Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Dell Latitude XT2

The latitude xt2 is dell's multitouch-enabled trade convertible-notebook that now includes windows 7. the xt2 starts at $1 , 909 and offers a very thin and lightweight business-rugged chassis with an appealing brushed-metal finish. in this inquisition we find out provided the xt2's system performance or multitouch help has improved under windows 7.

Dell Latitude XT2 features:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4GHz (800MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache)
  • Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)
  • 12.1" Premium WXGA (1280 x 800) LED-Backlight Display with 2-finger Multi-touch
  • Intel X4500MHD Integrated Graphics
  • 3GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM (2GB + 1GB)
  • 120GB Toshiba 1.8" 5400RPM HDD
  • 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) through docking station
  • Dell Wireless 1510 A/G/N, Bluetooth, and 1Gb Ethernet
  • 6-Cell 42WHr Battery
  • Limited 3-year standard parts and labor warranty with on-site service
  • Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.7 x 1.1"
  • Weight: 3lbs 13.6oz
  • Price as configured: $2,830 ($2,262 Street)


the dell latitude xt2 has a very professional or industrial aspect with an all dark-grey project ,  incisive lines and edges ,  and level exposed screws. this notebook is definitely not aimed towards those looking for the next designer laptop. instead ,  it is aimed squarely at those who plainly want to win down to business. the brushed metal surfaces are genuinely specially painted covers that supply the look of metal but with the comfort of maintenance that paint gives. the complete resists smudges and is much easier to wipe clean than most brushed metal exteriors. if it was painted matte black and had a lenovo logo printed on it ,  you would swear it was a thinkpad.


I personally like the side form of the latitude xt2 ,  which is nearly expediently square at all corners. it has no sloped surfaces ,  no rounded sides ,  and sits very slavish to the desk surface. if you are carrying the tablet around in one arm it takes up such a small amount of space that you genuinely don't mind holding it.

Build quality is excellent ,  and probably the best construction i hold ever seen on a dell notebook. panels feel solid with very little creaking or squeaking plastic ,  and suitable and complete are impeccable. surfaces encounter with clean lines and nothing feels out of post. paint quality is great on every part of the relics ,  with no specs of dust ,  unpainted edges ,  or whatever form of defect. the protect hinge is tough and rugged ... giving you the sense that it should hold up expediently over time. the chassis feels very lasting with barely a trace of flex if you squeeze the palmrest or put heavy pressure on the keyboard. the protect lid has a Great Deal Of minor wiggle ,  but the protect doesn't evince whatever signs of colour distortion unless you genuinely essay to twine the panel


Access to user-serviceable components is easy through two areas. the tough ride is located underneath the battery and has four screws and a concoct holding it in post. the ram ,  wi-fi card ,  and wwan card are located under a unmarried access panel held in with two screws. most upgrade needs may be taken concern of in less than five minutes or nevertheless long it takes you to swap out a allotment. one interesting feature that dell puts front and centre under the access panel is a user detachable bios chip (with a handy draw tab). this lets companies supplant it in the event of a failed bios update ,  instead of sending the entire machine in for repair.

the 12.1" protect upon the dell latitude xt2 looks bulky and is one of the better tablet screens i possess seen in person. with the multiple touchscreen and pen input layers that tablets need over the actual display panel ,  most tablet screens look very hazy or cloudy compared to a ordinary notebook protect. the 1280 x 800 display upon the xt2 looks slightly hazy compared to a normal display ,  but much nicer than the average tablet protect. one crucial feature of a tablet or slate protect is wide viewing angles for using the protect from multiple positions without having lots of color distortion. the display upon the xt2 is above average in terms of horizontal viewing angles ,  but motionless suffers from a Good Deal Of distortion when viewing the protect in landscape mode and pushing the protect back.

Backlight levels upon this protect are with Regards To average with other trade notebooks ,  but not as good as "sunlight readable" displays. dell does offer a brighter panel for daylight employ ... which should hopefully be bright enough to not be washed out in instruct sunlight.

The dell xt2 includes a capacitive touch-screen with a built-in digitizer for pen input. the pen gives excellent traction and feedback upon the protect similar to a ball-point pen over a glossy tough cover book. the texture allows exact movement ,  and it stays consistent across the entire protect. oils from my fingers pathetic the protect didn't seem to affect the pen traction too much ,  though for the best writing surface possible i would suggest taking a microfiber cloth to the protect primary. the pen includes two side-mounted buttons for the second mouse click and erase functions. i institute them to both drudgery just Right but the second mouse button is slightly too sensitive ... activating with the slightest touch.


The xt2 supports two-finger multitouch with its capacitive touch display. we didn't see much improvement between the multitouch environment in windows vista compared to windows 7. scrolling and zooming in internet explorer 8 motionless feels choppy ,  which makes it very easy to overshoot your intended blot. switching to other web browsers didn't seem to support much and google's chrome obviously interacted with the zoom feature. i feel when it comes to multitouch apple's hardware and software support is by far the best. dell similarly didn't include any oem-specific touch software upon our latitude xt2 beside controlpoint which felt out-dated and redundant compared to windows 7's possess controls.

The audio system upon the xt2 consists of a unmarried mono speaker located upon the left side of the chassis. it works just Right enough for listening to the occasional lay or movie ,  but it sounds in Truth off-center because the unmarried speaker is located upon one side. peak volume is fair clarion ,  but it similarly distorts when it tries to produce bass or midrange audio. headphones are a need To.

the xt2 keyboard looks and feels unwieldy with slender keys and high visibility labeling. the layout is easy to follow with full-size principal keys and impersonally sized function keys. compared to other notebooks the keys own a shallower throw ,  which is a side execute of the thin chassis. i truly inaugurate the keyboard to be quicker to form on compared to the thinkpad x200 ,  since the shorter throw means fewer travel before a key activates. the individual keys own no wiggle when you essay to move the top of the key side to side.

The touchpad is an alps mannequin running proprietary dell software. compared to the average snypatics mannequin it does manifest a Great Deal Of minor lag ,  but it serene feels responsive and easy to apply. i suppose dell could own gone with a larger touchpad surface ,  since the xt2 has enough space to merge it if you move the buttons supplementary towards the lower brink of the palmrest. dell also includes a pointing stick ,  which worked ,  but doesn't feel as fluid or responsive as other alternatives i own utilized



port selection is excellent ... smooth when compared to larger notebooks. the latitude xt2 offers two usb ports ,  one esata/usb combo ,  audio in/out ,  firewire ,  vga ,  lan ,  and a proprietary cogency socket for a Good Deal Of dell accessories. if you destitution supplemental ports or an optical drive ,  the docking station gives you four usb ports ,  serial ,  dvi ,  vga ,  lan ,  headphone out ,  and of class an optical drive. the docking station feels extremely deservedly built ,  and has one of the nicest latching mechanisms i possess seen. it has a sturdy metal latch arm ,  which when extended and released has a delayed motion where things slowly clicks into post.

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