I love Dell's tablet notebook

I think Dell's tablet-notebook is one of the best tablet PC in the market today. However I've heard rumors that some Dell's PCs are assembled in China. If it is true, what about the quality?

My Dell Inspiron 1200 will not turn on.  If I take out the battery it will not turn on whether I'm on electric or not.  Does the computer need to have the battery working to power on?  I'm trying to figure out if I need a new battery or if its something else.

Where can i get one and can you write and draw pics on it? with a magic pen or something iv heard of it used tht way

I have had one for 6 months or so. It is realy portable but really sloooow! I have had to disable the Aero interface and it is still slow. The hard drive is thrashing all the time.

If you get one be sure to get the maximum  3 Gigs of RAM. I got 2 and am gonna have to get more to try and speed it up. The integrated video card uses mainboard ram, that is one issue that does not help speed.

Has anyone manged to tweak their XT to make it faster??

I am using VISTA Business with Aero interface turned off.

Damn Dell can be annoying.

Lets produce a really good top end machine and then make sure there are no decent accessories or bags out there.

The tablet is great, the touch screen is the best on the market, and yes the ATI graphics can be a bit underpowered.

One thing I have noticed though, this baby charges up really fast, 1-1.5 hours.

Desperately looking for a brown man bag for the unit 

I just purchased a DELL XT, and I was very happy with it until the cursor (mouse) started going completely nuts on me.  It randomly bounces to the bottom left corner of teh screen, starting random documents and I cannot contorl it with the mouse pad or an external mouse.  It seems to be easily replicated by pulling the cover down, suggesting to me that it is somehow entering tablet mode and using somekind of signal form teh screen to guid ethe cursor.

DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON?

As you can see, Apple MacBook Air will now take a bite out of Dell tablet's market even without a multi-touch display.

Dell needs to build a multi-touch screen tablet in 7 or 9 inch display size to reduce costs and weight and use the Intel processor/motherboard that was made for Apple Macbook air. Any size bigger than 9-inch display is too bulky to have any good use of expensive multi-touch.

I can’t believe the XT is already here I have been on it with photoshop cs3 for two hours it is awesome we have a wacom cintiq 21ux here in the office as well and this things in pin only mode is just like it. Editing row camera file is sweet. I have played with others in stores and the XT so far leaves them behind. The pin keeps up with even the fastest strokes.

This mediabase fills kind of cheep, but it is very light for it size. So far it seem to work really well I am using it as a docking station.

The battery slice is amazingly light I have yet to use it but,, can’t believe how light it is.

I also got the D/BAY plus 8X DVD+/-RW and I really don’t like the usb plus fire wire plug in it but as I look around my office it seem all the Dell laptop have that plug so I guess it will not be as in convent as I first thought. I wanted to be able to us it on other laptop.

Cellular wireless. I am kind of disappointed in the cellular wireless card I wanted an internal one and they sent me a Dell Wireless 5510 pcie card, I am calling Monday to try and get that switched out. There website says internal and that’s not what I got.

I also got two roxio disk and to cyberlink power dvd disk in the box and no driver or vista restore disk.

Well that’s all I can thank of for know if I come across anything else over the weekend I will post.

I just got shipping conformation today on my order it should be here on the 15^th I can’t wait.

Here is an idea. Multi-touch screen is expensive and not very useful in a device over 10" screen size due to bulk.

So how about this - make two tablets:

• Multi-touch tablet with 7" screen - perfect for mobile workers and professionals such as doctors and couch potatoes (weighs less than 1.5 lbs)
• Wacom style touch tablet with 13.3" screen.

Any bigger screen and there is no advantage of touch tablet because it is no longer truly portable.

I am liking my Samsung Q1 Ultra (from BestBuy for $749.99) more and more. With aero turned off, it works great for my needs. Excellent for touch screen web browsing and eBook reading and moderate typing. And it only weighs 1.5 lbs (yes, that's 1.5 lbs!!) and I get 4+ hours battery life. I would have paid $300 more for Dell multi-touch but $2000 more? No way!!

I guess the market will tell.

There's a good reason Apple is touching $200/share and Dell has wallowed at +/- $25/share for the last 5 years.

I think it boils down to a good engineering, agressive company overcoming a tentative marketing based commodity company. The XT is a bit of a stray from their formula that used to work. Got to give them some credit for a least trying to think outside the box, however misguided it seems to be.

This tablet release is like a train wreck that I just can't avert my eyes from but is symptomatic of what Dell has become.

What I thought was the chance for the tablet to become accepted as a mainstream device I guess must be left to Apple now.
 

With the specs they have,

IT SHOULD HAVE COME IN SUB $1000

Benefit of dealing with an Israeli company that seems to be impressed with themselves and their overpriced and underwhelming technology.

I have to wonder if Mike's getting out soon and is greasing a few palms prior to doing so. 

When i heard about Dells Tablet i was looking at a price of <1000$.After looking at the price tag(3K$) i cant help wondering who is the dumbest to buy this piece as it doesnt include the fastest processor neither faster drives. Oh ya this might be the way to save battery life but i did not expect the price to be more than a XPS.

Looks like i have to wait for mac world coming Jan.. to see a tablet from apple..

Is this new Tablet Wacom compatable?

I just specced a nicely equiped machine out, and with our corporate purchase plan it came to $3200.  That is including office pro with software assurance, vista business with sa, 5400 rpm hd and more. 

 It also includes a 3 year warranty and complete care.  It is about the same price as any other laptop we buy with a similar configuration.

 I think that anyone who compares this apples for apples with a business class laptop with proper support on it will be plesently suprised.  People with small businesses who compare it (wirh retail price) against an HP or gateway from their local computer store (with far less warranty) will think that they are over paying.

 This is aimed at a mid to large business crowd.  With the discount these customers get, the pricing really is not out of line.

Wow, just built a modest machine and went over $3,000 almost immediately.

You guys act like you don't really want to be in this market.

 This has got to be one of the strangest paths I've seen Dell go down and due to family member working at big D, I've been watching for quite a while. I'm looking for the silver lining here and can't quite wrap myself around it. What makes you guys tick on this one.?

Did you just get in so far that there was no way out for someone? Motion backing out on N-Trig catch someone by surprize? I talked with a couple of them on a flight to DFW, and they seemed to be pretty sharp.

 I have to assume someone is going down for this one eventually, this venture can't possibly produce any ROI.

The insane $-tag has pushed my architecture firm to go with HP Tablets.  ***DELL - very disappointed.***  We've waited for a VERY long time.  The XT specs can't touch the rich HP environment (250GB Hard Drive (5400), 4GB RAM etc...etc.)  The price even @ $1900 as someone mentioned in another post is near what we've paid for amazing spec’ed tablets, HP's top-of-the-line; not the entry-level machine.  Their entry level tablet is between $800 - $950 and that gets you 160GB Hard Drive, 2GB RAM, 1,9GHz, TWO (2) I said TWO (2) built in speakers, fingerprint, webcam... ... ...  Get your tablet prices in line, come back to the present technology era, and we'll consider coming back in a few years when we transition our machines.

From everything we were told months ago by DELL, our firm was exactly who DELL is marketing towards.  I realize consumers in general won’t jump on the XT because of the high cost.  Why would corporations?  I cannot endorse spending above & beyond $1k to $1,500 for an inferior machine when there are superior products for in many cases, half the price tag.  'PS and by the way' – nor do any of our colleagues.

This is addressed to those of you who are tablet pc savy and to those of you who are not….

The pros of the Dell:

- One of the lightest available (1-1.5lbs lighter)

- One of the thinnest avilable (width is 1-2 inches less)

- One of the slimmest available (.3-.6 inches thinner)

- The capactive touch is very cool.  It is a nice little gimmic to

   use your finger with no pressure to navigate through your

   computer.

- Excellent battery life

- Nice little marketing campaign

- Uses a very small AC  adapter and a qucker charge

The cons of the Dell:

- The pricetag is exboritant.  (1,500 to 1,000 more)

- It uses some of the slowest available processors on the market

- It only has one slot for ram.  The other chip is a 1gb chip hardwired into the motherboard

-  No integrated optical drive

-  Uses the slowest hard drives available

-  Did I mention the cost?

What Id like to hear from Dell:

- How does the writing compare to the Wacom pen input currently used by most tablets?  Most Wacom pen input devices have some areas where there is a good margin of error between what you write with your hand and what gets written on screen.  If it is much more precise than Wacom I might consider N Trigs technology.

-  How can you justify spending about 1,000 - 1,500 (8 to 13 percent my ass) more on a computer that is much much slower than its compeitition just because it’s a little smaller, lighter, and has capacitive touch? I mean honeslty, the finger touch input is probably used maybe 20 percent of the time?  The rest of the time when you use the pen as an input the touch advantage becomes irrelevant and your 1,000 price jump is only for the dimensions and battery life.

- Why did another tablet manufacturer (motion computing) decide to drop the duotouch technology after working with N-trig for about a year?  What do you have to say to Motions comments claiming that N-Trigs technology has software issues and supply issues?

-  That being said are you using this excessive price tag to perhaps skirt N-Trig's supply issue?  This way N-Trig can manufacture more screens while you prepare to drop your price?

Overall…  Its small, its sexy, duotouch is promising, but its just plain not worth it.  Other manufactures will be using this technology in the future too so don’t for a second believe any of this is exclusive to Dell.  Let them drop it to a more reasonable price first.  In the mean time get an ibm, gateway, fujitsu, or toshiba for much less. 

My last computer was a dell latitiude. It was destroyed when I ran over it with my new 4 door Jeep. By accident!

I travel alot (Airline Pilot) and the sun is pretty bright in the cockpit. I could use a tablet, longer baterry life, light weight but also a screen that I can actually see in the bright sun.

It looks like this XT will be great! Problem is, I can't seem to order one.

I know when I start showing other pilots, it will be a hit, generating more sales for the XT.

Dell, when is this going to be released? Why the delay????

Thanks and Merry Christmas everyone. I'll be flying with Santa!

www.airlinecrew.com

Will this tablet pc be compatible with JAWS screen reader program?

I cant wait as it was my dream.  FINALLY!!! A MIRICLE OF MIRACLE WONDER OF WONDER.  Amazing.  Using it now!

I have just one word for Dell: THINKPAD!!!!!!  

I am going to buy the Thinkpad, and not the Dell Tablet.   The dell boys and girls are new to the tablet club.  They haven't proven themselves with a tablet yet......and it will take a while.  I certainly am not going to be a guinea pig for Dell........

I have not only ordered my first XT, but it is in production and will be shipped in a couple weeks. I am very excited to demo this product. Obviously if you think that this is the same device another manufacturer has already released, then you are not looking very closely.

We have MANY tablets in our organization, and no other vendor has yet shown us a tablet with a touch screen...

I think a lot of people are missing the point of this tablet.

 It isn't marketed toards the majority of consumers. It's a light tablet meant for the roadwarrior. Everybody who is complaining about the processor, disc drive and video card is missing the point.

 This tablet goes up against the fujitsu t2010 and the hp compaq 2710p. Both come in at around $1800 for much higher specs and both are just as light.

I don't think the capacitive touch is worth the extra $700. I watched the video demo and the touchscreen capabilities looked painful to use. The software needs to be improved dramatically before capacitive touch becomes useful.

Whether you like the XP or not the problem is there is still no word from Dell when it will be available.  Makes you wonder what the delay is?

Dell, you made me completely disappointed.

Price : unnecessarily too High

Display : still 12.1".. (why not 13.x" or 14.x")

CPU : too slow (other are going for 2+GHz...)

RAM : bad Only up to 3 GB. (Why not 4 GB)

HDD : PATA 4200 or 5400 rpm. (why not 7200 SATA)

Video: still shared memory? (why not dedicated VGA card)

No : IrDA... (I still use this for many external devices)

You take too much time and make us wait long for nothing..

Bye Bye Dell.

Ko Ko

$2499 - sounds to me like this is just a precautionary measure to avoid long backlog delays. High demand, low supply = higher prices. I would guess this is dell's effort to hedge their bets given the suspected supply line delays they have been having. They are ramping up slowly. If I'm right (and I'm often not) prices will come down pretty quickly once the supply chain and production issues are ironed out.

BTW - happily typing this on a brand new Fujitsu T4220, though if I were purchasing now, I'd probably go w/the new Toshiba M700 - up to a 2.6GHz Duo + on-board DVD burner! (I need processing power, not battery life).

400 nits.  Viewable in direct sunlight.  Not likely VP Jeff. I'll even give ya 10 to 1 on a c note.

@Bad Move Dell

 Actually, the Dell has both forms of multitouch you describe. Multitouch in terms of pen and touch input is a misnomer courtesy Lenovo, who use the term to describe their tablets.

 
While the Dell does indeed have pen and touch input, it also has multitouch input as seen on the iPhone and Surface, which is demonstarted by Michael Dell at the Oracle keynote.
 

Brandon your link to Microsoft Surface is nice, but the usability of a multitouch screen in a tablet seems fairly useless to me... If I had a 20"+ screen (up to a coffee table size) I could see the novelty and usefullness of the technology... but on a 12" screen, besides to showoff for a day or two, is completely useless.  People buy tablets for taking notes, and maybe some photoshopping... not orgainizing photos, or drawing with two hands.

I laughed when I heard of the price and specs of this tablet today, and sit gracefully on my Lenovo X61 tablet with SXGA+ screen and twice the processing speed.  Not to mention they share about the same footprint.  I got mine with 3 year warranty, 3gigs of ram, for ~1500.

 I can see the high price as they're entering the market, but it will be years before Dell can start to compete in this growing niche.

There needs to be more explination on Dell's part as to why this tablet is going to be more expensive in it's most basic form than most other tablets armed to the teeth with extras. Multi touch isn't going to make the difference for me and any other rational person trying to get dell quality, my case in particular is bad, as I need to introduce a tablet platform into an area it's never been applied before. To prove it's worth to others, to demonstrate the true capabilities of this platform as the immediate future (~10yrs) notebook of choice. As computers progessivley get lighter and thinner it's pretty obvious that eventually the only part of a computer you see will end up being a display of some kind, and for work we're looking at a ultralight rigid surface. With the recent increase in tablet notebooks today, for the first time we have the opportunity to begin development of skills, software, and preference of this new and superior ultramobile pc. I've been saving for the past 4 months to buy a Dell tablet as soon as it was released. I was hoping for christmas, but was prepared to wait as long as it took. I didn't need to worry about the specs, as thats one of the more enjoyable parts of waiting to buy a computer. All I was concerned with was a tablet pc needs to have a great warranty, no matter what. Full coverage is a must for this style of pc based on all of the reviews I've read about probably every tablet available today. The only company I trust as far as customer support, truly feel at ease with in that respect is Dell. That makes a Dell tablet extremley desirable, if not the only rational choice considering it's main competetion with tablets is Gateway, and with that recent merger who knows the future of that company... At any rate, I'm still going to remain calm as long as I haven't seen the order form section of the main Dell site. I have still have a small hope that considering it's Dell, and the original Dell angle, "why buy a computer from a store thats already obsolete, when you can call us and we'll build you one exactly how you want it and mail it to you" there will be a few options to lower the overall price of this machine back to the range I was expecting ~$2000. Like, for example- not including the docking station.

@Brandon Jones

 Multitouch is great and all, but there are currently a total of ZERO applications which support it today. While you may be fine paying a $1000 premium for capacitive multitouch, most of us aren't, and that's not something Dell should take lightly.

Dell now faces a very steep uphill battle selling the XT. They have to somehow convince consumers to pay more for inferior hardware, and if the only thing they have to say is, "It's got multitouch. Stop whining," I can guarantee you'll be able to buy all the XTs you want, because surely no one else will.
 

Brandon Jones:

The Microsoft Surface and Apple iphone offers multi-touch in a different perspective, not what Dell is releasing. For surface and iphone it means users can touch the screen in more than one place, which drastically increases usability. What Dell is releasing is one that the screen can be used as touch screen - if used with fingers or stylus, or as digitizer or if used with digitizer pen. It's different technology, but it's considered multi-touch. Don't expect the tablet to be like the glasstop shiny clear look of the iphone.

 This technology is in the marketplace and is being used by Lenovo, and even now, i think by Toshiba in the M700.

And yes, I think we all can hope and imagine the software that can be written for it, but the bigger question is, who will do it? While you may be sitting at home with a tablet which looks beautiful, I'll be whizzing right along with a company that has been in the market a while and has proven results. You can place that Dell on the shelves to view or what might have been.

Brandon Jones: I checked out Multi-touch further very very cool stuff.  But what are your thoughts about the processor speeds of the XT Vs. Fujitsu and others?

One of the reasons for the loss of Dell market share is it's seeming inability to read the needs of the market.  This tablet is extremely over priced in relation to the competition.  Those who buy it will purchase an untested unreviewed tablet with lower specs than the comparatively priced competition.  Dell grew building quality customized computers at a low price.  Teachers, schools, and businesses flocked.  As a teacher, why would I buy this tablet when I can get a Lenovo at the same weight, more powerful processor, a proven track record with tablets, and fantastic reviews stating customer satisfaction and reliability with the computer?  For a touchscreen that at this point has limited potential due to lack of software?  This is marketed to who? This seems to be the Dell MO lately putting out higher priced models with lower specs and counting on experience and ease of purchase through the internet to carry the line.  I was thinking of purchasing dell stock again after the recent price drop but everything I read or experience with the company points to slow decline due to a deteriorated marketing model.  Even with hyped new product releases Dell is already behind. 

I'm glad all of you are not buying the latitude XT tablet, because that will mean that I will get mine faster. (First US customer to order it!!!) Seriously, stop whining... The latitude tablet's display is going to be super bright, I'll have my verizon wireless card builtin, it will be super thin, and super light, AND IT WILL HAVE MULTI-TOUCH! Need I remind you people that this is a brand new technology that "oh wait a minute, isn't ANYWHERE IN ANY MARKET YET!?" I don't think any of you quite realize how revolutionary multi-touch will be. So, save your money cheapskates, and go out and buy your little HP's, or send your money outside of America and get your dry and boring Toshiba. If you want to be on the forefront of technology, you simply need to be willing to pay for it. Seriously, can you imagine the software that will be written for these display's!!!

 http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

 Keeping whining, that's what makes America great! All of those who waste their time whining about what they don't have, make it a hell of a lot easier for guys like me to go and get it.

Seems Toshiba Portege M700 is a better value.

1. Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
2. Genuine Windows® XP Tablet Edition 2005
3. 2048MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM @ 667MHz (2048MBx1)
4. 12.1" WXGA Backlit Display supporting digital pen with indoor/outdoor viewing (1280x800)
5. 120GB HDD (7200rpm, Serial-ATA) 
6. DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive 
7. Lithium Ion Battery (6-Cell, 4700mAh) 
8. Intel Wireless Wi-FI Link 4965AGN (802.11 a/g/n)
9. Intel Pro 82566MM 10/100/1000 Ethernet

 All for a grand total of $1879.

No need to have to buy an addon media drive (like with Dell & Lenovo), plus it comes standard with:

1 Year Standard Limited Warranty, Microsoft® Office OneNote 2007, Microsoft Office Ready with Microsoft Office Professional 2007 60-dayTrial Edition, McAfee® Internet Security Suite (30-day trial), TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, TOSHIBA Recovery Disc Creator, Fingerprint reader (with software), Bridge Media Adapter, 3-USB (2.0) ports, i.LINK™ IEEE-1394, RJ-45 LAN port, RJ-11 modem port, RGB monitor port, Microphone jack (monaural), headphone jack (stereo), docking connector

Only drawback I see is it does not come standard with an 8cell battery, but even if you buy aftermarket it's price is far less than it would be in buying a Dell, and since Toshiba has been in the tabletpc market alot longer than Dell, you don't have to worry about 1st generation product problems.

So, I see it Toshiba offers a better:

1. Faster Processor T7500 at 2.2GHz vs U7600 at 1.2GHz
2. Faster Harddrive 7200rpm vs 5400rpm
3. Free Microsoft One Note 2007, extra with Dell
4. Integrated Optical Drive extra with Dell
5. Better Wireless LAN chip
6. Memory speed runs at 533MHz on the Dell vs 667MHz with the Toshiba.
7. Tohiba offers a standard 4700mAh Lithium Ion Battery Pack vs the Dell with a 4-Cell 28W/hr Lithium Ion standard.
8. Price (base on Toshiba is $1449 vs Dell at base price $2499) I wonder who is better priced here? By far, Toshiba is.

Any thoughts folks?

I'm livid about yet another delay! Logged into the Dell Premier site this morning and the XT was listed altough no picture or further details. Clicked on customize and buy and what do you know...... Absolutley nothing! Spoke to my Dell Act Manager and she apologised to say it now wouldn't be release until next Tuesday and probably wouldn't get to me until the new year! My reply... I'll believe it when I see it!

 I've alway's been very loyal to Dell and sang your praises when it was suggested earlier this year that we should also look at other vendors. Shame Dell shows no loyalty to it's customers.

What on earth is going on Dell?!? With Vista's hardware independance and BDD driver injection, I may just start touting the likes of HP, Fujitsu etc. to the IT director next year!

Wow, $2500. I've actually been holding off on a tablet as well just to see what Dell might put out there but that's just way too much. Like several ppl have already observed, there are better speced tablets out there for about $1000 cheaper. I currently own a dell inspiron (I've bought 2 Dell machines over the years) and I hadn't gotten a Gateway since the early to mid 90s but it looks like Gateway has just won me back as a customer.

 Bye Dell.
 

 "If you still need to get your notebook fixed, feel free to either e-mail me directly here,"

Not that this has much relevance to the thread, but I tried calling customer service and, after 1.5hrs of hold time (this was several years ago, but by virtue of your comment, I expect that customer service has improved by now), they would only fix/exchange the power adapter, saying there was nothing wrong with the computer.  I just gave up on customer service and fixed the computer myself...it turned out that the power button came loose because it was not soldered on the mother board well (there was an air bubble that formed during the wave soldering process), it took less time to fix it than to wait for customer service to answer the phone.

WHAT! base price $2500! ALL THIS WAITING FOR THIS??!?!

BASE PRICE PEOPLE! WHY DELL? WHY? 

Nnooooooooo........  $2,500 !!!!????  You're killin' me....

Gateway here I come....   :( 

Can you release a release date :) ?

Mr. Dell Employee:

Just curious, can you tell us why they won't make a PR on it?

It's not listed on the website now?

 Is Dec. 10th a confirmed date yet or still a mystery?

The Latitude XT is now listed with the D430 and the ATG at the URL below.  Unfortunately, that is as far as it goes.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/latit?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

The caption under the ATG reads:

Latitude XT, D430 & ATG
Tablet, Ultra-Mobile &
Rugged

Am I the only one who noticed under the small business Section on the Dell Website, that they have this

Dell probably put the user manual out there to create some hype

 @Steve

My Precision laptop I bought 3 years ago has gigabit ethernet.  I can't comment on every laptop they released but a quick check on Dell's website reveals that the XPS1710 (the older version) has gigabit.
 

Here's hoping that's a typo, and it should say Core 2 Duo. Even the Latitude D430 has that, so I don't know why they'd skimp out here. I won't hold my breath on that though.

I like how they kind of dance around the battery time available. I know there's obviously a wide range depending on what you're doing, but you'd think they'd have a max and min time based on low power settings/idle, and playing a DVD with high brightness. (well maybe not the latter cause they don't want you do know that since it'll be short even with a good battery)

On the bright side, it has a gigabit LAN card. I guess Dell's realized some people still use wires from time to time. I don't think I've seen one of those on any Dell laptop to date. That said, I haven't looked very hard, although I'm pretty sure even the XPS models don't (which is ridiculous cause wireless increases lag which I would think the gamer types would complain about)

All in all, it looks about as you'd expect. A few lower performance components to favour light weight and low power consumption. No real surprises in the manual thanks to all the "leaks", but the fact that they've released this manual makes me wonder if this December 10th date isn't completely made up. At the very least I would think it will be available in January.

Steve

P.S. My favourite part of the manual is section 13. Not for the content, but for the red text.

According to Engadget, the launch will take place on Tuesday, December 11th:

 http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/06/dell-launching-latitude-xt-tablet-pc-on-the-11th/

It seems our friends over at Dell just got tired of waiting. On their website there is a full PDF manual of the new Latitude XT Tablet PC. From the looks of it there is no new information spec wise, except for the fact Dell may be releasing a Core Solo version.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latXT/en/PU189en1/PU1891MRD.pdf

N/A,

Check out http://www.microsoft.com/surface/ 

It is a little overkill, but you can get an idea of what "multi-touch" can do.  Believe it or not, it actually runs on Windows Vista.

User manual link posted on Engadget

 
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latXT/en/PU189en1/PU1891MRD.pdf 

Pardon my ignorance, but how exactly would you test for "multi-touch" in either Vista or WinXP?  I don't believe the interface for either Microsoft OS supports multiple simultaneous inputs regardless of the underlying hardware.  This is not to say that an application couldn't take advantage of the functionality.

 Can you give an example of an application that actually makes use of a "multi-touch" feature?  (the iPhone doesn't count as an application you can run on a tablet PC)

Come on Big Mike,

 release the beast, daddy needs a new tablet. The toshiba 3500 has bit the dust

Greg,

The term "dual-touch" refers to it responding to either a special stylus OR just any old item (fingernail, toothpick, etc.)

The term "multi-touch" refers to it recognizing and tracking more than one touch at the same time.

The latitude xt appears to have both of these features.

John 

I've tried the Motion, Toshiba, and a fe wothers. I LOVE the idea of a tablet but the 12.1" screen size is too small. How about a 14 or 15"?

@Spencer, @Steve

Thanks for the info, its great news, BUT I just got an email from someone from Dell Switzerland and the person says its going to be a dual touch. So pen and capacitive touch.

Now this is a HUGE disappointment and I don't really get it why are they doing this? Or the US version is going to be one step ahead? Or they first release this dual touch and later the multi touch so they can make more money out of it?

:(((

I've been looking to buy a Tablet for a while now for general travel and note-taking.  If anyone could help with 2 questions, I'd appreciate it:

 - What is the advantage of the multi-touch for non-artists?

 - Would it be easy to pursue a strategy of getting a traditional hard drive now and then swapping in a SSD in a year  (i.e., assuming SSD's are cheaper in a year, could you just buy a discount SSD and somehow get the Operating System, Programs, and Files easily onto it)

 Personally, I can wait, so the Dell to me looks like the best of the bunch so far...

 Thanks in advance,

Jason

Does anybody know if this is a touch sensitive touchscreen that can be used for design sketching? Thanks to anyone that will answer this question.

Christian

Does anyone have any impressions on teh inking experience? ulti-Touch is great, but I'm curious how the the N-Trig compares to Wacom.

 

@Greg:

It sure looks like real multi-touch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mKTEqnzbs 

And so far as I know, this is the only available convertible laptop with multi-touch functionality. I don't know much about slate tablets, so there could be some of those available with it too.

 Although we have no way of knowing at this time whether this feature would be standard on all of the XT's or not, but the impression given by the video is that they do all have it.

Steve
 

HP's Table touchpad has been out.  Hell its got a 30% discount.

 mine is amd 2.0

5400 160 gig

2 gig of ram

900$

To all who tested or going to test it:

 PLEASE tell us if it is a real multi touch (5 simultaneous inputs by fingers) or not!!!!!!!!

Thanks a lot

Greg 

Here's how you know this thing is never coming out...

 Out of know where they launch a brand new 15" XPS system that is available right away. Meanwhile, we've been waiting for official information about the XT for almost a year now and have no idea when we'll ever see it.

Every time someone posts about seeing it at some trade show they offer a new release date quoted from some dell rep. but those dates never hold true.
 

What are the actual dimensions of the screen size on the pre-production samples? 

If the tablet screen is the same size as the X1, I'll have to pass and keep X300 a while longer.

Dell is currently showing off the Latitude XT at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) national meeting (the largest medical meeting in the world).  They have two units at their booth which are marked as pre-production internal samples.  They are passing out flyers, but the flyers don't provide any specification info.  No firm specifications are available from the reps as final specifications won't be available until launch.  They noted that items like screen resolution and processor speed may differ from the pre-production models.

None of the above is news.  However, the Dell reps are informing booth visitors that the device will be available on December 10th.

Anecdotally, the machine looks and feels very very good.  I was very impressed with the basics that affect everyday use like the keyboard and control placement on the screen.  The unit feels very solid.  The digitizer also seems to function very well with either the pen or by finger touch.  I can't wait to get one.

I really want to purchase a Dell Tablet NOW.  I have a Lenovo (IBM) X41 Tablet and I would not recommend it--sluggish, track ball is difficult to use, tech support non-existant.  Please--DELL, tell us how long we must wait!

Hey all,

Is it the only multi touch laptop that is announced? Because I'd need it only for this feature. So by multi touch I mean that it is capable of  reading 5 simultaneous inputs on its screen.

 thanks for the info

Greg
 

@Tina

 Let's see if the Latitude XT ever comes out.

"In a couple of months"... HAHA good joke Dell!

Fujitsu/Toshiba/HP - I AM COMING! 

I think it should be more powerful than 1.2.  I bought one of the first Tablets made by Toshiba and it had 1.3. 

And no Camera for video conferencing?  Mistake.  And finally an indoor outdoor screen is a must.

Come on guys, wake up!

they won't release it.

they've changed marketing strategy

... in a couple of month's???

Nothing about mid ov november... nothing about 2007??? a couple of months sounds more like mid of 2008!

Correct me if i'm wrong! (i hope so, but if not i'll go an buy a lenovo x61)

@Brent:

I've never seen the HP 2710 in person so to speak, but here's the things that struck me as important when researching it. You may of course feel other things are important, and you may feel differently about these issues from me, but this is my impression:

 -Active digitizer (Generally the preferred option. Although some prefer dual input, some prefer passive only)

-No Draft N wireless (may or may not matter to you)

-No optical drive (major functionality loss, significant weight savings)

-6-Cell battery only (smaller than most)

-Intel ULV processor (improved battery life)

-100GB 4200rpm max hard drive (low performance, mediocre storage, probably lighter)

-Trackpoint mouse instead of touch pad (I get the impression a lot of people dislike this, but it allows space/weight savings)

-LED over keyboard for night usage (Looks pretty clever and useful from the screenshots I've seen)

-Pen falls out on its own sometimes

All in all it looks to be a low to medium performance Tablet PC targeted at a lower budget.

For more information on this and other Tablet PC's I'd recommend this site: http://www.tabletpcreview.com/ Although I'll warn you, their reviews tend to approve of every single system, and focus on minor issues rather than the basic design problems for any given system.

 Steve
 

Latitude out in the wild

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/14/dells-latitude-xt-and-xps-one-make-first-public-appearance/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mKTEqnzbs

demo video of the dell latitude xt 

Some info from GottaBeMobile.com & Engadget

http://www.gottabemobile.com/DellsLatitudeXTUmmmMulittouch.aspx

http://www.gottabemobile.com/DellTabletPCQuotinAFewMonthsquot.aspx

GottabeMobile is saying that the Dell will be shipping in a few months 

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/14/dells-latitude-xt-and-xps-one-make-first-public-appearance/
Dell fans, we've got some juicy meat for you to sink your teeth into. During Michael Dell's keynote address at Oracle OpenWorld today, the company unleashed (or at least demoed) its forthcoming all-in-one PC, creatively named the XPS One. Of course, we've been hearing rumblings about the One for some time now, but Dell also whipped out its sparkly new Latitude XT tablet, which should please all the Gatesian types out there who think TPCs are the future. But wait -- there's more! The new Latitude isn't just some plain-jane scratchpad. Besides being the thinnest in its 12.1-inch, convertible category, and having a screen which is 25-percent brighter than the competition... it's multi-touch. At the keynote, the Dell folks demonstrated a multiple-finger paint program, which lets you draw five simultaneous lines, and also showcased a Surface-like photo viewer which allows you to scramble, resize, and generally get physical with your fond memories. Check the pictures of the tablet in action after the break and feel its magical vibes. 

My reason is that the 2710 also uses 1.8" hard drives.  Yuck.

 The latest rumor, by he way, is that the XT has multitouch a la iPod.  Checkout engadget or gottabemobile.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/14/dells-latitude-xt-and-xps-one-make-first-public-appearance/

Check this out.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/tablet-pcs/dell-latitude-xt-tablet-pc-shown-off-at-oracle-openworld-322955.php

This goes out to all those impatient fanbois who just can't wait...

It's got MULTI-TOUCH!!!

 Can you say SURFACE?  Enjoy your x61 and HP 2710 ladies!

Go to the Michael Dell keynote, 16:15 minute mark of the full video (not the highlights portion)

 Personally, I think the Asus R1E is the best Tablet out at the moment.  Multi-Touch changes everything, especially once apps are designed around it.  Got to get it out there for that to happen though, and N-Trig appears to be the only way that was gonna happen I guess.

Enjoy!

According to this article, it will be released "in a few months"!

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9817295-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

We'll just have to wait and see but it looks like Gottabemobile has info showing it won't be out for a FEW MONTHS.

 http://www.gottabemobile.com/DellTabletPCQuotinAFewMonthsquot.aspx

PATHETIC
 

Looking for a a PC - A lot of people state what they are buying instead of the Dell. No one ever mentions the HP 2710 as an alternate. Why??

Information from Dell support in Germany today:

Next week they will publish Data online. Release will be the last week in November. will see

Wow there is still people posting on this thread. I'm sure most of these "I will wait posts" are dell authored. People who have moved on and bought other tablet pc's got the right idea.

It is silly to wait it out when there are some awesome tablet pc's out there. Plus it is not fair to you the consumer to get pushed around like this and left in the dark. If they do it on vapor ware what makes you think they are doing it on other levels. Anyways I'm just a disappointed customer looking for others who feel the same. I just got my Fujitsu ST5112, it is an artist's dream. 

NiTrig seemed pretty usable.  It's the first tablet I've used to so I don't have much to compare it to. 

It comes with the option of a WWAN card which uses an external antenna. 

OUCH! 1.8" drive, 4200RPM, it's painfully slow! Dell keeps repeating Lenovo's mistakes with X41 Tablet. X60/X61 now have 2.5" drives. So I guess XT will be usable only with fast SSD, but one will have to shell out big bucks....

Dell Guy,

 Why not give some more info if you were able to play with it some (how was the N-Trig, etc...), details seem kinda sparse unless you are under some type of NDA.

Two arguments:

1) One of the posts up above mentioned Nov. 5 or Dec. 11, and neither has been confirmed, so Dec. 11 can still be a possibility.

2) I agree that "no news is bad news", and Dell needs to start marketing this puppy.  However, I have always liked Dell's support.  I only manage about 10 computers (7 Dell, 2 HP, & 1 Custom), and Dell has the best support.  I think Dell has lost customers by delaying for a long time after a planned leak, but it is an acceptable loss.  You must remember Dell is a business, and most business' goal is to make money.

 Personally, I have no timeline for a new tablet, so I'm waiting.  Plus, I know everyone has mentioned a few good ones, but I just haven't been impressed by them.

Jeff,  I was able to play with it some today too and it has a 1.8" drive.  It is very similar to the D430.  It has the option for a solid state drive also. 

No offense but why should we believe anyone who says anything in regards to the specs or a release date? Everyone who offered a release date
supposedly from the mouth of a dell rep. has been wrong.

 FESS UP DELL WHY THE DELAY?
 

Cool News Dell User!

 I will wait till december :)

How much will it be? 

Apple has no Vista. That will be their problem! The handwriting recognition from Windows Vista is much better!

The Toshiba M400 is nearly 4 cm thick - It must be a bother working in an university with it. I'll wait for the XT till the 1st december. If I can't order it in the EU at this time, I will buy the Fujitsu T2010 or the Asus r1f. 

Patricks your post is so true. Sad, really dell had to go that low to sell vapor ware. 

Patricks said:

Dell, 

   You're not Apple and your stock blows in comparison to HPQ.

Moreover, I am willing to bet money that Apple will release a superior Tablet earlier than you. Do you see the pattern here? Those who can do it don't have to "saw" others in half.

Well, let's start the pool...

I have my money on apple getting past vaporware first... 

On the one hand, I must admit that I'm glad Dell's not sacrificing quality to get this out sooner. Unfortunately, as the previous posts clearly show, taking too long is certainly losing them customers.

Myself, I'm pretty much stuck with Dell. The only thing I really want in my convertible laptop is the active/passive input, i.e. touchscreen and an actively recognized stylus. Now so far as I've been able to determine (and please correct me if I'm wrong here) the only such options are: Gateway, Lenovo, and Dell.

Ideally, I'd like a DVD drive in it, which makes Gateway my weapon of choice, but I guess they're biased against us Canucks or something, because not only can I not get a Gateway shipped here (despite Gateway having a manufacturing plant IN Canada), but they wouldn't even accept my credit card's billing address!

As for Lenovo, I took a look at their site, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. Seriously, I'm not sure what I would have gotten if I'd placed my order with them. (Their site didn't play too well with FF, but using IE didn't help that much, although it displayed a touch better). The layout was bad enough that I won't place an order with them lest I get something completely different from what I'm looking for.

So that leaves Dell. And while they've got their problems, such as a release date somewhere between the launch of Spore and Duke Nukem Forever (Oh god I hope that's an exaggeration), they've certainly got this customer service thing figured out at least to the point of being better than the rest (in my opinion). Which may not count for much to some people, and it may not be good enough for some others, but in my case, it's made all the difference... Assuming, of course, that no one else releases an active/passive digitizer before Dell actually releases this thing. Which doesn't seem to be guaranteed quite yet.

Just figured I'd throw my two cents out there.

Sincerely, 

Steve 

yes, dell has delayed it.

they just don't want us to buy the T2010 from Fujitsu! Unfortunately I can't order the Fujitsu, because I live in Germany!

I am waiting for Dell! 

I also went the the Fujitsu for 2 new employees I had 4 already in our office -- great units.

Just got an email from my Account Manager and now been put back to December ... I won't hold my breath! Becoming a bit of a farce this, Dell sort your act out!

this is not coming out today

tomorrow or dec?

Today was my breaking point! i had enough of being abused by a company which as it is has lousy support and now they playing with our nerves too!

Let's lower their ego! who needs them? ibm has a 1.8ghz core 2 duo versus their 1.2 

Purchased the x61t just before.

Any news yet?

The desire for a tablet PC has been present since spring.  After watching, waiting, checking the Web sites and blogs and waiting some more, it is time to stop this delaying without gratification.  For Dell, no news is worse than bad news.  Fortunately the time has been used to identify what I think is the best tablet currently on the market for me. 

Thank you to the above entries for your input!  It's time to buy a tablet PC!!

I have a feeling that Dell is just stringing the consumers along. It has been pushed back multiple times with scant details about the computer. It could very well be another vapourware in the making. The fujitsu t2010 is looking so tempting at the moment. With christmas around the corner, people are willing to buy. Hell of a way to lose customers by not meeting datelines.

Is there any new news regarding a release date?  My company is pushing digital signing and tablets are perfect for Hospital POS solutions.  We have several customers who prefer Dell so wondering about a release date?

It is the 5th November now! 

Go Dell! 

Your link isn't working, but I thought the rumor was they would start taking orders on Nov 5 and start shipping on Dec. 11.  Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part.  If they don't start taking orders Nov 5, than that means they've lost Christmas, but as someone pointed out, maybe they don't care because they aren't marketing this to consumers.  Experience says that you are probably right though.  As recently as last week, they were still insisting on NDA's to show it off to teachers and Purdue, so they probably aren't days from release.

 I'd be willing to wait for this thing if I knew the specs were what I wanted.  I just don't want to wait till Spring, only to end up ordering a Gateway c-120X anyway.

So is it Nov. 5 or Dec. 11??  On this site the new news was Dec. 11.

http://technorati.com/tag/Dell%20Tablet%20PC

The Dell is just 1 inch thick! (2,6 cm) 

I used the dimension of the RJ-45 Ethernet Port and reflected it to the complete notebook! 

> Dell is actually showing it off to a bunch of professors at
> Purdue. Heaven forbid they actually tell us about it... 

That's because they aren't interested in selling it to you.  It's targeted to Education, Medical, and Government.  Unless you're with one of those institutions and planning to order them by the hundreds, you might not even be able to buy one when (and if) it does come out.

Remember also, Motion, also using the n-trig technology, cancelled their slate because of supply issues.  There's little chance this thing is going to ship this year.  Maybe in time for next school year.

No it hasn't been canceled. It might as well be though.
 

http://www.gottabemobile.com/CheckoutTheDellTabletPCAtPurdueUniversity.aspx

Dell is actually showing it off to a bunch of professors at Purdue. Heaven forbid they actually tell us about it... 

For Jennifer,

Lenny has got the Lenovo x61 not Dell.

In case someone from Dell actually monitors this board, please publish some official specs.  I'm wanting to buy myself a tablet for Christmas, which means I need to buy soon.  I've been putting it off in case the Dell is to my liking, but that is getting harder and harder to do.  Especially since Gateway just cut the price $150 (perhaps in anticipation of the release of the Latitutude XT?).  One thing I want to know in particular is the physical size and interface of the hard drive.  One of the leaks said 80GB max, which suggests its a 1.8" hard drive.  If that's the case, I'll be buying the Gateway.  I also want to see benchmark numbers.  At least give us a Windows Experience Index screen shot.  Finally, does it have firewire?  The earlier leaks listed firewire, but the later leaks do not.  Give me something please.  I'm daily going to the Gateway site, configuring up a tablet to check for price changes and struggling to resist pullying the trigger and buying one.  I'm willing to wait till even after Christmas if I like he specs, but I'm going to buy the Gateway before too long if you continue to be silent.

Bye Bye Dell.

I have waited too long and the comment that the XT will ony have Vista initially seals the deal, I have to have XP for my programs to work with my sharegroup. (I am am not interested in paying more to add it later)

I need a tablet now so I can write holiday orders in the field.  I have had Dell's since the begining, this will be my first non-Dell.

Lenny, how did you get it already???

cost me 1650 shipped ...and I absolutely love it! highly recommend

My understanding is that the Latitutde XT does have a dock, but it is not the same one as the rest of the Latitude D-series uses.

Just met with our Dell rep about some other things, and I asked when we'd be able to get some Latitude XTs.  Our rep said the plan is now to start shipping in early December.  Since this was mentioned earlier in the comments, it seems pretty reliable (for the moment). 

Peripheral commonality with the Latitude D-Series, but no dock support.  At a later date there will be an E-Series tablet, which will support E-Series peripherals, including docking stations.  So you'll actually be able to use it as a corporate laptop replacement (which should be a no-brainer). 

Also, the XT will be Vista-only for the first several months, and presumably XP support will happen after that.

hey guys...I also got my lenovo x61 tablet as stated earlier....I was worried about the screen real estate, I only got the wva xga 1024x768 touchscreen ...I got it 2 days ago, and I'm already used to the smaller screen with less real estate (from my 14" widescreen) ... it's all about what you plan to use it for ... I plan to use it as a note-taking tool in class and for learning from ppts .... no games or anything...so it's perfect for me.... I love this thing! it's quiet and doesn't heat up ... and the speaker placement is genius! (the put it under the unit, so it reverbrates on a desk and you feel like you're hearing it from somewhere else!)

I just received an X61 with SXGA+ screen after watching this thread for months.  There is no reason not to go with the system especially with its comparable price.  The Lenovo's standard (not wide) screen with the SXGA+ screen gives more real estate then WXGA of the dell, so there's really no argument against it.  And the eraserhead is far superior to the touchpad... a lot less strain on the hand, just takes some getting use to.

 The X61 is indeed offered with the SXGA+ screen again, checkout the site.

Are you sure bout the SXGA+ bit on the Lenovo?  The specs list that as an option, but when you go to Customize, it says XGA with no upgrade option.  Oh, x60 has SXGA+ though (but no Vista Ultimate).  Is that the one you ordered?

There are two things that turn me off the Lenovo.  First, it isn't wide screen.  I like wide screen.  Second, it doesn't have a touch pad.  I've tried but never been coordinated enough to use the little eraserhead thing in the middle of the keyboard.

I've been pretty deep in research on the recent tablets, and It looks to me like no one is even coming close to the ROI of the Lenovo's. I'm processing my employee purchase paperwork right now, and, to tell you the truth, at between $1500-2000 for the lattitude, it wouldn't have mattered if Dell had made their release dates, I still would have gone with the lenovo. The HP 2710 looks like the dell was cloned from it. In almost every category the Lenovo has higher specs.

  
Processor[1]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo L7500 LV (1.6GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
   
Operating system[12]
Genuine Windows Vista Business   

Display
12.1" SuperView WVA SXGA+ TFT, 2x3 UltraConnect II antenna
   
Total memory[8]
1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)

Hard Drive[4]
80GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
   
Wireless cards[10]
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
   
Battery[60]
ThinkPad X60 Tablet 8 Cell Li-Ion Battery   
   
Wireless WAN[65]

First, I don't understand all this "ugly" talk about the Dell.  I think it looks quite nice actually.  Second, we don't know enough about the specs to really know how its going to compare with the competition.  But remember, there are only two makers of the chip sets that everyone is using: Intel and AMD/ATi.  Fundamentally, all 12.1" systems in the 3-5 pound range are going to have similar battery life, performance numbers, and base price.  There just aren't any other wells to draw water from.

 So, how can Dell compete?  That depends on all the stuff that we don't know and how they price the extras.

Weight and size.  They appear to have minimized the weight and maybe shaved a little off thickness by removing the dvd from the notebook and putting it in the port replicator.  This might bite them in price though.

Performance.  They've used a new chipset we haven't seen before (as far as I know).  Will this speed up graphics a little bit?  One hopes.

Hard Drive.  Will they give us good hard drive choices?  Many of the competitors do stupid things here, like only offering 4500rpm drives and not offering high capacity 7200 rpm drives (like a Travelstar 7K200).  Of if they do, they overcharge by hundreds(!) of dollars for them.

Memory.  Laptop memory is cheap.  You can buy a pair of 2GB modules for well under $200.  There's no excuse for Dell to charge $700 or Gateway to charge $800 for them.  Make 3 GB the base configuration and don't overcharge for it.

Screen.  Here's where Dell appears to be putting in the effort to differentiate themselves.  Let's hope the outdoor viewing option turns out to be best in class.  The esoteric choice of pen technology (N-Trig) seems like a real risk over choosing Wacom.  It has to be better than Wacom to gain acceptance.  Even if it is as good as Wacom, Wacom has such market acceptance, that many people would be reluctant to choose something different.  Allegedly, this new technology is capable of multi-touch a la iphone, but that functionality won't be in the initial software, so that won't be an immediate differentiator.

Battery Life. The extended battery that covers the whole bottom of the unit has some good potential.  Most extended batteries result in ugly awkward heavy warts on the side of the tablet.  This might give you a really long battery life while keeping the tablet reasonably shaped and balanced.

Operating System. I've noticed some tablet vendors only offer one flavor of Vista.  Dell should offer the full line, including 64-bit (very few seem to be offering 64-bit OS on the tablets).

 On the other hand, Dell could be making a series of stupid blunders that really cripple the device.  They might overprice the port replicator, memory and harddrive.  Have only one DIMM slot, offer only 4500RPM hard drives.  N-Trig might be a disaster.  Graphics performance might be no better than a Gateway C-120X.  Battery life might be a disaster.

 The lack of review units might be because there are real problems they don't want publicised yet.  Or it could be that because of the uncertainty of release dates, they don't want to tip their hand to their competitors of how great the tablet really is any sooner than necessary.  We'll see.

Wow, Dell has some pretty cool notebooks out, the XPS line probably has the best looking laptops out there, the latitudes are pretty sophisticed/clean looking, even the regular Inspirons are visually appealing. This Dell Tablet looks horrible.

 HP has had four great looking tablets, each with decent/above average specs. Fujitisu, Lenovo, Acer even Gateway for Godsake has a gotten into the tablet PC market, each catering to different needs. The one thing they have in common, they all are visually, and physically appealing. The laptop I saw in the recent photo update has confirmed my developing fear that the Dell Tablet will be a flop. This confirms it. Speaking to my Dell Rep a few weeks ago, I was assured a refreshing device, that would far surpass any of my expectations. It fell just short of devistating my expectations of Dell as a company.

 Mr Dell, whom I have seen at several different seminars/conferences, has always spoken about advances in technology, inferface, and reliability you missed the ball on this notebook. I put off purchasing  tablet PCs for several months, I even returned a Samsung Q!U (which was less than my expectations) for this peice of junk. I manage all computer related purchases for a $100 million manufacturing company in anticipation of a great Computing stride with this new notebook. From what I can see, it is just another run of the mill tablet, lacking any style or advanced feature which would put it ahead of the pack.

HP just won my money, and my company's money for thier 2710.

Good Luck, and Good Day!

New info from gottabemobile:

http://www.gottabemobile.com/DellTabletPCTalkContinues.aspx  

So I've found some more details for everyone else who has been waiting.  Unfortunately, the information I've found basically deflates any intention I had of purchasing this laptop.  But I'll hold out a tad longer to see what it is really like.

RELEASE SPECULATION: NOV 5/6

SHIP SPECULATION: DEC 10 

My sources:

http://www.studenttabletpc.com/2007/08/dells_latitude_xt.html

http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/10/11/dell.latitude.release.info/

It looks like the really unsatisfying aspect is that Dell is going to go with the ATI Xpress 1250 chipset for this laptop.  Originally I had anticipated this being a GM965 based chipset, and I trust Intel chipsets (I have no experience with ATI chipsets).  Of note, the ATI chipset does not support dual channel memory whereas GM965 does.

The LED backlight is nice, however other laptops have this feature too.  It seems we must make a choice between LED backlight or outdoor viewable (I'm not sure you can get and eat your cake between these options).

Research:

ATI Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_Graphics_Processing_Units

Intel Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA

http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/GM965/index.htm

So hopefully this well help people make some decisions since Dell is refusing to connect 2 the community.

Good news for some of you guys!

It's not a Latitude XT release date, but it's something to hold us over for a bit!

Pictures of the XT! 

Full GottaBeMobile article can be read here.
 

I posted earlier up in the BLOG. Our company works in conjunction with FEMA, and we are exclusive to dell and a 4,000+ company with over 10000 workstations. It looks as if we're switching to X61s. Dell will not even reply to my our our posts here. I love how the site name 'direct2dell' is so fitting. Glad it's not 'direct from dell'.

I'm finding refurbed lenovo X61's for as low as $1100.00 on the lenovo site.

For my time frame, I'm going to have to go with the X61, not even counting the fact that the Dell is entirely unproven. I can't trust my school work to an unproven product. I sure was hoping it would be here by now and would sweep me off my feet, but Dell's window of opportunity has passed by for me.

I hope the best for the rest of you and for the XT, though.

Well that does it for me. I needed this thing in August and can't wait anymore, especially now that we have to deal with the standard Dell technical and supply issues.

I've always loved Dell, but these recent problems are too much. My girlfriend ordered a 1520 in July didn't receive it until September (after several delays) and then had to return it because of problems. To add insult to injury she had to return the replacement because of problems. (CPU kept jumping to 100%, even when not in use.) She finally changed her order to an XPS 1330, but had to return that one because of ANOTHER technical issue (when the DVD drive read a disc the screen would start to flicker) She's now waiting for her FOURTH computer.

I'm ordering the HP Compaq 2710p and will report back here with a mini-review.
 

In some interesting news, the Latitude uses N-Trig as its digitizer technology for both pen and touch input.  The only other company who had committed to bringing a product using N-Trig's technology was Motion Computing for their LE1700 WriteTouch Slate Tablet Notebook.

Motion Computing came out and said today that they have DROPPED the LE1700 WriteTouch due to technical issues and supply issues.

GottaBeMobile Article
 

Though it hints only at manufacturing/supply issues, there is a bit of worry about the technical aspects of this type of dual mode digitizers that required so much work to perfect.

 Either way, this news pretty much tells us these things have issues (either technical ones or supply ones) and are probably going to push our Latitude XTs out even further.  Who knows..., we might be lucky to get it by December now.
 

like anyone else here, i'm too waiting for any news on the xt.

it's a very strange marketing strategy with theese 3 internet clips.
we will see how good their tablet really is ...

but for now i think the hp 2710p is the best buy.
 

145 days and no new info on the Latitude XT.

P.S. $500 dollars off the HP Compaq 2710p until Oct. 31 on the HP website. 

save yourself the trouble and get an HP. As I've mentioned before, all you  need to do is look at the Stock prices of both companies... Dell has been on longest decline ever while HP is up up up!

Sorry M. Dell, you keep loosing the ball man! 

Well, there was an October 16th release date mentioned by a Dell rep way above... but then again..., there was a November release date mentioned too.

I for one, am not holding my hopes up for more information today..., but who knows?  Maybe Dell can pleasantly surprise me and prove me wrong.
 

Like everybody else, I'm completely fed-up with this.

If Dell are actually going to release a Table, then lets have some details: a release date would be good!

Otherwise, like everyone else I'll be spending my money with HP, Lenovo or Fujitsu.  These are companies who actually produce kit you can buy.

If you start a marketing campaign in May (as you did) then you can't just forget all about it for 6 months and then expect people to buy.   I'll probably NOT buy Dell now as a matter of pricnciple....

The Fujitsu T2010 is also very nice.
In my opinion, at the same caliber of the HP Compaq 2710p.

My suggestion to those sick of how Dell is treating those in this forum is to check out:

Lenovo X61t

HP Compaq 2710p
 

The HP is really nice...plus as an added bonus...it ACTUALLY EXISTS! 

Looks to me like they gave a tentative release date quite a while ago, and have seemed to have stuck by it if you can believe the guy that said Oct. 16th. You guys are just going to have to wait.

The one thing I would like to know is the price point. The X60/X61 is $1500ish, so if the XT is above that I'm out...

 They have to work out the ability to ship large numbers of systems from the finished engineering specs. I'm guessing this takes some time to do. Ok, I'm not guessing, but believe me it does.

I'm guessing there was no way to get them out in time for the fall semester, or they would have. It's good for the students next year as the product will have been out for a while, and may have a lot of the bugs worked out.

Dell was also probably waiting for the supply of the latest Intel chip to hit numbers they would need, and also for the release of SP1 for Vista.

Just take a deep breath and decide if you think the innovations Dell may provide are worth it for you to wait for it.

I really don't understand the harm in just letting us in on some official specs, or a release date or at least a date to expect more details.

 HP Compaq 2710P Tablet FTW!!!!1!!111!!
 

I don't think they're sacred, I think they're scared.  Maybe they think they're sacred, but they're not sacred just loyal costumers with their tight lips.

"Pooh, Pooh Dell" I say.

Hey Dell this is what I'm buying if I don't get any info on your product.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2186549,00.asp

Thanks! 

Yeah..., at least throw a tidbit out, like a picture of the system, even if a release date can't be given out yet.  Just something to hold us over the next week to couple weeks / months.  It's already hurting some of the students who are hoping to get one of these XTs mid quarter and are trying to decide to wait out a bit longer or just bite the bullet and go with a HP 2710p or a Fujitsu T2010.

Just tell us something..., really..., just about anything will do for now...

HOW MUCH LONGER???!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Atleast release a date so that we know how much longer to wait else am just gonna buy an HP or something!!

why a notebook rather than a desktop? - light (even for girls) and mobile (even for long time travel);

why a convertable tablet PC rather than a notebook? - one can choose between comfortable sightsing and less spacial separation;  

why a convertable tablet PC rather than a UMPC? - a larger display to view forms and a greater power to process data or to run large programs;

why a new Dell tablet PC rather than other tablet PCs?- you'd better have some real attractions while still keeps those fundamental features. e.g., 3G, GPS, included DVD driver or camera...

Needed to buy 20 tablets, could not wait any longer.

Dell rep was not very helpful rather, went ahead and ordered Lenovo and Asus U1's.

I will probably never return to dell.