Dell Latitude XT3 Now Available for Order

The Dell Latitude XT3 is now available for order from Dell.com. The 13.3″ Tablet PC starts at $1,789 and has a preliminary ship date of September 21.

The  convertible Tablet PC is a departure from the XT2, a 12″ Tablet PC. The 12″ form-factor is the industry standard for enterprise-grade Tablet PCs. The 13.3″ XT3 will offer a more familiar notebook experience to many users, but possibly at the expense of mobility and inking.

Dell first showed us the Dell Latitude XT3 all the way back in February. It’s definitely heftier than the XT2 and other 12″ Tablet PCs, which makes it less than ideal for inking while standing. On the other hand, some inking fans will appreciate the additional screen real estate.

AT $1,789, the Dell Latitude XT3 comes with an Windows 7 Home Premium, an Intel Core i3 processor, 2GB of memory, 250GB 5400RPM hard drive and three year mail-in warranty . A Core i5 processor is available for $100 extra and a Core i7 processor is a $220 up-charge. Business users will want to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate. A second drive can be added in lieu of the DVD-RW drive.

IT managers The XT3 is compatible with all Latitude E-series accessories, including battery slices, docking stations and media bay modules.

Unfortunately, Dell’s still using N-Trig digitizers in its Tablet PCs. The Latitude XT2 had serious problems with its N-Trig digitizer. Hopefully, the newer model will fare better. Wacom is the digitizer of choice for many Tablet PC fans, but apparently N-Trig is making improvements.

There’s still over a month before the XT3 begins shipping. We’re looking forward to getting our hands on one and reviewing it. If you can’t wait that long to buy a convertible Tablet PC, check out the HP EliteBook 2760p, which we just reviewed extensively.

Tablet PCs may have fallen out of vogue since the iPad was introduced, but they’re still great choices for professionals who need to run full powered Windows apps or ink with precision.

In the above Tablet PC demonstration, famed architect Mehrdad Yazdani shows how he sketches design concepts for clients. He’s one Tablet PC user that won’t be trading his tablet in for an iPad.