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Touting an "innovative flip-hinge design [that lets] you switch from touch to type in seconds," Dell has posted videos of the Inspiron Duo and a basic product page, but we hadn't seen pricing and availability information before today.
Now, according to the Engadget tech blog, Dell is saying the device will be preorderable soon -- with a base price of approximately $550 -- and will begin shipping during the first week of December.
As Engadget writer Joanna Stern further notes, the Inspiron Duo is basically a netbook at heart, though a deluxe one. It features a 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, a dual-core Atom N550 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard disk drive, and the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, she adds.
Like HP's keyboardless Slate 500, which costs a steeper $800 but does add a solid-state disk drive and a Wacom digitizer to the mix, the Dell Inspiron Duo is also said to include a Broadcom video accelerator chip, presumably the BCM70015. This add-on allows smooth playback of 1080p video on Atom-powered devices with CPU utilization of only around 20 percent, according to Broadcom.
Now showing in Bellevue
There's no word on whether the Inspiron Duo can, like the HP Slate, drive a television set via an HDMI port. However, Microsoft employees and others who are in the vicinity of the Washington company's home campus can apparently find out for themselves by taking an in-person look at the device.
According to a posting by Brandon LeBlanc that appeared this morning on the Windows Experience Blog, "Today is the grand opening of the Microsoft Store in Bellevue Square Mall, and its also the first time you'll be able to walk into a store and get some play time with ... Dells completely unique take on combining a multitouch touchscreen and a traditional keyboard."
Confirming the specifications retailed by Engadget's Stern, LeBlanc added some additional information and even some basic benchmarks. The device will be available with an optional dock (right) that includes JBL speakers, an Ethernet jack, an SD slot, USB ports, and a headphone jack, he says.
Noting that the Duo launches an app called Clockdock automatically when placed in the dock, LeBlanc calls the accessory "gorgeous and well-built," with sound that is "rich, deep, and loud." In touchscreen mode, the device offers a finger-friendly interface called "Dell Stage" (below) that gives one-touch access to photos, movies, an e-reader, and games, he adds.
Regarding the Dell Inspiron Duo's hardware, LeBlanc further writes:
The entire chassis is rounded and rubberized so it appears smaller than it actually is, although heavier than youd expect at about 3.2 pounds. The flippable display is without a doubt the high point and is excellently engineered it's intuitive to use and "wants to be flipped," i.e., it is balanced so well that a light press gets it moving, and rubberized catches inside the bezel snap the screen into place in both modes. It just feels good to use.
"Comfortable to work on," the Inspiron Duo also delivered good performance using everyday applications such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, according to LeBlanc. It was able to startup (cold boot) in just 36.5 seconds, sleep within nine seconds, and wake from sleep in just 1.5 seconds, he wrote.
Herself approvingly noting the Dell Stage interface, Engadget's Stern says "the touchscreen itself was quite responsive to light taps," while the device's chiclet-style keyboard was "nice-feeling." She added that the device includes two USB ports and one audio jack.
Further information
More information on Dell's Inspiron Duo may be found on Dell's product page, here, Brandon LeBlanc's blog entry, here, and Engadget, here.
