The good: Capacitive touch technology makes for greater accuracy; clearer, sharper screen; very usable keyboard; excellent hardware design.

The bad: Optical drive supplied as an external unit; expensive once you start adding extras; battery life and performance.

The bottom line: This is a handsome and very usable tablet PC, thanks to its excellent screen and keyboard. Battery life and performance are both a little disappointing, though, and the price becomes steep as you add in the options.

Read full review of the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC »

By Sandra Vogel, CNET.co.uk
Jul 9, 2008

Dell, characteristically, has bided its time before entering the tablet PC arena. tablet PCs have been around for several years, but have struggled to become mainstream despite support from top-tier manufacturers such as HP and Fujitsu.

Dell has been circumspect about the format, but saw the building of tablet PC functionality into Windows Vista and Intel's low-power Santa Rosa platform as key features in prompting entry to the market. The result is the Latitude XT, with a starting price of S$3,445 (US$2,447.60).

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The Latitude XT is impressive to look at: Its slate-grey outer casing is mirrored inside the clamshell on the wrist rest; blue and silver highlights are used for buttons and key markings, and the visual design is generally very appealing. There is a blue power light on the lid section to remind you if the Latitude XT is turned on, along with a battery charge icon.

We like the Latitude XT's slimmed-down power supply, which is no taller or heavier than your average mobile phone (although it's a little wider and fatter). It's much easier to carry around than the usual laptop power bricks and we're happy with the slightly slower charge times that its 45W capacity offers as a tradeoff. Hopefully, Dell will start a trend here.

This is a convertible tablet PC that's likely to be carried around for significant periods of time in slate mode, ready for pen input. The problem facing manufacturers is to incorporate a screen large enough to work with while keeping the weight down to a manageable level.

Dell uses a 12.1-inch screen on the Latitude XT, with a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels. You can have an outdoor-viewable display with a brightness of 400 nits or a more standard 220 nits LED backlit panel.

tablet PCs need to cater for handwriting recognition, form filling and other pen-based activities. However, it's not always necessary to use a stylus: Less precise activities like opening applications or choosing and running a presentation can be handled simply by tapping at the screen with a finger.

Previous dual-mode (stylus/finger) touchscreens have used resistive technology, which requires considerable downward pressure to register with the digitizer, leading to accuracy and durability problems. The Latitude XT is currently unique in using N-trig's capacitive DuoSense technology, which supports "zero-pressure" finger touch, employs advanced "palm-rejection" algorithms to distinguish between intended and unintended contact, and uses a pressure-sensitive stylus for realistic inking.

Capacitive touchscreens on product such as the Apple iPhone 3G are relatively expensive to build, but are more accurate and easier to use than resistive units; there are also fewer layers over the LCD, resulting in a clearer, sharper display.

The Latitude XT weighs 1.61kg with the four-cell battery in place, which isn't uncomfortably heavy for moderate periods of tablet-style usage, with the laptop held in the crook of an arm.

The system measures 297 x 25 x 218mm, and Dell claims this makes it one of the thinnest 12.1-inch tablet PCs on the market. However, the optical drive comes as an external unit or integrated into the optional media slice, adding to both bulk and weight.

The keyboard is very impressive: It has plenty of key travel, which may not suit all tastes, but it's also rigid and delivers a responsive click, which makes touch-typing easier. Dell provides a touchpad and a pointing stick--the latter nestles between the G, H and B keys and has its own left and right mouse buttons just beneath the space bar.

The screen section is framed by an array of buttons that help you use the Latitude XT effectively in tablet mode. The main power button is here, along with a bank of four that access Outlook, initiate system log off and shutdown, rotate the screen and fire up a Dell applet for adjusting system features like the display, audio, power management and pen input.

All of these buttons need to be depressed quite a long way to have an effect, and the power button in particular needs to be pressed in and then held for a noticeable period before the system switches on or off. This takes a little getting used to, but does prevent accidental activation.

There's also a fingerprint sensor in the screen frame, along with a scroll wheel and back button on the upper right edge. These are for use in tablet mode only; with the XT in clamshell mode they are hidden under the keyboard-facing edge of the screen.

The screen's swivel hinge feels solid and robust, and if we have a complaint on this front, it's the locking system. This amounts to two small protrusions to the left and right of the keyboard section, which slot into recesses on the screen section when the laptop is closed and when it's in tablet mode. They make a stab at holding the LCD in position, but are rather half-hearted and no substitute for a proper locking system.

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