More details revealed on Dell's Latitude XT tablet

Strange how quiet Dell's been about that Latitude XT of theirs -- outside the buzzsaw experiment. Well fine, if Dell don't want to talk about it, we'll talk about it for 'em. In addition to that photo above, here's some more dirt on what the first Dell tablet will come equipped with:

• Single or dual-core Intel ULV CPUs (with integrated graphics)
• LED-backlit WXGA 1280 x 800 display option
• Outdoor viewing WXGA 1280 x 800 display option
• Pen and touch support (digitizer and touchscreen)
• (3) USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet (duh), 1394, VGA out
  
• WiFi options up to 802.11n, optional Bluetooth
• Optional 3G (HSDPA, EV-DO Rev. A)
• ExpressCard slot, optional Smart Card slot, fingerprint reader
  

Exact date of release has been hard for us to hammer down, but it looks like Dell's still on track for Q3. Obviously, we'll keep you posted.

[nickganga @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:11PM]

Pen not Ten

[kyle allen @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:25PM]

LED-backlit eh? sweet! I think im guna do that to my gameboy.

[Kanye @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:44PM]

dell is making some really great products.

[ET @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:56PM]

ten multi touch support?

[AlexP @ Aug 3rd 2007 3:17PM]

In other news, Inspiron 1520s are delayed.

[Michael Chiang @ Aug 3rd 2007 3:34PM]

I was thinking that I can buy a tablet that can replace my laptop but seeing the intergrated graphics, I don't know anymore...

Is there a lot of difference between the ULV versions and the regular version?

[Flybuy @ Aug 3rd 2007 4:01PM]

Intel ULV CPUs uses much less power than the normal ones, something like

[Gaurav Sharma @ Aug 3rd 2007 3:43PM]

It'd be interesting to see how this fares against HP's 2710p Tablet PC in regard to battery options. The 2710p has 6-cells standard (which gives around 5hours of light use) with the option to double up to 12-cells, although that brings the weight above 2kg. If the Dell is competitive in that regard and of similar weight I'd probably vouch for the Dell due to configurability factor (the outdoor display option looks interesting).

We DON'T want GPUs in this thing sucking the battery dry in a couple of hours, that's not the point of Tablet PCs.

[AlexP @ Aug 3rd 2007 10:14PM]

They could the Vaio way, as in shoving an Intel graphics solution to save battery when graphics aren't important and a Geforce chip for when they are.

Or simply make it an option, because I love tablets, but I want to play games during my free time in College.

[chaim sanders @ Aug 3rd 2007 4:05PM]

the only thing that makes this different from the lenovoX61 is A) i think it looks nice B) it isn't out yet and C) the touch screen has better resolution. saying as one of those is subjective, one is bound to change and the 3erd is well at best semi-important. this hardly seems like it makes it worth it for me to saw in half say a X61. the 3G is also optional as with the X61. this is not really all that impressive.

[Mike Klein @ Aug 3rd 2007 4:11PM]

I am big fan of my Fujitsu ST5111...and I really dig the outdoor display thing (usable anywhere...ahh).

The tabletPC-specific software really works well. Handwriting recognition (cursive) is like >95%...even words I mangle comes out correct! OneNote is awesome too...can take pix on my WM5 ppc and then search ink/photos as text (once I sync). The stuff just works...refreshing after buying all this crap for past 10 years...

What I like about the Dell is the LED thing...only expresscard is fubar...would've preferred pcmcia.

The draft-N also sounds good...as does touchscreen/digitizer combo (my st5111 is digitizer only). If they've bundled a webcam too...sweet!

Don't go for the integrated wwan though...better to buy card from carrier and get more freq. updates.

Question is...how much crapware will they install?

[mobber @ Aug 3rd 2007 5:27PM]

seems like this along with a windows home server may be on my xmas wish list.

[cruithne @ Aug 3rd 2007 6:05PM]

Argh, yet another lightweight, LED, santa-rosa tablet with an expresscard...that has a ULV processor. Argh argh argh. The expressCard is *wonderful* because it means that you will be able to eventually connect to an external graphics cards, so you don't *need* to be gimped on graphics when at home...but if the processor is a lightweight, you might as well not bother.

This thing is practically a duplicate of the HP. :/ Size, monitor, speeds, chipset, IO options, etc...makes me cry.

What bugs the bejeezus outta me is that the only Santa Rosa tablet pcs that have expressCard in them are the ones that are ULV. The ones with the good processors (fujitsu, lenovo, and gateway), only have PCMCIA.

Somewhere, the tablet gods are laughing at me. -_-

[cruithne @ Aug 3rd 2007 7:13PM]

OK, I take back my arghs...the new Asus R1E finally gave me the combo I wanted, so I'll happily leave the Dell XT to those who like ULV processors. :)

[Michael @ Aug 3rd 2007 6:46PM]

I really hope that this laptop comes with a touchpad too. Otherwise, its back to waiting for an intel processor for the HP tx1000.

[Nathan @ Aug 4th 2007 12:20AM]

I can't wait till all the bugs are worked out of these things. Sturdy chassis with decent power.

[SuperFly @ Aug 4th 2007 6:03AM]

Anyone know if you can get anything like this with a pressure sensitive touch screen (like a wacom cintiq, but fully portable!) I've been hanking after such a thing for a long while now! Please help me find one!!

[George @ Oct 12th 2007 12:17PM]

If your looking for an active scan tablet PC get a gateway c-140x. See my pervious comments. Awesome machine.

[ragtag @ Aug 4th 2007 9:50AM]

Google TabletPC, about half of them have built in Wacom, though you sometimes have to dig around in the specs quite a bit to find what kind of digitisers they use. None of TabletPCs on the market have tilt sensitivity, and only the recent ones have 512 levels of pressure (most have 256). The Cintiq has 1024 levels of pressure, tilt sensitivity and much greater resolution. But there is a lot to be said for portability.

[Mark Price @ Aug 4th 2007 12:18PM]

I can't wait till someone comes up with a wide screen tablet with a good processor and decent resolution. Come on, 1280x800? That was okay on my 11" Sony but this thing is more than an inch bigger. So far, only Lenovo's x61 offers a high resolution option but it has a 4x3 screen and I refuse to buy another notebook without a touchpad.

It would also be preferable to go the x61 route with the PCMCIA/Express card give both in one slot.

Sorry Dell, I'll pass on this one.

[ark_v2 @ Aug 4th 2007 1:05PM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the ULVs only single-cored processors?

[Brian @ Aug 4th 2007 1:57PM]

is it an active or passive screen? I hate how some people make something like that so hard to figure out.

[Mark Price @ Aug 4th 2007 8:30PM]

Good point. Checking out the Wacom partners page (http://www.wacom.com/tabletpc/partners.cfm) reveals that Dell isn't a licensor of their active digitizer tech, so the Latitude XT probably has a passive digitizer. That's one more nail in the coffin for this notebook. With this, the Toshiba tablet they sawed in half -- even with all its flaws -- is a better choice than the Latitude XT.

[Chris @ Aug 7th 2007 2:31PM]

Can someone explain to me what I will give-up by not having an active digtizer?

[Garst @ Aug 9th 2007 4:33AM]

Active digitizers perform much more like a standard pen on paper. You barely press down you get a fine line, you press down firmly you get a thicker line. Active styluses often also have a button to add more functionality than just a pointing device. One last thing is an active stylus can move around the cursor without it acting like a click/click-and-drag.

[Skate Mark @ Aug 12th 2007 2:14AM]

"digitizer and touchscreen" are usually giveaways for passive digitizer. I'm not aware of any active digitizers that also have touchscreen capability. Since the active digitizer pen needs no battery, touch screen support in addition is redundant (IMO).

[Chris @ Aug 7th 2007 3:48PM]

I have casually noticed a broad range of quality differences between "Outdoor Readable" screens. Some are truely Transflective and others just apply a polarizing coating to a standard Transmissive display.

Who has experienced good or bad experience with particular tablets in outdoor settings?

[George @ Oct 12th 2007 12:14PM]

Piece of junk. I got a Gateway C-140x just 2 days ago. The best convertable laptop on the market. It's almost maxed out in the options and it works awesomely. The dell will be over priced and underpowered. So far everything I have thrown at the gateway, including high end games and run smooth as ice. It's an awesome full power pc with the pentablet waicom tablet active scan system that it the best ive ever used. I'm very very happy with it. And I got it in only 7 days from time of order. It was done to my exact specifications, Everything was perfect and worked out of the box. The hand writing recognition on it is perfect and simply amazing. Using the pen to play games and surf the net is very cool and works perfectly. I'm totally happy with it and with a 14.1 screen and a T7300 core 2 with 2 gigs of ram and the x2300HD video card with DDR3 ram. It's a powerhouse for everything i need. And it has a PCMCIA slot. Which I can actually use. Not to mention the magnesium allow hinge and substructure and the 2 bettery option, way cool. If your looking for a tablet pc with actualy POWER get a c-140x. Kodos to gateway of all companies for making an amazing no comprimise machine that is affordable and totally cusomizable!