TabletKiosk Slate PC looks mighty tempting

Tablet PCs are funny things – they regularly get lambasted by both the press and the blog-reader as being frivolous and pointless pieces of technology and yet, like gently passing wind in a medium sized chapel, pretty soon everyone knows about a new one.  I'm thinking of designing a business model based on what I call the lust/lambaste paradigm, when an item taps into the primal "ugh, I need it!" part of the brain while at the same time your sly, sarcastic super-ego decries it as being pointless.  Anyway, latest on the block is TabletKiosk's Sahara i440D, a true slate that runs Vista, and TabletPC2 have some sneak preview photos.

The pinnacle of three versions, the i440D sports a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo CPU, up to 4.0GB of RAM, biometric security, WiFi in a, b and g flavours, Bluetooth, a dual-array microphone, Type II PCMCIA slot and stereo speakers, all in a casing just 25mm thick.  Screen options range from passive through to dual-mode active/passive digitisers as well as a transflective "outdoor" choice, all running at XGA 1028x768 resolution and measuring 12.1-inches.  Full spec list and more photos after the cut.

Sahara i440D Digitizer  and Touch Screen / 1.83 GHz Intel Core™ Duo LV

Sahara i440T Touch Screen / 1.83 GHz Intel® Core™ Duo LV

Sahara i417T Touch Screen / 1.2 GHz Intel® Celeron® M ULV

Highlights:

² Available with Passive Touch Screen or NEW Dual Mode Active Digitizer and Touch Screen

² Biometric Fingerprint Reader with patented TruePrint Technology

² Single Chip Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

² Custom configurations available with Windows Vista, Windows XP or Linux 

Hardware Specifications

Processor:

i412T

1.2 GHz Intel® Celeron® M ULV

32KB/32KB L1 caches

1MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB

i440T & i440D

1.83 GHz Intel® Core™ Duo LV

32KB/32KB L1 caches

2MB Shared L2 cache, 667MHz FSB

Chipsets: Intel® 945 GM Express North Bridge with 533MHz and 667MHz FSB support

ICH7-M South Bridge with 10GB/s full duplex DMI, PCI Express 1.0a

ACPI 2.0 Compliant, supports C1-C4, S1, S3-S5 power states, Intel® SpeedStep® Technology

Memory: 2x DDR2 SODIMM slots, Maximum Configuration with 2.0GB SODIMMs is 4.0GB (modules available Q2 2007) Initial configurations from 512MB-2048MB (2.0 GB) DDR2-533/667 MHz

Battery: Rechargeable, Replaceable 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (3800mAh / 11.1V / 42W/hr) with over-charge protection circuitry

Hard Drive: 2.5" 9.5mm format, Ultra DMA SATA150gb, configurations from 60GB to 160GB @ 5,400 rpm

Video: Integrated Intel® GMA 950 PCI Express, 250MHz core render clock at 1.05V core

DirectX 9.0 compatible, Intel® Dual Frequency Graphics Technology, Intel® Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0

Intel® Smart 2D Display Technology, High Performance MPEG-2 Decoding, VLD/iDCT Hardware Acceleration

Dual Monitor support at up to QXGA (2048 x 1536 ppi resolution) with CRT Hot Plug support

Audio: Integrated HD Audio (ICH7-M) AC'97 Compatible, ALC262-VC2-GR HD Codec, 32-bit/192KHz

Built-in Stereo Speakers and Dual Digital Microphone Array for added fidelity and accuracy

3.5mm Headphone & Microphone Plug & Play Jacks

Wireless: Intel® Pro 3945 802.11a/b/g networking, 802.11d/e, QoS, with power ON/OFF switch

Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR built-in USB module

Input Screen:

i412T & i440T

12.1" XGA (1024 x 768 ppi resolution)

Passive Resistive Touch Screen †

† Outdoor Transflective Screen Available as an Option on all three (3) models

i440D

12.1" XGA (1024 x 768 ppi res.)

Dual Mode Active Digitzer and

Touch Screen †

I/O Ports: 1x Headphone / 1x Stereo Microphone

2x USB 2.0 / 1x IEEE 1394a / 1x eSATA

1x 10/100/1000 Mbps Full Duplex (2.5Gbps single-lane channel) Ethernet (RG-45)

1x 56Kbps v.90 Fax/Modem (RG-11)

1x PCMCIA 2.1 compliant, supports one (1) Type II 32-bit PC Card Bus 1.0 architecture

1x Cradle Connector

Dimensions: 11.81" W x 9.45" H x .98" D (300mm x 240mm x 25mm)

Weight: 3.3 lbs. (1.49 kg)

Sneak Peak TabletKiosk Sahara i440D Tablet PC [TabletPC2]