geek porn: quick look at a Dell Latitude XT tablet pc (video)

i love my job, that is my non-digital job at the firm in tech support. recently i've been getting my chance to play with TONS of cool ultraportable laptops and also a few cool new smartphones. however, today we got in two versions of a tablet i've been eyeing since its leaked spec sheet last year; the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC. the fact that i'm the known uber gadget geek in the office really makes it easy for me to tryout the new hardware we get the first day it comes in and thus this post.



the Dell Latitude XT is Dell's first entry into the Tablet PC sector. the Tablet PC sector never really took off as well as most laptop manufactorers would have hoped. the sales of tablet pc's initially were pretty disappointing however the initial cost of a tablet pc vs a laptop w/same or similar specs was pretty highend levels and the variety of form-factors were pretty limited too. however, recenlty the prices of tablets have been coming down and also the initial generations of tablet pcs are now being sold used thus helping to bring down the price of tablets for the entry-level user (ie first time tablet users) and in turn help expand the tablet pc sector/user base.

The XT is aimed more for the professional on the go rather than your average consumer; i would say that the XT would be aimed more at the business tablet pc user who just sold their older/first gen tablet due to its initially painful starting price of $2,500 and the fact that hopefully one's company pays for their XT. as a consumer, its hard to justify paying over $2500 for a laptop that doesn't even have a Core 2 Duo standard (solo is standard, base option).

Nonetheless, Dell's Latitude XT tablet is still a pretty sweet machine in my opinion. The LED LCD is very pretty. The style is very basic but clean. Here are some basic specs:

• Intel Core Solo (1.06ghz) or 2 Duo (1.20ghz)


• 1GB to 3GB DDR2


• 40GB/80GB/120GB HDD or 32GB SSD


• Dual Touchscreen (touch and pen)


• LED or DLV backlight LCD (glossy type)


• Biometric options


• XP Tablet Ed 2005 or Vista


• ATI Radeon Xpress 1250


• Touchpad and Pointer


• Docking Bay options


• 6 Cell Battery


• Wifi options of G or A/G or N


• Bluetooth (optional)


• Mobile Broadband options (Verizon, Sprint built-in, ATT external)


• Price starting at $2,500 (yes, ouch!)

Below is a quick look at the tablet and also an example of the dual mode lcd in action (touch and pen). I can't really rate this machine quite yet since i have only been playing with it for the a few hours, however i can see it replacing my tc1100 in the near future. the only downfall of it is the weight w/the docking station and lack of built-in optical drive and the fact that the tablet does not have a lock to lock it in place when its rotated (see in video).

Enjoy!

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