Dell is working on its first design for a tablet PC

Dell is working on its first design for a tablet PC, which will be called the Latitude XT.

The XT will be based on Intel's Santa Rosa platform and will almost certainly have a 12.1-inch screen. It will take a convertible form, which means it will be a notebook computer with a screen that can be twisted around to create a touchscreen slate.

Eric Greffier, the company's director of client marketing for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, told ZDNet UK that Dell's delayed entry into the tablet market was timely. "Historically, I do not believe there has been a market for [tablet PCs]," he said. "The convertible format is recent. All three form factors [slate, convertible and hybrid] have been fighting in a small market, and it is clearer now that convertible is the format."

Greffier also suggested that the inherent tablet PC support and enhanced handwriting recognition included with Windows Vista made the form factor more attractive, as users would in the past have had the added cost of buying the Tablet PC Edition of Windows XP.

"We wanted to wait for Vista and the Santa Rosa [Centrino Pro] ultra-low voltage platform," he added, suggesting that the new platform's enhanced power management made it possible to "have enough brightness at the LCD level" to make the tablet usable outdoors without overly compromising battery life.

Tablet PCs have been available in one form or another since the late 1980s, but became more mainstream with the introduction of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in 2002. They have traditionally been used in a small number of vertical markets, notably healthcare, where the ability to write on a screen while walking is often seen as particularly advantageous. Most computer manufacturers have been selling tablets for a while, but Dell has held out.

Dell plans to reveal more details regarding the tablet later in the year.

GBM Podcast #17: The Technical Difficulties Show
Gotta Be Mobile

Suffice it to say though, that we’re back with another GBM Audio Inkshow with lots of Tablet PC and UMPC goodness to talk about. Not only that, Hugo’s back from CeBit Australia, and Dennis and Warner grill him on what mobile gadgets he saw and didn’t see and much more. And yes, we are still flirting with getting in trouble with PETA.

Download or listen to this GBM Podcast here 

Gateway E-155C Tablet PC Review

Tablet PC Reviews

Tablet PC Features

The E-155C is pleasant to work with in Tablet mode, the active Wacom enabled pen works very well, on par with the much touted Lenovo X60 tablet PC. Writing feels really quite natural, close to the true paper and pen experience. One dissapointment is that the screen doesn't automatically orientate itself with the user when rotated into tablet mode, this has to be done using the screen rotate button that's on the screen. This falls far short of the X60 Tablet PC that has a built-in accelerometer to detect the orientation of the device and rotate to face the "right way up" based on how the user is holding it. The E-155C runs Vista Ultimate in which the Tablet PC features are built-into the OS -- it's a nicer Tablet PC OS implementation than XP was.

RCS students receive Tablet PCs

Rogersville Review

It was hard to tell who was more excited about the arrival of Fujitsu Tablet PCs at Rogersville City School, the students or school personnel.

The Fujitsu T4215 Lifebook units, distributed to 55 staff members in early April, were officially presented to approximately 214 students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades Thursday morning.

“This is the day we have been waiting for all year,” Director of Schools Ravan Krickbaum said. “This is the day the latest in technology comes to students at Rogersville City School and we are so proud.”

School officials had originally entered into a lease/purchase agreement to distribute Gateway Tablet PCs at the start of the 2006-07 school year. That lease was terminated and new bids solicited in February because of maintenance concerns.

“I know we are at the end of the school year and we had planned to do this a lot sooner but we are very excited this implementation is taking place today,” Brandy Shelton, RCS Technology Director said. “We are not looking at this as having only a few weeks left in the school year. We are looking at this as an opportunity to see how much we can accomplish in this month.”

The initiative, dubbed Project SM@RT (Success Matters At Rogersville Tennessee), will assign a Tablet PC to each student for use in the classroom during the school year.

In addition to the units, the building and on the surrounding grounds have been equipped with wireless technology.

“This is something unique and very special. As far as I know, this is the first one-to-one initiative of its kind in the entire state of Tennessee,” said Dennis Holmes of Outsource, the Kingsport-based firm that installed the wireless technology.

According to Shelton, the Tablet PC units, unlike traditional laptop computers, can be configured so the user can “write” on the screen.



“A wireless projector has been installed in every classroom. With this technology, a teacher will be able to roam around the room freely with a Tablet without being tethered, work on it and it basically becomes an electronic chalkboard,” the technology director said.

The wireless technology will allow teachers to send students their assignments directly to the individual student Tablet PCs and the students will be able to complete the assignments and e-mail them back to the teachers.

“From receiving your assignment, to completing it, to submitting it — the process will be paperless,” Shelton said.

Shelton also predicted Tablet PCs will eventually become standard equipment in every classroom and could replace the traditional textbook.

GottaBeMobile Hardware InkShow: The Gateway E155C Convertible ...
Gotta Be Mobile

Gateway’s newest Convertible Tablet PC, the E155C, is one that I predict, if Gateway follows its previous marketing strategies for the M280/285, will become a very popular choice, especially among first time Tablet PC buyers. Aiming at the student and professional markets, this solidly designed Core 2 Duo Multi-Touch Tablet PC has a lot to offer.

I’m particularly impressed with the implementation of the Multi-Touch screen and very glad to see that Gateway has decided to once again embrace Wacom technology for the digitizer and the pen. It works as advertised and does so quite well. In my opinion the Inking experience is top notch. I’m also very impressed with the brightness of the backlit screen, (even though it causes some interesting lighting effects in the filming of the InkShow.) I did check out the screen in sunlight (although not shown in this InkShow) and it is indeed very readable in sunlight.

Watch or download the High Res version  (29:46 minutes, 227mb, Windows Media streaming or direct download)

Check out more on the Gateway E155C Convertible Tablet