Dell Inspiron duo Tablet Now Official Discussion

Dell's rumored netbook/tablet hybrid, the Inspiron duo, is now official, featuring a swiveling screen. It will be available in December starting at $549.

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Touch screen is good for a smart phone but not necessary for a 10" screen. It is much better value to buy a regular netbook for half the price.

 

This is intended to function as a tablet as well, though, and it's a bit hard to use a tablet without a touchscreen or other digitizer.

 

A little disappointed about the choice of Atom CPU, but I guess it's acceptable to keep the cost down. I personally like such a "flip-screen" tablet then the iPad that has no keyboard or the Lenovo concept that separates the screen to become a tablet, but I think you need to make the weight light enough to really take some market share from iPad. Another big question is really how smooth and useful is the touch interface. Look forward to more reviews and details about this interesting device.

 

I like the idea of this, but the dual core atom needs to go. At the very least the cpu needs to be the ULV dual core Pentium cpu with ion(pref ion2) as an option.

 

The other Atom tablets have all been single core, and by the looks of it on Engadget's preview/hands on video...the Dell Stage UI seems to be pretty darn snappy.

I'm looking forward to this....oh Wind...your days on my desk may be numbered

 

The price kills it. It's a $549 netbook!

I think that the ridiculous pricing is a pale imitation of Apple's iPad. Yup, people will line up to pay $500-700 for an iPad - but an iPad can't be confused with a sub-$200 netbook. Dell might have produced a very nice netbook, with a very clever swiveling screen, but it isn't worth the asking price. Knock off $200-300, and it might be worth a look. Or not.

 

I think this is pretty neat. That is pretty good specs for a tablet espscially verse an ipad which is running ARM?

 

I buyers were purchasing on the basis of specs, the oh-so-rare HP TM2, which totally outclasses this Dell Duo netbook, would be outselling the iPad, which it most certainly isn't. Looking at the success of the iPad, a lot of it comes down to modest hardware and limited capabilities. The thing sells because it isn't even a netbook, but something far less capable. From what I've seen, the iPad has gone over big with some of the least tech savvy consumers. The iPad is just plain dumbed down. If a netbook amounts to a smaller, slower notebook, the iPad is a whole order of magnitude lower in hardware capabilities than even the lowliest netbook.

Just like the oddly named Dell Streak, this Duo doesn't look like a home run. With T.J. Maxx and Marshals selling $399 iPads, the time is wrong to come out with a premium priced $549 netbook with a swivel screen.

Oh, did I forget to mention that the Duo turns into a giant alarm clock with an optional docking station. Yup, a giant alarm clock. Considering that the Sony Dash failed to set the world on fire, it looks like the idea of a giant alarm clock isn't going over very big.

 

I get that for people who have been successfully trained by Apple to think tablet = iPad..must buy iPad (read: 95% of America....) then they'll walk right on past the Duo at Best Buy..but if someone's thinking of replacing their netbook that runs their favorite windows only apps and stuff..then this is the first truly compelling Windows 7 based tablet for several reasons:

1. Has a keyboard: I woudn't want to be in tablet mode all the time, yet those swiveling convertables that are so traditional aren't appealing for some reason. They're also pricey.

2. This is the first one that doesn't appear to be complete crap in the performance department: There's plenty of "off brand" Windows 7 slates out, but they all have Z series atom's that are single core and slow. Understandable considering that there's limited space for heat dissipation/battery in the slates but it negatively affects the user experience. Because the Duo has additional room, it's able to have a very nice dual core non Z Atom that manages to do quite well in the performance department. Hopefully they saw fit to put a larger battery in the larger space they gained with the Duo's design.

3. It's from a mainstream brand. I wouldn't buy a "Netbook Navigator" or "ExoPC" because I just know that I won't have great community support. I know I'll be able to get help both here and from Dell, not to mention that Dell's probably not going to go under overnight. That's something you can't put a price on, consumer confidence in your brand.

I'm in the target market for this...I love my Wind but wouldn't mind a netbook that's a bit different, a nice step up...this fills that niche. Whether it's a huge one is anyone's guess.

 

The Duo is "pricey" by any measure. As far as hinge design, this particular setup hasn"t been seen since the 90s?

It's still a netbook, dual core Atom or not, and the are many negative association with that category.

[/QUOTE]3. It's from a mainstream brand. I wouldn't buy a "Netbook Navigator" or "ExoPC" because I just know that I won't have great community support. I know I'll be able to get help both here and from Dell, not to mention that Dell's probably not going to go under overnight. That's something you can't put a price on, consumer confidence in your brand.

I'm in the target market for this...I love my Wind but wouldn't mind a netbook that's a bit different, a nice step up...this fills that niche. Whether it's a huge one is anyone's guess. [/QUOTE]

I'm not sure that there's much cache left with the Windows brand when it comes to touchscreen devices. Windows CE languished for years, the Window 7 phone launch has been a disastrous flop and there are even questions about Microsoft's future as a consumer brand.

The problem here is that Android is going to dominate the tablet market, much like the smartphone market, and the much diminished netbook market looks set for a major shakeup with the highly awaited launch of the Chrome OS, not to mention Dell's long anticipated Ubuntu relaunch. Consumers just aren't all that excited about Windows 7 on touchscreen devices, regardless of the manufactuer.