It's here (almost) -- the "
smooth as butter" multi-touch
Latitude XT2 with 12.1-inch LED backlit, capacitive touchscreen is up for grabs on Dell's retail site. Prices start at $2,399. For that you get a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo SU9300 processor, 1GB DDR3 memory, 80GB disk spinning at 5,400RPM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics, and a 4-cell battery. The price quickly shoots to $3,783 when configured with a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo SU9400 CPU, 3GB of memory, 128GB SSD, 802.11n WiFi, WWAN data card, Bluetooth, and optional XT2 Slice battery for up to 10 hours of untethered power. Consider it, that's how we'd roll. Now the catch: while Dell's teaser page says that the XT2 is available for "free 3-5 Day shipping," you're greeted with a "preliminary ship date" of
April 9th once you click through. Oh Dell.
[Thanks, Ron M.]
posted Mar 5th 2009 10:50AM
too cheap.
LOL.
:D
thats what she said
Dell ftw
Underpowered and overpriced... all for a gimmicky capacitive screen.
I'll wait til someone (likely Lenovo) comes up with a more common-sense capacitive tablet in time for Windows 7 RTM.
The processor is weak sauce, but I guess it has to be to get the battery life and form factor. Still kind of sucks for that much money.
And this is why they invented the Dell Outlet and the mythical 20% off coupon.
I would buy one of these if N-Trig would get off their ass and add pen sensitivity support to their drivers. People need this thing to work in Photoshop.
reference: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?14@@.59b7b9c7/0
N-trig does have pen sensitivity support, in every other program but Photoshop. Adobe blames N-trig, but if every other company but them has it working, whose fault is it really?
They're preparing for April 1st :)
Meh
And only twice the price of a similarly configured HP tx2.
Similar? No. The HP is way more powerful. So twice the speed, half the price... where have I heard that before.
Where the HP loses is the form factor, by which I mean it's huge and heavy compared to the XT and XT2.
You have a point. Not remotely worth the extra price tag to my wallet, but YMMV.
Dell XT2:
Weight: 3.78lbs with 6-cell battery
Dimensions: 11.7" x 8.7" x 1.1" (without WWAN)
HP TX2:
Weight 4.65 lbs with 6-cell battery
Dimensions: 12.05" x 8.82" x 1.23"-1.52"
In addition to what's already said above, the tx2 can't be similarly configured... the tx2 uses AMD CPU and ATI graphics (the old XT had ATI graphics too, and it caused many issues for Dell), and so it runs much hotter. It's also heavier, thicker, etc like has been mentioned. But what doesn't get mentioned often is build quality. The HP tx2 is obviously a consumer-grade product. The Dell XT/XT2 are business-class, and you can tell in the quality. (The same goes for the business-class HP 2730p, which no surprise, goes for around the same as the Dell XT2).
return this article to nothingness
Oh I know lets just charge a ridiculous amount for this old hardware we have and add a touch screen.
A company could make a killing if they just undercut these companies in price.
3-5 day shipping is the time it takes it to GET to you once is ships not the time it will take to ship to you
We just got ours yesterday. Doesn't look too much different than the older model. Haven't had too much time to play with it yet. We low spec'd it to keep costs down. Pretty nice though.
Dude, you spent how much for that Dell???
Ok, for the price of the reconfig I could go out and buy a Wacom Cintq and a damb good computer and have a much better tablet, tablet PCs are just over priced and useless IMHO, if you want a tablet buy a tablet, if you want at computer buy a computer, don't combine the two technologies with inferior versions of both and call it a premium device. If you want something portable that you can write on go out and buy a View Sonic Tablet PC or any other number of such devices with limited PC capabilities, they will cost you starting at $100 and top out at about $300, some times cheaper if you know where to buy them from, or go old school buy yourself a notebook and pen for about $3, talk about major savings over the Tablet PCs, any of them.
I think there are compelling arguments for a convergence device. I can't be the only graphic designer / illustrator who longs for a tablet PC aimed at the creative professional. The thing is I would gladly sacrifice tiny formfactor and other ultraportable considerations (low voltage proc, smaller battery, slower/single HDD, etc.) for a powerful "portable drawing board" the size of a chunky 15" or 17" notebook (detachablekeyboard would be boss too).
What I don't understand is why advanced tablets, some powered by Wacom technology with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, cost less than $2k, the price of the 21" Cintiq... (which for those who don't know is an LCD monitor / Wacom tablet device). And the 12" one costs a grand... so it's hard to justify buying one when you could have a fully-functional tablet PC for the same price. I just wish there was one targeted to creative pros.
To answer 3dpenguin: Why buy a convergence device? I was using a loaded Dell Latitude for my job as a plant engineer. I convinced my IT guy to get me a Lenovo X200 tablet and have been using it for a few weeks.
Now instead of writing a note to do a task in the meeting to be put into Outlook later, I enter it directly into Outlook during the meeting... I'm able to prioritize, schedule, whatever, right then because I have access to all my PC stuff at my fingertips. Also, when the meeting goes into something I don't really need to pay attention to I can work on other things when it appears to the other members in the meeting that I'm taking notes about whatever mindless blather they are spewing. This Lenovo is quiet, light, solid as a rock, and has created a huge leap in my productivity and sanity. I love this machine. No more piles of notes to wade through after a day of endless meetings.
I spend about 70% of the time using it as a traditional laptop and the remainder as a tablet. I'm not a graphic designer or doctor, just a knowledge worker. The convergence tablet is the perfect solution for me and I couldn't imagine to going back to a regular laptop.
In transferring data from my 6-month old Latituted to my ThinkPad the superiority of Lenovo's keyboard and trackpoint became very clear and for that reason alone I'd choose the X200 over the XT2. I did a fair amount of research between the two and just don't understand the price premium of the Dell. I got mine with maxed out specs, 8-cell battery, docking station etc for right under $2k. A similarly equipped XT2 is almost double that? Even if the Dell is better, it's not THAT much better.....
hey thats pretty cheap, i thought it would be for 4000$
I'm with Gary. The 3-5 days isn't the time it's when it's going to ship, it's how long it will take once it ships. That's why it says free. Because it's free 3-5 day shipping.
Well it's no big surprise. Engadget does make the biggest mistakes out of all the blogs i read. (yet i still come back :p)
I'm going to place my order soon but will buy it with:
- 64-bit Vista
- 5 GB RAM
- 128 GB SSD
- 24 inch external monitor
- Dock Station
Dell must be having some manufacturing hiccups, b/c my Studio 15 order was pushed back.... Naturally, I took the opportunity to cancel it! HA!
Hmm, I just bought a lenovo x61 tablet, which has approximately the same form factor and build quality, except for it has a faster processor, a larger, faster hard drive, and an 8 cell battery for 650. So its an extra 2g for capacitive touch. Doesn't seem worth it.
Dell sucks dirty ass!
Great price. they will sell dozens of them.
it must be rocket science to make a pratical tabletpc which doesn't break the bank.
I think there are compelling arguments for a convergence device. I can't be the only graphic designer / illustrator who longs for a tablet PC aimed at the creative professional. The thing is I would gladly sacrifice tiny formfactor and other ultraportable considerations (low voltage proc, smaller battery, slower/single HDD, etc.) for a powerful "portable drawing board" the size of a chunky 15" or 17" notebook (detachable keyboard would be boss too).
What I don't understand is why advanced tablets, some powered by Wacom technology with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, cost less than $2k, the price of the 21" Cintiq... (which for those who don't know is an LCD monitor / Wacom tablet device). And the 12" one costs a grand... so it's hard to justify buying one when you could have a fully-functional tablet PC for the same price. I just wish there was one targeted to creative pros.
DOUBLE POST ABOVE
Sorry, double post, this was supposed to be in response to 3dpenguin a few posts above...
Not to mention, as a tablet supported with N-Trig technology, pressure sensitivity on the Dell XT2 is non-existent in your favorite design software.
Photoshop is the only program with no pressure sensitivity on the N-trig. Adobe blames N-trig, N-trig says Adobe is lazy when they have publicly available APIs for this released.
But anyway, to the main article in general... You do realize that people have already bought and received their XT2s already, don't you?
http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7514&SID=6c4888a7c87724c791e2zez4ba9f154a
Your time is coming soon, kylewbaker. Lenovo already has a product heading in that direction -- not tablet, but clearly designed with engineers and other pros who need a digitizer and some serious power in a mobile form factor. Plus, they get to skip the gym after lugging it around all day.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/21/lenovo-thinkpad-w700ds-dual-screen-laptop-details-and-pics-unear/
Turn it into a tablet with the Wacom tech in the screen... oh yeah.
I got my Latitude XT2 while ago....
1.40GHz
5GB ram
128 SSD
12.1 DLV/LED
Fingerprint sensor...
I am going to Review soon.....
Hello jspunited,
I'll anxiously await your review. In the mean time, I have some questions.
Did it come pre-installed with 64-bit Vista?
Does it have a backlit keyboard?
Do you know if it can drive a 30 inch LCD when connected to a dock station?
How's the multi-touch?
Where are you going to post your review?
Hello Gary
I am foreigner and also Korean...
Dell Latitude xt2
don't have BACKLIT Keyboard
and not 64-bit of Vista...unfortunate....
I will tell you if my home 55inch TV/LCD works with Latitude....
I will going to post at....my blog...I guess and also some picture on picassa...
If you tell me email address... I will also try to send photo of Latitude XT2....
See you then
Lose the keyboard. Give me an 11" or 12" tablet. I don't care what OS it runs, as long as it supports Firefox and can handle Flash and typical web media. Light weight. Touchscreen with multi-touch gestures and smooth as butter scrolling/responsiveness. Something about the size and weight of a Kindle, but with more of the device devoted to the screen. Wifi. I'll buy the first one of these that hits the mark.
This is actually the same specs of a desktop I bought for same price...in the 90's
The XT2 may be the new standard laptop reference platform for the industry.
Key laptop reference platform features should be:
- 64-bit CPU
- 64-bit OS
- Capacitive touch screen
- Multi-touch device drivers (64-bit)
- backlit keyboard
- internal video card can drive a 30 inch external monitor
- supports 5+ GB RAM
- 128+ GB SSD
- 1.4+ Ghz Intel CPU
- built-in webcam
- pen/stylus tablet PC capabilities
- DVD burner
Just priced the Dell XT2 vs the HP TX2 and for the price difference I'm going with the HP. I received my HP and it looks and works great. I only paid $993 for it and the crooks at dell wanted $2400 for theirs. My processor is faster, (I used to be a Intel only user, but not anymore, nothing wrong with this AMD) I have twice as much memory, 3 times the hard drive space. Even my battery is better. Sorry Dell, yours is not worth the price difference. When I called Dell and said so why is yours so much more money than the HP. All they could say was, "Well it is a Latitidue." I say big deal. So you people who can get your companies to pay for the Dell, well great. Of course I forgot to mention I have sent back 3 Dell's in a year because of problems. So for me I am stilcking with HP.