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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
TomLip
Location:
Global business traveler
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
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Title: Best notebook computer in 20+ years!
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Date: October 28, 2009
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Review:I’ve had the XT2 for a month. My verdict = the best notebook computer I’ve ever owned in over 20 years of on-the-road, around-the-world, hardcore notebook computing.
I’m an international lawyer. I travel constantly. I was an early adopter of pen computing (I owned a pen-based notebook called a GRiD in the early 1990’s) to write notes by hand on my screen and not drag piles of paper notes around, yet still have a real keyboard.
When convertible tablet PC’s re-appeared, I followed them closely. I then bought the XT2 because it finally offered the right combination of features.
Pros:
Pen input (for note-taking) with a quality keyboard (for typing), combined with a capacitive touchscreen (for navigation on a moving plane or train). Add to that a solid state hard drive, because travel destroys a hard drives' moving parts.
Lenovo tablets don’t fit easily into briefcases because of their odd shapes, and have interfaces unsuitable for bumpy plane rides.
The XT2 has the multi-touch screen AND a sleeker exterior form.
The best part? I didn't pay full price. I bought it from the Dell Outlet Store. I just called ‘em up and got fantastic support from Frank and Sandy there, who tracked inventory for me until the right machine came along at nearly half price.
Even though it’s from the “outlet” my XT2 appeared to have never been powered on and it has no surface blemishes.
My XT2 combines a 1.6 processor, 4M of RAM, a 128G solid state hard drive, and Vista Business with the Windows 7 upgrade. With that mix, all of Dell’s propaganda about the XT2 is 100% accurate. All of it, every single bit. How can I say this more clearly? No compromise. None, zip, nada.
Perhaps not with machines less fully equipped -- more about that below -- but I’m entirely satisfied with the XT2.
Cons:
The negative comments in other reviews are the result of: (a) trying to use Microsoft XP when only Vista and/or Windows 7 can handle what the XT2 offers; (b) purchasing the 1.2 processor when the 1.4 or 1.6 is really what’s needed; and (c) thinking that 1G of RAM is enough.
Don’t try to save a few bucks on the OS and hardware but then complain that it won’t give full performance!
That brings me to the thing I truly dislike about this machine. It annoys me that Dell offers the XT2 with slower processors, inadequate RAM, slower hard drives and Windows XP. If Dell limited the XT2 to the specs it needs to perform at full capacity then all the other reviews here would’ve been just as good as this one.
Dumb move, Dell. Really dumb, because with the right combination of OS and hardware, the XT2 is the ultimate notebook.
112 of 116 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
livesonwater2632
Location:
Blacksburg
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
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Title: Excellent Tablet
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Date: October 23, 2009
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Product Uses: Connecting with Friends, School, engineering
Review:Due to school requirements, I was forced to purchase a tablet PC. After what seemed like months of researching, I settled with the XT2. At first I was more than impressed with the features but after a few weeks, the tablet functions were more of a hassle than a useful feature. Once the drivers were updated, things got better. Because of a Microsoft campus agreement, I was able to install Windows 7 early. Windows 7 on this machine is perfect. With both the multitouch screen and pen inputs, the Windows 7 experience is amazing. After seeing other tablets on campus and hearing of the many problems they have, I am happy I went with the XT2.
Pros:
Amazing multitouch support (improved with Windows 7)
Dell Driver Support up to date
Not bloated with unnecessary software
Light weight
Great design
Cons:
Lack of internal disk drive
one way rotating tablet
eraser button too small (not at end of pen)
Overall, I would highly recommend this tablet over any other brand or model. The lack of an internal disk drive isn't as big of a drawback as one might expect. If you need a tablet this is it. However, if you require large graphics and processing power for games or video editing, don't look at tablets as an option; no brand or model offers enough power to handle that application.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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1
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
profitablechoy
Location:
Hawaii
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Good
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Title: Piece of garbage
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Date: September 15, 2009
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Product Uses: business, sales
Review:I would not purchase this product, If I did not have to. I needed a tablet, and I had to have a tablet with XP installed. Dell is one of the few left. The finger shrinking, expanding and rotation just does not work. I don't know why they advertise the feature at all. It does not work. The operation of the computer is buggy, and laggy at times. Most importantly, after only two weeks of operation my hard drive crashed. The hard drive crashed while I was backing up and I lost a good amount of information. I am now a believer of off site backup services The customer service was good, but I find the Indian accent difficult to understand. When they sent me out a new hard drive they said it would come formatted, it wasn't, and I had to install everything, OS, drivers, etc. Simply put the computer does not work as advertised and for the price, I find it to be a poor value.
90 of 156 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
steed074
Location:
Louisiana
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Expert
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Title: Great Piece of Hardware!
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Date: September 13, 2009
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Product Uses: Connecting with Friends, business, entertainment
Review:I've had this system for about two months now and love it. My first experience was not the greatest, it came loaded with XP Tablet and really disappointed me; it was slow, the screen was unresponsive and switching between finger input and stylus worked sometimes but not always. It came preloaded with a custom interface for managing the system features that appeared to be the culprit of the system speed issues and once I uninstalled that and used the mechanisms built into Windows XP, it worked great.
My real love for it came when I wiped the hard drive and installed Windows 7. This thing is awesome with 7. The multi-touch screen works great, it's lightning-fast, system standby and hibernate work great and happen quickly, and battery life is about 4 hours on the six-cell battery, under heavy use. I've had it sit on standby and last over the weekend. It starts up fast and stays cool to the touch. I've felt it heat up a little bit when the intake fan is covered, but nothing like other laptops I've had. I'm working on it now and the intake fan isn't even spinning, that's how cool it's running.
Pros:
Excellent laptop for Windows 7, takes advantage of all the new features. Fast, speedy, great battery life, good feel and grip on the plastics, lightweight and solid construction. All features work with Windows 7. Love the small power adapter as well, it's very easy to set up and put away.
Cons:
XP Tablet sucks on it as delivered from the factory. Also had some issues with finding drivers for Windows 7 for some of the security features, but eventually realized they were part of a package install available on the Dell website.
Overall Impression:
Good solid business laptop but either buy it with the Windows 7 upgrade or wait until it's released and comes as the main OS. XP Tablet is dated and it shows on this machine and Vista is...well, Vista.
68 of 71 people found this review helpful.
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