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Gadgets Dell to Release Tablet PC in Q3
Brandon Hill (Blog) - May 20, 2007 4:19 PM

14 comment(s) - last by crystal clear.. on May 21 at 5:10 AM

Dell on Tablet PCs: "We're coming!"

Dell has been sitting on the sidelines as companies like Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, Gateway and Lenovo have embraced the Tablet PC form-factor. Dell will no longer sit on the bench and instead will get into the game the latter half of 2007.

The company posted a short minute-long video on its Direct2Dell blog site which discusses its new Latitude XT Tablet PC. The Latitude XT will be marketed at the education, medical and corporate sectors according to Dell's Jeff Clark.

Clark notes that the device will be one of the lightest Tablets in its class and will feature advances in the touch-screen interface to make it more practical to use. The prototype that Clark showed off in the video features a 12.1" widescreen display running Windows Vista. All of the usual connectivity options are there including Bluetooth and WiFi along with a fingerprint scanner.

Thankfully, the Latitude will be based on Intel's Santa Rosa-based Centrino Pro platform. That means that the tablet will feature support for 802.11n and Intel Turbo Memory along with improved X3100 integrated graphics.

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Thank goodness

By creathir on 5/20/2007 8:02:59 PM , Rating: 2

Finally!

I have been requesting this from my account rep for 2 years now...

Our company has ordered 5-10 of these things over the years, from Gateway to Toshiba, and all of them have sub par quality. We'll have to see how Dell does on this...
Hopefully they will leave a DVD drive inside of it... if not, I can already tell you we will never buy one.

- Creathir

RE: Thank goodness

By brshoemak on 5/20/2007 10:48:35 PM , Rating: 2

Agreed....we do a lot of work at medical centers and I can't tell you how many times they just plunk down $2000-$3000 for a machine that offers much more than they need in terms of power. I would like to see Dell offer a 'cheaper' alternative in volume to put some pricing pressure on the other major players in the tablet arena.

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RE: Thank goodness

By RU482 on 5/20/2007 11:05:10 PM , Rating: 2

www.mobiledemand.com

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RE: Thank goodness

By Freddo on 5/20/2007 11:19:24 PM , Rating: 2

I doubt it will include a drive for optical discs. These are supposed to be light and small, and a drive will only affect that negatively.

If you want it, then you probably have to buy an external USB DVD drive.

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RE: Thank goodness

By soydeedo on 5/21/2007 3:14:49 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah I have a feeling it won't include an optical drive. I'm sure they'll have some lightweight docking solution for those that need it though.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this tablet stacks up against the recently announced HP 2710p. Hopefully it won't be using a 4200 rpm 1.8" drive like that one.

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Good Competition

By SirRoger on 5/20/2007 5:34:39 PM , Rating: 2

Hopefully a big hitter in the market will increase mass appeal and drive down prices.

The Mac tablet

By crystal clear on 5/21/2007 3:27:23 AM , Rating: 1

quote:
Dell has been sitting on the sidelines as companies like Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, Gateway and Lenovo have embraced the Tablet PC form-factor.

Anybody out there used/tried the ModBook : the

quote:
iTablet

for the rest of us & is rumored preorders are heavy.

(The ModBook is the first and only Mac tablet computer solution!)

DELL has got have that something EXTRA ! (special)

By crystal clear on 5/21/2007 5:10:50 AM , Rating: 1

quote:
The Latitude XT will be marketed at the education, medical and corporate sectors

1) The price range of Tablets starts 2200 USD to 3000+ when you can buy a good laptop for a thousand or so.
The targeted sectors above are not likely to spend that money just because its Dell.
Dell you got to PRICE IT CORRECTLY or you become one of the already known players.A slow moving product-in short. Tablet PCs should have PRICE & PERFORMANCE to succeed.

2)Sleek designs & looks a very important(learn from Apple)

3) Dell should sell their Tablets with a Basic Package of software- Vista & Office 2007 preinstalled + a SSD card included (16 GB)& in addition to the regular 2.5 hard disk.
Again PRICING is critical-for the above to succeed.
The Software Package is the key to success after Price & Perfomance.

4) For a starter I would even sell it at 25% lower than competing prices/brands just to get into the market & establish the brand.
Then cut manufacturing cost to create that profit margin !
Offering plenty of upgrade options also brings in more profits.

With the likes of TOSHIBA/Lenovo/etc already in the market,to compete with them DELL has got have that something EXTRA !(special).