Dell Latitude ST tablet spied in promo video with dock, HDMI
updated 07:45 pm EDT, Sun October 23, 2011
Dell Latitude ST may be Peju tablet revealed
Dell Malaysia has posted a video (direct link, embedded below) that has inadvertently spoiled details of the company's long-delayed Windows 7 tablet. The clip confirms a hinted-at Latitude ST name and lines up with the Peju slate leaked back in July. The 10-inch design has a unique iMac-style dock to turn it into a makeshift desktop with Ethernet, HDMI, and USB ports.
Only a handful of extra details are available from the promo, such as pen support and "certified interactive learning applications" for students. Earlier pointers gave it a low-voltage Core i5 processor, a very sharp 1080p display, five-megapixel rear and 1.3-megapixel front cameras, and a solid-state drive with either 64GB or 120GB of space. It would still have the characteristic bulk of an Intel-based Windows tablet at 1.9 pounds and 0.63 inches thick, although its battery might help it last for a relatively long six to eight hours.
An appearance in a publicly available Malaysia video is a strong sign the Latitude ST is very close to a release. The nature of the video implies that a US release is very probable and could come as soon as this week. Leaks had the initially unnamed tablet moved back to the fall.
The Latitude ST is likely to be a swan song for Microsoft's original approach to tablets. For the past decade, it has insisted on taking a regular desktop interface and modifying it slightly. The decision so far hasn't caught on and let Apple's iPad get more sales in its first nine months than in the entire history of Windows tablets. Much of Dell's allegiance is being pledged to Windows 8 tablets, where Microsoft's interface will be genuinely touch-optimized for the first time. [via Notebook Italia]
