Draft 802.11n Dell Wireless 5520 Mobile Broadband (3G HSDPA) Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth Module SigmaTel HD Audio: Primary 6-cell 42W/Hr Li-ion battery. Secondary 45W/Hr Li-ion slice 3xUSB, Firewire IEEE01394, SD card slot, ExpressCard, VGA, RJ-45 ethernet, microphone, headphone Integrated mono speaker Integrated microphone array, UPEK fingerprint reader, leather portfolio carrying case On Dell’s site, a similarly customized model would cost about US$3500. The SSD hard disk alone is a $600 extra. Dell insists Latitude is a business-oriented range of notebooks and so these prices reflect the quality of business-grade computers including support, security and customer care. Which means until Dell moves the tablet out of the Latitude range, don’t expect the prices to drop to any ‘consumer’ levels. Moving on. As you would expect the standard Dell leather carrying case fits the tablet inch-for-inch. The insides are covered in a smooth rubbery material which grips on the sides pretty well, adds a little effort to taking it out though. The flap is sealed using magnets which adds a little tension to opening. There’s not a lot of padding so I’d personally opt for a laptop bag instead, especially if you’re the type that likes to throw it down on hard surfaces. The finish on this notebook is really something. Trust me, Dell’s official photos and even my photos don’t do the metallic coating justice. I’m sure there’s a technical word for it, but it has the wood-like texture found on many high-end electronic equipments. However unlike most, this does not grind your fingernails when you cut through it, if you know what I mean. To me, pounds and kilograms don’t mean hell of a lot. I can definitely hold this tablet comfortably in one arm tucked into my chest. However I would not want to hold this out on one arm for extended periods of time. It feels solid, but it’s also no MacBook Air. The extra grip behind the screen hinge definietely helps. I should also add this is a fairly silent machine thanks for the low-voltage processor, but under load there is a strong audible buzz that would definitely be heard across a silent room. There is however a design flaw with the slice battery which blocks the air intake vent at the bottom. I presume without it, cooling would be much more efficient. The bigger deal is capacitative touch, the same touch technology used on the iPhone. Capacitative touch is exciting because it enables multi-touch, that is detecting multiple touchpoints simultaneously on the display. These Dell tablets are multi-touch capable, but will require driver and software updates to be released later in the year. Should be very exciting. Look, I’m touch typing. Get it? I’m so funny. Read the full review here. There's also a short 60-sec video of me using the touch screen in Windows Vista which is pretty fun. If anyone has any additional question, I'll try my best to answer them before I have to return this next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wannes Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 Good to see you around Long, what ever happened with Foruminsider? Anyway, how is the typing with multi touch? I'm one of those notebook/desktop users who's scared to see everything go touch and loose the real keyboard feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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