Dell — Finally — Unveils Its First Tablet

I don't like to run with boring old "here's a new product" announcements without having had hands-on experience, but Dell's Latitude XT has been so longed-for and rumored for such a long time that I'm making an exception. So here goes: Dell has finally entered the tablet PC market after years of sitting on the sidelines.

I got a phone briefing from Dell on the product yesterday. Here's what's you need to know.

At 3.6 pounds and with a 12.1-inch screen, it's the lightest and thinnest convertible tablet on the market, according to Dell. I don't think I can argue with that. Specs are about par/exceptional for this field: 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo or 1.06GHz Core 2 Solo, minimum 1GB of memory, and hard drives up to 120GB (or up to 64GB for a solid-state drive). Vista or XP Tablet Edition OSes are available, as is integrated EV-DO broadband. Dell says you should expect up to five hours of battery life from the unit.

Next-gen features are impressive: LED backlighting is available, as is an optional outdoor-readable screen. The tablet is touch sensitive (you can also use a stylus), using a system called "capacitive touch" that utilizes the electrical properties of your body to register a touch rather than just pressure (sounds a lot like the iPhone).

Now the kicker: Starting price is $2,499, and it ramps up from there. That's considerably higher than competing tablets like the Fujitsu T2010, which has many of the same features as the XT but weighs more at 3.9 pounds. Is it worth the premium? I'll be checking out the XT in the flesh in the next few weeks and will report back with a full review; Dell says it will begin shipping by the end of the year, so stay tuned.

LINK: Dell Latitude XT Details