Dell Tablet PC coming this Fall?

We've been hearing rumors about a possible Dell Tablet PC pretty much since the day the first Tablet PCs went on sale, is it finally going to happen now? None of this is officially confirmed or anything, but jkOnTheRun (which has tons of cred when it comes to this stuff) reports that Dell is probably going to roll out a Tablet PC sometime around September or October of this year and that it will most likely be a convertible-style Tablet based on the Latitude D420 and come with a widescreen display and optional WWAN.

[Shawn @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:05PM]

My Dell rep (I work for a large university) confirmed at our last meeting that a Dell tablet would be released in Q3 this year. I have a dell road map that indicates this as well, but it doesn't have any specs or anything really useful.

[xxdesmus @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:13PM]

...because we all know how well tablets have done so far... Why is this important information?

[Bob @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:38PM]

Wow that was a very helpful comment...thanks!

[John Doe @ Apr 22nd 2007 4:00PM]

It isn't. Windows is a poor interface for a tablet. Apparently MS forgot why the Palm Sized PC failed. They emulated the Windows interface so closely that it became a kludge to work with. (This coming from someone who still has is Cassiopeia E-11.) MS is doing the same thing with the Tablet. Its a pain to work with. The interface is kludgy. Yes its nice that its 100% compatible with all Windows apps but that really doesn't mean much in my book. Baller and Gates need to work on an alternate explorer shell for Windows.

[Steve Shickles @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:36PM]

I can' wait... Tried the Gateway not bad... But a dell fan.

http://www.steveshickles.net

[Skeg8 @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:38PM]

I can also confirm this. We have seen few details but our university is planning on buying at least a few of these.

[mike @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:41PM]

yeah i work for a large corporation and our dell rep also confirmed that this thing is going to be released Q3 this year. October is what he is telling me.

[northerngeek @ Apr 22nd 2007 2:04PM]

@ xxdesmus

Tablet PCs may not be doing fantastically but Vista is a much better OS for the platform. Their reach has been limitted in my opinion because of low publicity, my family owns two I am using one now, I know a few people who are interested so this is important to some people.

[tldrvr @ Apr 22nd 2007 2:07PM]

My rep has confirmed this with me as well. I'll try to snag his powerpoints. Shows a play on the D420 form factor, 1GB ram minimum 4GB max, 10 hour extended battery [not a typo, but probably not reality], 802.11n, 12" display with an upgraded 12" 'high visibility' option for outdoor use.

[someone @ Apr 22nd 2007 2:49PM]

haha idiots dell already has tablet pcs just google "tablet pc" and ull see a Dell sponsored tablet pc link that claims that dell sells tablets. of course, finding one for sale on the actual website is a different story...

[John Doe @ Apr 22nd 2007 4:01PM]

No they don't dumbass.

[Castle @ Apr 22nd 2007 4:17PM]

Hopefully it'll be Wacom-based (like the IBM, Toshiba, Fujitsu) rather then the cheap touch-based TabletPCs that Gateway uses.

The Wacom touchscreen allows for pressure sensitivity, mouse-over, and eraser function (the other end of the Sylus becomes an eraser), also you can hover over the tablet PC without it actually touching and the mouse would move (important for mouse over function).

[Dan @ Apr 22nd 2007 4:36PM]

I have a Gateway tablet and it's not touchscreen. I can hover over to move the cursor, and my stylus is pressure sensitive, it's just made by a different company than wacom. (granted, I don't like it quite as well as the Wacom's I've used, but it isn't as bad as you make it sound... still very functional.) I don't understand why tablets haven't caught on more, I don't know what I'd do without mine (I'm a college student)

[Lev M. @ Apr 22nd 2007 4:45PM]

@someone
Dell sells Tablet PCS from another company (motion computing). This is going to be a Tablet under the Dell brand name.
Doh

[Joe @ Apr 22nd 2007 5:07PM]

Most people know this. That's why this is news: a DELL brand laptop, actually made by dell, at the dell price, etc. Not just a Motion Tablet sold by dell.

[Lev M. @ Apr 22nd 2007 5:12PM]

I know that, I was replying to "someone"'s comment. I myself have been following the Dell Tablet pc story for a couple of months (there is a site that you can post what you want dell to do, and the tablet has been rising as of late). Does anyone know if they will be making one with a graphics card or a 14" model?

[Dustin Frazier @ Apr 22nd 2007 5:31PM]

Yeah the gateway tablet is horrible for non-gateway fanboys who have never owned one. The cx and mx tablet series are one of the only tablets to offer discreet graphics and the the finepoint stylus is equal to my teacher's fujitsu wacom except for photoshop. Get a life haters. Finepoint has an eraser function as well but the scratch out gesture is still faster.

[Zak @ Apr 22nd 2007 7:35PM]

I love my D420, the only thing that I would love more is if it were a tablet.

[o0adam0o @ Apr 22nd 2007 7:58PM]

Arent they ditchin PocketPC Axim? And now they getting a Tablet...maybe for business use but...cmon!

[trev @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:30PM]

Its promising to see a big manufacutrer like Dell finally making tablet pcs since this will hopefully drive down the prices of other manufactures. However I hope they can match the bild quality of likes of fujitsu who at the moment seem to be making great tablets.

Hope you dont mind the link since its relavent to the topic but there is alot of good info on tablets here:

www.tabletpcreview.com

[cerver @ Apr 23rd 2007 8:26PM]

tablets are the best. there sales records are a shame because the tablet is a great change to a 25 year old interface.