The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Dell's 10-inch Windows 7 tablet won't debut until fall

By | April 5, 2011, 6:40am PDT

Summary: Dell recently announced that it would launch a 10-inch tablet to compliment its 5- and 7-inch slates. However, it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit.

Dell recently announced that it would launch a 10-inch tablet to compliment its 5- and 7-inch slates. However, it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit.

According to Forbes, the Windows 7-based tablet won’t be launched until “September at the earliest,” but a “Windows 8 tablet” could be on the way early next year too.

Depending on just how early the Windows 8 machine is shipped next year, that could be a small window for two tablet releases. Forbes points out that this unnamed Windows 7 tablet (which may or may not fall within the Streak family) could be intended for a holiday release.

A September debut would make sense if that were the case, but if this is truly a business-minded tablet (especially compared to the Streak tablets), then a big holiday blowout wouldn’t really make any sense. It’s more likely that Dell just needs more time to work on this tablet, which is fine if it turns out to be a stellar competitor for the HP Slate and similar gadgets. If it is a professional tablet, then it doesn’t have to go up against the slew of consumer tablets being launched this spring, such as Apple’s iPad 2, the LG G-Slate, and the HTC Evo View 4G.

[NOTE: The device pictured above is Dell's latest tablet, the Streak 7, not the 10-inch slate mentioned in this post.]

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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SonofaSailor Updated - 6th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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As they say in 'Nawlins...
Robert Hahn Updated - 5th Apr 2011
Laissez les garçon de singe rouler.
Let the monkey boy ride??
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Pagan jim
@James Quinn Sure, the ones that are dancing around in monkey boy's head.
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Are you channeling "Ron Burgundy"?
Will Farrell 5th Apr 2011
@IAmLegion2011
why anyone would want to channel that idiot i'm not sure, but at least he's not here to polute these blogs with his idiotic posts!
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Windows Tablet
Badgered 5th Apr 2011
@James Quinn

Not that I have seen or heard. Though I for one would wait on a true "Windows" tablet until they start shipping with Windows 8. That is if I were interested in something more than a consumer device.
@Badgered
"Note quite the form factor..."
Sure. Agreed. I just wanted to remind that the usefulness of the tablet is not just about thickness and weight. I see the first crop of Oak Trail tablets are coming out this month. Motions's CL900 is an example of a useful Windows 7 tablet (ruggedized, light, thin), but it won't be as smooth / slick as Apple. You are right that Windows 8 / next Intel gen will be needed to match that fluid feel of the iPad.
@James Quinn
I've been using a Windows 7 Lenovo tablet since last year, (and a WinXP one since 2007). It is my main development machine, drawing, multi-touch, stylus, music, voice recognition, etc... Yes, it's not Apple "cool"; 5 times the thickness and twice the weight, but it is also 5 times the power and 100 times the productivity.
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indeed
Badgered 5th Apr 2011
@batpox

True the convertible laptop to tablet device has been around for some time... That's not quite the form factor I was referring to.
@James Quinn
I'm using my HP Slate 500 right now. It's pretty slick and does everything I need it to. It's the right device for me.
Bye bye junk useless ipad 2 and android tablets. finally a tablet that can work has a computer desktop.
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Robert Hahn Updated - 6th Apr 2011
@Robert Hahn

Yep, office computers that have no keyboards and lie flat in the hand are what the world has been waiting for. I know this because Steve Jobs told me so.

There, corrected that for you.
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IAmLegion2011 Updated - 6th Apr 2011
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Message has been deleted.
Will Farrell Updated - 6th Apr 2011
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Message has been deleted.
SonofaSailor Updated - 6th Apr 2011
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Make up your mind, Dell
Synthmeister 5th Apr 2011
As a strategy, trying to support two different OSes in a slate form factor seems lunacy to me. Something tells me that Dell doesn't really believe in either one. If the slate market was just gaining steam, such an approach might make sense, but with the iPad set to sell 40 million units this year, Dell should really bet the ranch on a single slate OS. Dividing their resources among multiple OSes in the slate category almost guarantees failure.
I can only imagine the internal office politics going on trying to get support for each product, whether it be marketing $$$, executive face time, personnel, etc.
@Synthmeister

Given that a Win7 slate and an android slate or ipad have different capabilities and compete for different markets it's not such a terrible idea.
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vaporware
Monkeypox 5th Apr 2011
Dell is pitiful
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Dell's 10" Tablet w/ Win 8
cad7348 5th Apr 2011
How certain is the windows 8 portion of the system or is that just a guess that win 8 will be out by then and that is what Dell will choose to run. Microsoft does not seem to make one of its main priorities "speed" as other new comers must in order to get into the game?
Make up you mind Dell what are you looking for? Speed, speed, speed or dependability? I do not think that it is a wise business decision to just have a little for everyone. What kind of message are you sending your customers. I remember when what Dell said was the best was considered the best. I do not believe this is the case now with their "bounce" around status and advise they use now.
Wait, is this the same Dell that said tablets are irrelevant? The same Dell that was going to put Apple out of business? Dell is losing it's way, after the race to the bottom on pricing Dell has yet to find a voice other than me too! When Dell starts putting out high quality lasting products then I will pay more attention. My work Dell Latitude E6400 is so plastic feeling that find myself wondering how much cheaper can Dell get, it feels junky and looks junky. Dell does not inspire me as a quality company at this time. Perhaps they will surprise me with a real tablet. I doubt it, but hey companies change if they really want to and they try.

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