If you're at all like us, you spent a little time scratching your head after the
Latitude XT's launch wondering just what Michael Dell really meant when he
mentioned the convertible having multi-touch. Sure, he talked up the laptop's myriad capabilities when he showed the XT at OpenWorld, but multi-touch
was suspiciously absent from the official launch details, so we gave Dell a buzz and got this juicy tidbit: yes, XT buyers now (and in the future) will all have laptops
capable of multi-touch input, thanks to that capacitive touchscreen, but the software and/or drivers needed to enable it won't be released "until a later date." We have no idea what that date is -- or if that date is even in 2008 -- but there you have it, among the first would-be multi-touch tablet laptops is officially the among the first will-be multi-touch tablet laptops.
P.S. -To tide you over, we've got a total snooze-fest of a product demo video after the break. Capacitive touch was never so... boring.
posted December 12th 2007 8:58AM
i wouldn't totally agree. I, for one, fell into apples captivating advertising and bought a macbook not very long ago, and expected it to drill multimedia/fun features into my a$$hole. It really didn't. Yesterday I got my xps with media center vista ultimate on it, and it stomped so much ass that I wanted to never see my mac again. most mac users that used to be on pc just were too stupid and incapable to operate them, so they got a less-capable more-userfriendly mac to "surf the web" and "listen to music" and "cut together some videos."
Aargh. There isn't enough ammunition in the world to solve the Apple fanboy problem.
Apple did not invent multitouch, they did not release the first consumer device to utilise it, they are not gods.
Yes, I can't wait for Apple to finally release a multitouch MacBook Pro, I'm sure it will be lovely, but they can't claim credit for it until they do. I grow ever so weary of reading comments like... "But OMG this is liek shit lol, macbookprotablet FTW!"
When (and if) Apple release it, then you can cream yourself. Not before.
But on topic:
Man, I was glad to read this. When the XT was released, I was really dissappointed that the multitouch tech didn't seem to be implemented, because it was technology I was really hanging out for.
I can only hope that the prior art at UT prevents any real restrictive patenting, so that this tech can spread out throughout the market. More competitors = better gear for everyone, imagine what Lenovo and Fujitsu could bring out.
I wonder if somebody could get MPX (on Linux) working on one of these?
That looks absolutely worthless for productivity. i'd rather use wii with both my hands duct taped to my crotch.
Dear Micro¢oft, Dell, Toshiba, HP and similar vermin.
Your perseverance in tailing behind Apple, imitating, albeit failing the grace of the latter, more or less every single of its initiatives, unquestionably deserves praise. Such blatant daring to copy, copy and copy... it strikes as a remarkable feat even by the measures of our time. My compliments!
cordially,
Unum, sed Leonem