Dude, you're getting a tablet PC. That could be the ad tagline for the Latitude XT, Dell's first tablet. The company described it as ""the industry's only sub-four-pound convertible tablet with pen and capacitive touch capability.""

Dell is emphasizing the quality of its tablet's touch technology, noting that most tablets use resistive touch, which requires more pressure for an input to be recognized and can be less accurate or durable than capacitive touch.
""Until now,"" said Dell Product Group Director Margaret Franco, ""customers have been forced to make tradeoffs in tablet functionality to have usable systems."" But the XT's capacitive technology, she said, allows users to get more done, more quickly and more precisely.
Capacitive technology does not require pressure because the technology recognizes a finger touch.
The model has ""advanced digital palm rejection,"" so that, if the rest of your hand gets in the way of your finger, the XT recognizes your intended input. And the touch response time, according to Dell, is up to 10 times faster than other tablets, such as the Lenovo X61T.
The XT features Core 2 Solo and Duo low-voltage processors, ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics, a full-size keyboard, up to 9.5 hours of battery life, and an optional media base for docking and optical media.
The tablet is available with a solid state drive or a standard hard disk. Prices start at $2,499.
Tablets 'more of a play'
Doug Bell, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, said that tablet PCs are ""becoming more of a play"" for vendors, as they become more common for consumer and business users. HP, for example, came out with a tablet last year, he noted, and on Monday Toshiba announced its first tablets with LED screens.
""Most of the high-profile vendors are releasing tablets,"" he said, as the market goes from about 2.5 million units shipped last year to about 12 million units by 2011, or about 6.3 percent of the market for notebook PCs.
Tablet PCs first started catching on with users in vertical business markets, he noted, such as meter-readers who needed a portable device on which to quickly input and see data while standing. For those kinds of users, he said, tablets' touch-and pen-inputs still have the most value.
But new markets are opening up, he said, most notably in the higher education sector where there is what Bell described as ""a lot of growth opportunity."" Students also become a channel for demonstrating the technology, he said, when they show the units back home.
Tablet technology likely will continue to evolve, possibly toward the multitouch interface that the iPhone has made famous, where two fingers can be used for zooming.
Capacitive technology is used for the iPhone's multitouch, and Bell said he expected that kind of interface eventually to emerge for tablets.
(Source: newsfactor.com)