Dell Latitude XT Review - Part 2
Following on from Part 1 of my Dell Latitude XT review 
Initial Startup
Dell, as with all the other OEMs, image their Laptops & Desktops with your choice of Windows (or Linux in some cases), there own software applications and then an anti-virus program. Dell have done a good job with the Image for the XT, it is bloatware free and comes without an anti-virus pre-installed. I have a volume licence for ESET's NOD32 anti-virus software, so I prefer the new system to come without an anti-virus.
When I turned the XT on, it booted into the last stage of the Windows Vista setup. All I had to do was create a user & password, name the computer, choose my Windows Update settings and confirm my location then hit start. After this Vista checks the performance of the PC and boots into windows. Overall from turning the XT on to seeing the Windows Welcome Screen, it took less that 10mins.
Included software
Dell includes Roxio Media Creator 9, CyberLink PowerDVD, Office OneNote 2007 (must have program for all Tablet PC/UMPC users), Wave Security Software, Dell WLAN Utility and Dell's QuickStart application. The install also included all of the Windows Updates up until December 07!!
After installing NOD32, running Windows Update and installing my other regular software (Office 2007, VS2008, Windows Live Suite, Windows Home Server Connector) the XT had been running for around 2 hours. One problem I have come across is with the Wave Security Software, for some reason it keeps running on startup forcing the UAC screen to appear every time I reboot. On top of that it wouldn't remember my fingerprint!! So I've now uninstalled the Wave Security Suite and the XT seems faster :-)
Typing, Inking and Touching!
One of the best feature, if not the best, is the dual touch/pen input. I am a huge fan of Tablet computing and have been using Tablet PCs near exclusively (except for my desktop) for over 14months. The XT comes with the N-trig Active Digitiser, not the Wacom AD which is more common among the other Tablet PCs.
After Inking on the XT for a while I was very impressed, it has been the best Inking experience that I have ever had on a Tablet PC. The new Tablet PC features that were built into Vista make the Inking experience even better. I commonly find myself with a meeting Agenda in MS Word that i copy over to OneNote 07 and write notes directly on my Agenda. Having the ability to review policies and other documents and Ink notes directly onto the document is a huge plus for me.
The major advantage of the XT is the Capacitive Touch, similar to that of the iPhone , although this will require an update at a later stage (latest estimate is August 08). I cant wait for these drivers to be released :-)!!
Typing on the XT is fantastic, the keys are very responsive and it is quite easy for me to touch type. The XT also features a backlit keyboard, trackball and small trackpad. The only problem I have had with typing on the XT is that occasionally my hand brushes the trackpad and moves the cursor whilst I'm typing and i loose my place, not a major problem, but can get very annoying after a while.
In the final part of my review I will take you through some system customisation that I do on all my Tablet PCs and UMPCs, upgrading to Vista SP1 and more on performance!
