The Dell XT Tablet PC Manual Dissected

Well, since Engadget linked to the Dell XT Tablet PC manual today, I’ve been doing a bit of dissecting to see what we can find out about this anticipated Tablet PC. Whatever I’ve missed, post as a comment. Here goes:

• There are two types of display options for the 12.1″ WXGA (1280 x 768 ) display: LCD backlit ( 220 nits ) or CCFL Dual-bulb LCD ( 400 nits ) for outdoor viewing
  • The CCFL Dual-bulb option comes with an ambient light sensor
• 1 gb of RAM on-board, max of 3 gb of ram
• support for 34-mm and 54-mm express cards via express card slot
• SD card support
• definitely multi-mode support through capacitive touch and active digitizer
• Dell likes to refer to the Tablet PC as a “Tablet-PC” – with the hyphen
• The WWAN antenna extends out the back, or whip’s out, as Dell describes it

• WWAN supports a SIM card that is accessible by removing the battery.
• Bluetooth card is user replaceable / installable
• The docking station / media base supports the following:
  • release lever
  • audio
  • VGA
  • serial
  • IEEE 1394
  • DVI
  • 3 USB, 1 being powered
  • ethernet

• There is a battery slice that can get charged through the docking connector, like the HP 2710p
• The pen has an eraser button, but does not have an eraser on the back of the pen
• Harddrive support for HDD and SSD. HDD is 4200 rpm
• Video controll is integrated AMD RS600 with up to 256 mb of shared video (512 mb + system memory )
• Weight
  • 3.57 lbs with 4 cell  battery LED config
  • 4.25 lbs with 6-cell battery / DLV config
  • Other dimensions:

  • Height:
    With LED backlit thin-and-light
    LCD
    With Dual-bulb CCFL LCD
    25.4 mm (1.0 inches) (system closed/LED
    standard configuration)
    29.85 mm (1.2 inches) (system closed/DLV
    standard configuration)
    Width 297.0 mm (11.7 inches)
    Depth 218.6 mm (8.6 inches)
    Weight 1.62 kg (3.57 lb) (with 4-cell battery/LED
    standard configuration)
    1.93 kg (4.25 lb) (with 6-cell battery/DLV
    standard configuration)

• Physical screen rotates 180 degrees one way.
• Display rotates in portrait primary / secondary and landscape primary / secondary
• There are built-in scroll buttons on the back of the screen, which would be quite useful in tablet mode and out of the way. The scroll button and the back button can be reassigned to do other functions as well.
  • Here is how you work the scroll ( the button on the right ) and the Back button ( on the left )

    Using the Scroll Control
    • To scroll through a list of items or a set of pages one at a time, shift the
    scroll control up or down and release. The control automatically returns to
    the center/neutral position when released.
    • To rapidly scroll through a list of items or a set of pages, shift the control
    up or down and hold it, releasing it when you wish to stop scrolling.
    • To select objects, press and release the scroll control when it is in the
    center/neutral position.
    • To launch context sensitive menus, press and hold the scroll control until a
    complete circle is drawn on the display, and then release. This is equivalent
    to clicking the right mouse button on a notebook computer.
    Using the Back Button
    Use the back button, located adjacent to the scroll control, to move backward
    in applications that support navigation, such as web browsers and Windows
    Explorer, and to close the active window.
    • To move backward, press and release the back button.
    • To close the active window, press and hold the back button.
    • To customize the back button behavior, use the Tablet and Pen Settings

• There are two buttons that are configurable on the front of the screen – the Quick Set button and the Email launch button. The other two buttons are the security / Ctl-Alt-Delete, and the Rotate.
• That gives four buttons that are configurable / reassignable: email, quickset, scroll, and back.
• The pen garage features a LED that will display if the pen is out of hte garage when the tablet goes into sleep, shutdown, or hibernate. From the manual:

  If the pen is not in its compartment when the Tablet-PC shuts down or enters
  sleep or hibernate mode, the pen indicator LED blinks slowly to remind you
  to replace the pen in the compartment. The behavior of the pen indicator
  LED can be enabled or disabled through the QuickSet tablet settings
  application
• The pen ships with two types of nibs – a hard nib to simulate a ball-point pen, and a soft nib to simulate a felt tip pen.