- Warner Crocker

Engadget is reporting that info and pics have leaked on Dell’s bid for stuffing a laptop into a manilla envelope. There are some pictures and some specs on three models of Inspiron machines: the 1435, 1535, and 1735. No word on weight I can find in these early leaks, but the dimensions look like 1 inch tapering up to 1.5 inches. And they also look like there will be a range of colors to choose from. The 1535 is listed as due out in May, the 1735 in June and the 1435 not until October. I’m wondering if Dell will do something like send the manila envelope through a paper shredder, or just whip out the buzz saw.

 

- Warner Crocker

DailyTech is reporting that Intel will face a shortage of the Atom chipset possibly extending into Q3 of 2008. Apparently demand from Asus with their Eee PC line and the “I want to be like Asus” club is quite heavy. Asus’ CEO is quoted in the article as saying,

“Unlike our competitors, we use both Intel Atom processors and Intel Celeron M processors, so this will give us a stronger advantage in guaranteeing shipments"

 

Of course the article mentions that this could be an opening for VIA and their Isiah chipset. The article also links to this info about Dell’s entry into the ULCPC market.

 

- Rob Bushway

In this interview with Brett McAnally, Dell's Director of Business Notebooks, we talk about the launch of the Latitude XT Tablet PC, choosing N-Trig as its digitizing partner, the potential for an Inspiron / Vostro type of Tablet, and more. Enjoy!

Brett, thank you for the opportunity to talk about Dell’s Latitude XT. It has been four months since the release of the Latitude XT. How has the response been in your target market?

We’re really pleased with the response so far.  Thankfully, the feedback has confirmed what we expected, that usability is really valued, whether it be in the form of small size/weight, bright panels and multiple input options- especially touch. We’re getting great tips on what is good and what needs work for next time – it’s a learning process and there’s lots to do as we want to improve, but at least we’re hearing that we’re off to a good start.

- Rob Bushway

A GBM reader just passed along a great tip for those interested in buying a Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC: Go Refurb!

He just picked up a 1.2 ghz, LED, Vista Business, 120 gb hard drive, 1gb RAM XT for $1535 (including shipping and Media Base ).  Head over there now and check out the inventory. You can save some big money.

Use this coupon code: S14NHZ$JG?3$0R to save an additional 15% off those refurb prices. I'm not sure how long the coupon code will last, but it is a fantastic deal.

- Rob Bushway

This past week proved to be quite the test for how well the Latitude XT was going to hold up to some rigorous mobile usage. I'm pleased to say that it held up quite well and is still proving to be a great Tablet PC. Here are some notes from using it during the MVP summit the past week:

• Many of Microsoft's Tablet PC folks were using the LED version of the Latitude XT. There is a clear difference in thickness and weight between the LED and DLV version. The LED is significantly lighter and thinner. In hindsight, I probably should have purchased the LED version. I dont' think the added viewability was worth the extra weight and thickness.
• The battery life held up pretty well - about 2.5 - 3 hours using Dell's Recommended profile. Under Power Saver, I was getting 4+ hours. I was getting 7 + hours on the extended battery using the Recommended profile. Because of the added weight and thickness, though, I hardly ever used the extended battery.
• The replacement screen has proven to be a very good thing. I hardly ever notice the grid.
• I had my pen replaced due to some accidental discharges when in hover mode. The new pen is working like a charm
• The only bad angle on the DLV screen is when viewed under the Dell logo.
• I only carried the Tom Bihn Ristretto Messenger bag all week. Along with the power adapter, some pouches for my wallet and cables, my phone, the extended battery, and the Latitude XT, I had everything I needed. It is amazing how much can fit in that small bag. Stay tuned for an InkShow on the Ristretto - it is a very, very nice bag and a great solution for the the Latitude XT.
• The low profile 45 watt adapter for the XT is the best mobile ac adapter I've ever used. It is light and takes up very little space in a bag
• Inking and touching continues to be a great experience on the Latitude XT. I'm still using Auto Mode and prefer it as the default touch setting.
• With the great touch experience, I'm learning to use the flick gestures a lot more. I found myself in portrait mode a lot more than usual this past week, and the flick gestures worked great. They could still use some interactive feedback improvement, but are often a much-overlooked feature of Vista.
• Getting the N-Trig / OneNote bug fixed was a very good thing. It helped a lot with my notetaking during meetings. However, I found myself in InkSeine, EverNote, and OneNote periodically throughout the week. My favorite notetaking destination when portrait: InkSeine. My favorite when in landscape: EverNote.
• Keyboarding on the XT is very nice. Not quite as good of an experience as the Lenovo X61, but still quite good.
• When using an SD card in the XT, the card sticks out much further than other tablets I've used, and is prone to accidentally eject when the tablet is placed in a bag with the card still inserted. Other tablets have the card seated flush with the casing, which I prefer.
• I love having USB ports on all three sides of the XT. This allows me to use my EV-DO modem to accommodate any direction I'm holding the Tablet. That flexibility is a huge plus for mobile tablet users.
• Rotating between landscape and portrait is very, very quick. It isn't instant, but it is the quickest rotation I've used on any tablet pc.
• The experience is the smoothest and least troublesome I've used yet. I have yet to experience one of those well known Vista docking / monitor issues. In addition, I have no trouble going in to sleep mode after docking. Like I said, it is smooth, trouble-free, and it just works.
• I have found the pen to be comfortable to write with, and well balanced.
• There are no accidental discharges with this pen, which I really like. HP's 2710p pen is prone to accidental discharge all the time.
• I miss the eraser head on the pen. I think Dell should make that a priority enhancement for current and future XT's. It is just natural to have an eraser head on pens, they are standard on almost all other pens, and Dell's should have one, too.
• I absolutely love the page scroll buttons on the side of the screen. It is the perfect location for web browsing while in portrait mode. Getting a chance to play with the 2710p again this week made me really appreciate the Latitude XT on screen buttons and page scroller on the side of the tablet. Well done.
• Picking up on a comment from my meeting with Ken Hinckley, I'd love to see Dell place some more buttons on the top left and right of the screen. This would allow someone to assign Ctrl actions to the buttons to use while also inking with the other hand in portrait mode - dual hand mode support!

Even with all the above notes on well the Latitude XT is working out for me and how much I appreciate the way Dell designed the XT, I have not found a compelling reason to tell people why they should spend the extra money for a Latitude XT over say HP's 2710p, HP's TX2051z, Fujitsu's T2010, Toshiba's M700, Lenovo's X61, and others. Sure, there are many areas in which the experience is as good or better. For what I do and the areas I'm interested in testing from a natural input perspective, the Latitude XT represents a good purchase for me. However, for monetary reasons vs features / benefits, a person would be wise to look at other choices until Dell brings the price more inline with their competitors. The price needs to be inline with HP's 2710p for me to recommend it to anyone, even with the additional features and touch enhancements.

My thoughts on the above alternative choices:

• Most bang-for-the-buck performance Tablet PC: Toshiba M700
• Best slate-like convertible Tablet PC: HP 2710p.
• Best over-all convertible Tablet PC for the business user: Lenovo X61.
• Best media-centric Tablet PC: HP tx2051z

 

- Rob Bushway

A bug irritating lots Latitude XT Tablet PC owners has been picking up quite a bit of steam in our forums (here and here). It revolves around some problems navigating OneNote notebooks, click tabs, and various windows within Outlook.

Jason and Ilya, some OneNote developers, got a hold of a Latitude XT and decided to find out what was causing this strange behavior. It turns out that it revolves around the N-Trig applet and some registry settings the application sets.

Fortunately there is a fix, which you can read about here on Daniel Escapa's blog, and follow below. Daniel tells us that Microsoft and Dell are in communication regarding this issue.

Be sure to back up your registry before making any modifications!

1. Click Start, Run, type regedit, and click ok (acknowledge the Vista UAC prompt if it comes up).
2. In the registry editor, navigate to "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop"
3. Locate the DragHeight and DragWidth values in the right hand pane
4. Select the DragHeight value, click the Edit menu, and select Modify (you can double click as well to modify)
5. In the Value Data field, type 4 and click ok. IMPORTANT! You need to do this step even if the registry editor already shows the value as 4!
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the DragWidth field.
7. Logoff or reboot your computer.

Many thanks to forum member rjo for passing this along.

- Matt Faulkner

Every year Engadget puts up their "Year End" Awards.  The list was compiled from over 150 gadgets and technologies that were released during the 2007 calendar year. Two exceptions were made for Vista and the Foleo, because of popular demand, so they could be nominees for worst gadget of the year.  This year, like in years past, Tablet PC's are included in that survey and for 2007 the big winners are:

Tablet PC of the Year
Readers' Choice: Lenovo X61T

Tablet PC of the Year
Editors' Choice: Dell Latitude XT

Head over to Engadget for the full list of results.

- Warner Crocker

Last night a few friends and fellow Tablet PC MVPs swung by GBM headquarters in Seattle, and of course everyone was checking out some of the hardware we are lugging around for the MVP Summit. There was a lot of interest in Rob’s Dell XT certainly, although some found it surprsingly heavy to hold. But the real head turner of the evening was the HP tx2051. With a price point fully loaded coming in around $1700 and both an excellent touch screen and an active digitizer that allows for great Inking, this new model from HP is really catching folks attention.

 

 

- Rob Bushway

The replacement screen for my Dell Latitude XT arrived today. I was quite hopeful that it would address the gridding issue I've been talking about.

I am pleased to report that the new screen is quite the success. I do not see near the amount of grid that I previously saw. It is now only visible when the screen is off or very dim. Even when it is off, it is nowhere near as visible as it was before. Under normal brightness and working under fluorescent lighting, it is practically invisible. On the old screen, under the same conditions, all it took was a slight tilt of my head and I could see it.

Needless to say, I'm very, very pleased. So much so, that any thoughts of returning it have vanished.

This was the technician's first time working on a Latitude XT and he remarked at well it was built compared to other notebooks he's worked on. We worked together to figure out how best to take it apart and put it back together.

While the technician was here, I took the liberty of photographing the process. You'll get to see the XT as never seen before. Follow the Read More link for the complete unveiling.

- Rob Bushway

Dell's entry in to the Tablet PC space was a highly anticipated one. Being so late to the game, they needed something to set themselves apart from their competition. That differentiator is the N-Trig digitizer allowing for capacitive touch + ink with the promise for multi-touch.

So how did they do with the Latitude XT Tablet PC? In my opinion, it the best touch + pen experience on the market. It is smooth, soft, and accurate, allowing for a more intuitive user experience than currently available in passive or other dual-mode offerings.

In this InkShow, I focus on the pen and touch experience of the Latitude XT, demoing the various input modes, as well as comparing it to the Lenovo X61 Multi-Mode touch Tablet PC. Stay tuned for more upcoming InkShows on the Latitude XT where I cover the various features more indepth, the software, accessories, and more.

• Download the high res version here (30:29, 225 mb )
• Watch the embedded version below
• Watch the Unboxing here.
• Visit Dell.com for more info
• Visit N-Trig.com

 

 

 

All GBM InkShows and Podcasts are sponsored by TechSmith.

 

- Rob Bushway

According to this story at RegHardware, Dell is preparing to go head to head with Asus and HP by releasing an Ultra Low-Cost PC in the June timeframe, which raises the possibility of Intel Atom chipset. Other specs are unknown

RegHardware's source, an executive at Compal, which is Dell's manufacturing partner in Taiwan, says Compal is aiming to produce upwards of 300,000 of these low cost machines per month for Dell.

I asked Dell for a comment on this story, and as expected, they said they couldn't. At least they didn't deny it or say it was totally out of left field.

Treat this with a grain of rumor salt until we actually see some specs or a product. Thanks for the link, Gavin.

UPDATE: Apparently, Michael Dell is confirming this report via an article in Mercury News, saying, "We will introduce a similar laptop." 

"We do see opportunities for very interesting products that are smaller and lighter and address the more mobile users in a very cost-effective way," he said, adding the laptops would "fit into the category" of targeting a market for children.

and

"Stay tuned," Dell said. "We will have some interesting products coming in that space over the next two quarters."

- Rob Bushway

I've been working with Dell some more on this gridding issue from last week. Dell feels that there is something physically wrong with my screen. I should not be seeing as much of the underlying grid as I am. In fact, as I'm typing this post up there is a window to my back with the sun shining in - the grid is very visible.

So, Dell is sending out a replacement screen which should be here tomorrow or Thursday. As is standard practice, a service tech will come by to install it. So, I should know pretty quickly if my old screen was out of whack.

I've also been posting other items that have reared up over in the Dell forum. Most of the problems look like driver issues. For example, if I reboot my tablet while docked and have an external monitor set as my primary monitor, an N-Trig error dialog box will display upon start up. This does not happen on normal boot. Another issue is some weird pen behavior that shows up intermittently.

InkShow production is in progress. Stay tuned. I hope to have my first one posted sometime tomorrow. It'll be a focus on the pen, ink, and touch.

- Rob Bushway

Another feature in which the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC shows off it edge is with this nifty little feature: Resume On Pen Removal

It works quite simple: when in Stand-By or Hibernate mode, ejecting the pen will wake the system up. I like Dell's approach a lot: they put the focus on the pen. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is a subtle shift in thinking about how to approach interaction with a Tablet PC.

N-Trig's Auto-Mode implementation follows the same design philosophy on the XT: to begin using touch, just touch the screen twice, and touch will activate. To begin writing again, just bring the pen to the screen, and the pen will take over again It is instinctive and natural. No hardware button pushes to get in the way of how you interact with the Tablet PC.

Another area in which Dell thought about user experience was the scroll wheel on the side of the screen. It is the perfect location for scrolling pages while in portrait mode.

I really appreciate companies who approach design like that. It means they "get" Tablet and are focused on the whole experience of pen, touch, writing, launching applications, scrolling, and more.

Stay tuned later this week for a series of InkShows on the Latitude XT, as I delve into these areas and more.

- Rob Bushway

So, I've been talking with a Dell representative this morning on this Latitude XT / N-Trig gridding issue.

Dell confirmed to me that it is a result of the capacitive touch digitizer technology; and, the grid is viewable when off, dim, viewed at different angles, and sometimes under fluorescent lighting. When operating under normal brightness settings, though, it is not easily viewable (I agree). Apparently, it is even less viewable with the LED screen. As Steve eloquently pointed out and Dell confirmed, it is a trade off of having the capacitive touch technology, and is a design issue.

The Dell rep told me that they ultimately want me to be happy with the technology purchase; and if I'm not happy, then they would work out whatever they needed to do: trade in for the LED model or do a refund. In addition, I have up to a month to decide. You don't see that being offered very much in this industry.

Thanks to Dell's generous return policy, I'm going to push through and see if I can get to the point of it being a non-issue. I may ultimately go the LED route since the grid is apparently less visible.

In the end, I need to decide if the XT and the superior capacitive touch experience is worth the intermittent visual disruption. Thankfully, I have some time to decide. I'll keep everyone up to date on my progress.

Hopefully, this whole process will help our readers work through the known issues of the XT before deciding for themselves if the XT is for them.

- Rob Bushway

Yesterday, I posted about my disappointment with the grid issue on my Latitude XT Tablet PC. Steve Seto, a Tablet PC MVP and frequent GBM Contributing Writer, has penned this counter-point article on the whole gridding issue. His insights are quite helpful given that he is also a Latitude XT owner. He offers another view point in bringing some good balance to this issue.

- Steve Seto

Rob has raised the issue of visible “gridding” on the screen of the Dell Latitude XT. It bothers him a lot. By contrast, it doesn’t bother me at all, and I thought that another perspective about this might be helpful to our community.

I want to begin by saying that I have nothing to do with N-trig or Dell and I wouldn’t recognize Len Englehardt if I bumped into him at the mall. What I bring to this discussion is almost 40 years of engineering experience, some significant part of which was devoted to conductive coatings on transparencies. For this reason, I think I understand some of what N-trig had to cope with when they designed their DuoSense digitizer. However, this discussion is based solely on my experience.

To be as brief as possible, there are at least a few technologies that one could consider if one wanted to make a pen- and touch-sensitive screen. Some of them would allow you to have a completely clear LCD screen (for example, think of a lattice-work of infrared beams immediately above the surface of the screen), but may have failings that make them unsuitable for mobile tablet use; too bulky, too heavy, overcome by sunlight, too energy-hungry… I could go on.

So the set of practical technologies that one has to choose from are somewhat more limited. One obvious approach is to integrate a sensing grid into the tablet display. If you want touch, that sensing grid probably needs to go over the front of the screen… and that means the design needs to consider relative transparency. How are you going to see through the sensing grid to see the LCD screen beneath?

Well, you can use a grid of very fine wires. Some bank ATM touch screens use this approach. But the wires are relatively easy to see and probably wouldn’t be acceptable to folks like us. Instead of wires, how about a conductive coating that’s transparent? You can do that, too! But the practical materials that are available, such as gold, enhanced gold and indium-tin oxide (ITO), all involve various compromises. First, none of them are truly transparent; just relatively transparent. Second, each of them introduces some degree of color change to the transmitted (and reflected) light. Gold, for example imparts a vague green tinge to transmitted light. And then there are a bunch of other issues like durability and compatibility that we’ll skip over. The point is, there are compromises involved in the technologies that we all love.

The bottom line is that if you choose a technical approach as described above, it is unrealistic to expect that it will be completely invisible. The best you can do is to make the visual issues as minimal as you can. I think that’s what Dell and N-trig have attempted to do, and I think they’ve been pretty successful. The gridding on the XT is visible. But the user can adjust the screen brightness to minimize this visibility, and that’s a reasonable design compromise. In the meantime, technology will continue to move on, and maybe Wacom or someone will figure out a better way, but for now N-trig is here and real and from an engineer’s point of view, I think they have done a good job.

Of course, beauty is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. This screen grid issue is simply one more factor that you should consider if you are interested in products that incorporate the DuoSense digitizer.

- Rob Bushway

I have to say, I've been quite impressed and pleased with the Latitude XT. Everything, except for the weight and thickness due to the DLV option, has been exactly what I expected - except for the screen, and that has been a big disappointment to me.

I mentioned in my unboxing InkShow video that there was a graph paper type of grid, with an almost orange type of tone, on the screen, that is apparently the N-Trig digitizer. I don't recall seeing a grid like that on any other tablet pc, except for maybe when I tested an early prototype of Motion Computing's LE1700 WriteTouch, which also used the N-Trig digitizer.

The grid is clearly viewable when the screen is off, dim, or when viewed at different angles. It is not readily viewable when the brightness of the screen is turned up medium to high. It bugs me because I'm not used to seeing something like that on the screen, and it shows up at all types angles (imagine holding the tablet in portrait mode, for example). I've tried to capture it on camera, but it is very hard to photograph. I'm going to try and capture it on video when I do my detailed InkShow. If I didn't like the XT so much, it would almost be enough for me to request a refund or a replacement unit if this in fact a defect. I'm teetering back and forth on that decision right now. It is that much of distraction that I would almost call it a defect. What I want is a clear screen, and I don't want to be distracted by this grid layer that shows itself at various angles and at various brightness levels. I could see this really bothering someone who worked outdoors because that is when the screen is normally dim.

I'll be contacting Dell Tech Support and N-Trig tomorrow to determine if this issue is related to the DLV option only, or if it is an issue with both models (DLV and LED). If it is DLV only, I'll be requesting the LED model instead. If it not, we'll see....

What is quite odd is that when I spoke with Dell Tech Support yesterday about the grid issue, he knew the issue I was talking about and said "Yes, that is the digitizer", like it has been brought up before. Based on comments I'm reading, it doesn't sound like the LED screens have this issue. Guess I'll find out for sure tomorrow. Bottom line - I don't like it and if this it the way they come, I'll be returning it.

The below pictures are my best attempt at capturing this grid. Click them to view higher res shots. I'll try to get some clearer pictures tonight or tomorrow.

- Rob Bushway

The HP 2710p and the Dell Latitude XT are two very similar Tablet PCs.

Paul Kennedy, a GBM forum member, is going to be doing some side by side comparisons between the two machines as he has his hands on both of them! This should be an awesome comparison.

While we wait for Paul to start posting those comps up, I thought I'd offer up my own opinions, since I've also used the 2710p before and am currently using the Latitude XT. Don't view the fact that I've listed more XT feature improvements than 2710p feature improvements that the XT is better. It depends on your need and own desires. View this list as just a helpful comparison from someone who has used both Tablet PCs. I'm sure there are more differences, and I'd welcome others opinions.

I have not used the Fujitsu T2010 enough to do the following comparison to the Latitude XT, but you can review this chart where I compared the 2710p to the T2010 and come up with your own conclusions.

- Rob Bushway

In my interview with N-Trig's Lenny Englehardt, we talked about the different modes that the N-Trig digitizer supports: pen only, touch only, Auto Mode, and Dual Mode. The Latitude XT ships with Dual Mode as the default, which  allows you to use your pen or touch without having to manually switch between the two. The pen takes precedence, though.

I've been giving Dual Mode a fair shot today, and while I have not experienced any vectoring issues during handwriting, I have found my hand accidentally activating things while the pen was lifted momentarily during writing. These are things like system tray icons, the clock, etc. So, I began looking for a way to switch to Auto Mode, which allows you to turn on touch temporarily until you bring the pen back to the screen. So I activated the N-Trig Tablet Settings icon in the system tray and activated Auto Mode. The problem I ran into, though, was that I couldn't figure out how to activate the switching gesture that the N-Trig Tablet Settings dialog box tells you about. It tells you to activate the switching gesture to switch from pen to touch, but it doesn't bother telling you what that switching gesture is.

I remembered in my interview, thought, Mr. Englehardt mentioning that Auto Mode being activated by double tapping the screen with your finger. I did the double tap, and it worked just as described. Since most people will not think to look up that interview to figure out how to activate the switching gesture, it'd be a good idea for Dell or N-Trig to include that little bit of information on that dialog box.

By the way, I much prefer Auto Mode over Dual Mode. I'm getting zero interference from my hand, and I'm able to quickly activate touch whenever I want, and quickly turn it off by bringing the pen to the screen. Pretty darn cool and well designed.

 

- Rob Bushway

Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC owners have been noticing that Vista SP 1 has been strangely absent from Windows Update. I talked to Dell Tech Support about this, as did Steve Seto, and this is what we've learned from our Dell tech support rep ( who has been working like a laser beam in tracking down this issue for us):

Ok so I talked this one over with a few guys in the lab and I think I’ve found out why you’ve been unable to install SP1 on your XT.  Essentially, they were able to get it on the one in the lab and found that once SP1 was installed, the system then failed to boot back into Vista.  So it appears that for the moment there is something incompatible between SP1 and the XT.  We have not received word on what exactly is the culprit.  I will keep my ears open for any alerts and updates we receive and inform you of them as soon as possible.

As soon as we get an update from the on the SP 1 issue, we'll update everyone. Until then, we advise all XT owners to avoid SP 1, even if you have it available through MSDN.

Discuss this issue, and other Dell Latitude XT issues, in our Dell forums

- Rob Bushway

I'm well in to day 1 with my Dell Latitude XT and I've uncovered my first problem - the power cord. Fortunately, a quick phone call to Dell Tech Support resolved the issue and they are sending out a replacement power cord next day, free of charge.