Dell Latitude XT finally gets official

Well, golly gee, what do we have here? Why it's Dell's first tablet PC, the Latitude XT, right on schedule. After nearly three years of rumors and speculation, it's nice to finally see this thing in the flesh and as the spec sheet confirms, this little machine is nothing to sneeze at. Let's review:

• "World's thinnest consumer Tablet PC"
• Intel Core 2 Solo (1.06Ghz) or Duo ULV (1.2Ghz)
• 12.1 inch WXGA (1280 x 800) capacitive touchscreen
• LED-backlit display optional
• Up to 3GB of RAM
• HDD up to 120GB, SSD up to 64GB
• ATI Radeon X1250 UMA Graphics
• HSDPA, EV-DO rev A, 802.11a/b/g/n optional
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, gigabit Ethernet
• Vista Ultimate or Business
• 5 hours of juice with standard battery, up to 9 hours with optional 45WH battery
• 3.57 lbs., 1 inch thick
• Prices starting at $2500

Yes folks, this machine seems to have it all. But as just about everyone has already pointed out, it also has an appropriately large price tag. $2500 is just about the high end of what most IT departments will be willing to spend for a notebook and if you add a few of those optional niceties, you could be looking at a price far north of that. Still, if you've got the money to burn and love tablet PCs, the Latitude XT could be the ticket.

Engadget got some hands-on time with the XT and while their impressions are of the preliminary sort, they seem impressed for the most part. "The whole machine's decked in a ThinkPad-esque soft touch finish, and has the same rugged feeling, with magnesium and a seemingly higher quality build than you're normally likely to find in most other Dells." Still, that price tag proved to be a sticking point, especially when compared to that of the similarly spec'd Lenovo ThinkPad X61. "For a grand less you can snag an X61 with more power, and, we'd wager, more of that ThinkPad ruggedness," Engadget writes. "Ordinary consumers -- even many businesses -- will not pay that kind of a premium for this machine."

For more on the Latitude XT:
- check out this blog entry from Dell
- and Engadget's hands-on