November 2008 is judgment day for XT2, the next Dell Tablet PC
Well that was quick. Dell has only offered the Latitude XT Tablet PC for two months and already there’s a refresh in the pipeline. Engadget pegs the XT2 to appear this November with an updated chipset, an eSATA interface in lieu of a USB port (don’t worry, there’s still two USBs to spare), and the possibility of an integrated optical drive. I’m thinking the lack of an optical on the current XT isn’t holding back sales; it’s the starting price in the $2,500 and up range. Unfortunately, there’s no gleans of information on a potential price. If Dell continues to cater to the enterprise, I expect you won’t be able to multi touch XT2 for under two-grand. Any takers that 2009 will bring XT3, rise of the multi-touch machines?(via GottaBeMobile)
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Beware DellNet!!!!! *grin*
I actually have an XT that was purchased by my school district. This is my 6th Tablet device and it is by far the best one I have used. I think Dell did a really good job on this device and added features that help facilitate good tablet usage. If it weren’t for the price tag I would recomend this device to everyone.
I received and started using a Dell XT Tablet recently. It was provided by my employer for job related use. It is my third tablet and my 99jillionth “notebook”.
It is by far the best tablet design, implementation, and form factor that I have ever seen or used. It has NEVER vectored my touch into improper ink even though I frequently have my wrist on the screen. Inking experience is great too.
Yes, it is pricey but the form factor is such that I take it everywhere without hesitation, the scroll button, tablet buttons, and dual digitizer let me work naturally without thinking about the machine.
Paid about twice the price of the standard corporate issue Dell Lattitude, and I can get more than twice as much done with this device.
Regular, the Dell has dual digitizers and the active digitizer is used for inking so you should not ever find vectoring an issue.
No, James, its not a dual digitizer. It’s capacitive touch. That’s better than having two possibly conflicting digitizers in my book.
The Dell Latitude XT has an active digitizer for pen input and also offers capacitive touch. When the RF pen is sensed by the active digitizer, the touch is disabled so there is no vectoring.
James & RR, enjoy your jobs working for the Dell PR dept?
I’ve looked into the N-trig digitizer quite a bit. I guess what I want to point out is that, unlike the Lenovo X 61, the Dell XT does not have two separate digitizers. The N-trig digitizer is one unit that can sense either pen or touch. You are of courseright. It does choose pen over finger, and vectoring is not an issue, but its a very different technological approach.
I’ve looked into the N-trig digitizer quite a bit. I guess what I want to point out is that, unlike the Lenovo X 61, the Dell XT does not have two separate digitizers. The N-trig digitizer is one unit that can sense either pen or touch. You are of courseright. It does choose pen over finger, and vectoring is not an issue, but its a very different technological approach.
While Kevin and James are certainly enthusiastic over mobile tech, I find their comments fairly even-handed. With the recent Sunday morning ragefest and this snipe by klklklklklklklklklkl, the following article is especially pertinent:
http://machinist.salon.com/feature/2008/03/18/true_enough_excerpt_2/
The XT2 platform is shared by a a duo of sleek business laptops scheduled for release in September. Reports from engadget have the forthcoming ultra-portables featuring the Centrino 2 (Montevina) chip sets, DDR3 800MHz memory, Ultra-Wideband wireless, Bluetooth 2.1, next-generation mobile broadband, GPS, and DisplayPort video support. The 2.2 lb, 12.1″ E4200 has a target thickness of 0.6″-0.8″ and features an Ultra Low Voltage CPU, up to 5GB RAM, solid state storage (32GB or 64GB SSD), and no optical drive. The 3 lb, 13.3″ E4300 will be 1.0″-1.1″ thick and offer a standard voltage CPU, up to 8GB memory, SSD or 2.5″ HDD storage, and a fixed internal DVD or BluRay drive.
There is a summary of photos, specs, and links at:
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12532