It's been a long, long time since the first information about Dell's update to the venerable XT convertible tablet
snuck out of Texas, and while we got some
choice morsels of information last month, we were still missing any semblance of a release date (that original November 2008 target proved to be a bit optimistic). Now we have what
could be the official spec sheet for the series and a date to boot, confirming much of what we'd heard before, like your choice of 1.2GHz SU9300 or 1.4GHz SU9400 Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs, a 12.1-inch multitouch display, up to 5GB of DDR3 memory, and either 80GB worth of platters or 64GB of SSD. Base weight is 3.62 pounds, just over the 3.5 pound
target the company had been aiming for, and if this source is correct the machine will be getting an official unveiling on February 11 -- close enough that we'd advise holding off on any other tablet purchases for a few days.
[Thanks, Sam]
posted Feb 7th 2009 6:20PM
And the price tag on it is going to be ridiculous, just like on the XT, thereby pushing it out of reach of most people unless you've got a big fat corporate wallet in your back pocket.
Myself and every other person with an XT I've talked to so far bought theirs from the Dell outlet. Mine was $800 with a 20% off coupon. Specced at 3gb RAM, 1.33GHz proc, and 120GB hdd.
I agree, while I would love to buy one of these or a Lenovo tablet, they're too expensive and the specs are not that great. But the battery life must be pretty good, which is why I would want one. Unfortunately, ULV CPUs are not that fun.
I'm typing this on a lenovo x61t tablet, and while I love my tablet dearly, when I got the xt in my hands, I couldn't help but be impressed. They have about the same functionality, but you can often get the xt for cheaper (a friend got the xt for $800 from Dell by stacking discounts while my brother got an x61t loaded with 3 gigs of ram and 120 gb harddrive off ebay for $1000).
I personally think that the xt has better looks than the x61t, but I think my x61t would outlast an xt considering the abuse I put it through.
@Chavez Was your friend "Antimatter" by any chance
Dell outlet man. I've purchased two fully-spec'ed Latitude XTs through Dell Outlet for about ~$800 with a 20% off coupon code they constantly refresh each week. I've recommended it to countless other students and it's an amazing value.
To iofthestorm:
Actually, I have a Dell XT, and the battery life is not pretty good. You get about 2 1/2 hours on the 6-cell. I bought a battery slice and now I get 5 1/2 hours, but that makes it much heavier and thicker.
Got my XT from the outlet at the beginning of last year for about £800.
It was well worth it, even if you ignore the multi-touch and tablet features its still a nice lightweight laptop that's still powerful enough to be useful.
Don't think I'll be getting an XT2 just yet, I've got Windows 7 working nicely on this one and N Trig are working on a better multi-touch driver for it.
They do a 1.2Ghz Core 2 Duo?
wow.
The ultra low voltage chips run at those sorts of clock speeds. The 1.2ghz chip uses 10w according to Intels spec sheet, which is only 2w more than a dual core Atom
The XT2 is available for business customers since end of january in Germany! Spec Sheets already out. Dunno what Stevens is raving about.
Don't see it on the German Dell shop? Got an e-value code for that?
5GB of ram, holy fuck
I like the "Finger Printer Reader" in their spec sheet
Check the "snuck out of Texas" link guys....
I hope that the performance of the multi touch will be improved, if Dell is going to be rolling out witht a newer XT. i dont have experience with them at all, but from the reviews, and the people who bought it said that the multi touch drivers were kinda buggy. i know it is not really Dell's fault, but i hope they can roll out new drivers for the multi touch capabilities if they expect that XT2 to be set apart from its first generation model.
Pretty much all of the multitouch/digitizer issues have been fixed by now with the newest updates.
Sigh, Dell has one of the most complicated product lines out there, and they just made it even more so.
On Weds? Wednesday?
I got to play with this at the office last week. the first one we came out with was nice, but this one is really really sweet. I think this is really one of our best products now.
The only reason to even consider this over x61 is the multi touch.
But then again the only multi touch I know is the iPhone.
Does windows have anything to offer here until v7 comes out?
I mean without tweaking it to death and installing some bizzare programs that would support the multi touch... is there something in place that would actually help me to use Word, Excel, Outlook, One Note, Firefox/IE/Opera, Sony Vegas, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, iTunes... not neccesrily the only progrs but they came to mind while I was typing this message.
not that much better than my 3gb 1.33ghz 80gb model..
and i got it off ebay for 825 minus 200 from windows live cashback.
so i got it for 625, can beat that.
Personally, I'd rather have it for $725, with Dell's 3-year warranty, by purchasing it directly from the Dell Outlet with their occasional coupon (found at www.twitter.com/delloutlet), which is how I got mine, than for $625 off eBay.
How is the max ram 5gigs?
1x4GB + 1x1GB = 5GB RAM
The processor is pretty slow...
You don't have a clue, have you?
Those are ulta low voltage CPUs, which therefore use a lot less power and let you work for a much longer time than with a standard Core2Duo CPU.
But, its Centrino 2!
Yes and everything takes that much longer due to the crappy performance that you need the extra battery life.
Use the E-Value code 65044-BLPCX11 for a sneak peek :)
My word, is that a screen or a mirror?
What an ugly piece of crap! DELL: shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders!!
is there anything important in addition to price, to distinguish this from the macbook air? i'm trying to figure out where they're slotting this in the competitive marketplace.
Uhh... the fact that it's a tablet? This isn't even trying for the same market as the MacBook Air... One is a high-end convertible tablet PC, the other is a high-end ultraportable with a focus on design and thinness... I don't see how the MBA is relevant here. If you want a tablet, the MBA isn't an option, and if you don't want a tablet, there's no reason to pay the extra price for an XT2.
thanks, Epsilon-Not. I'm so used to seeing coverage of netbooks i missed that. (embarrassment)
I have a Latitude XT, also purchased from the Outlet. Got a smokin' deal on it, as posted above.
That said, I am VERY impressed by this machine. I've used a ton of laptops, and am a gadget geek to the core. I *NEVER* expected this laptop to be as nice as it is. It's sleek (even a little gadget-lust worthy), super thin (LED display helps that), and works great. Apparently the latest driver updates help that even more.
Brushed aluminum-style outsides, lightweight, speedy (believe it or not). I can even game on it. It does a surprisingly good job with WoW. My biggest complaint is the hard drive is a PATA 1.8", so upgrades are limited, and it can't be easily swapped for testing other OS installations.
I would honestly say that the XT is one of the best laptops I've used, and it's a tablet to boot. I have owned it since October, and have absolutely loved it the entire time. It's become my primary laptop, shoving a MacBook and AspireOne to the curb.