Dell launched the Latitude XT3 tablet PC this week, hoping to leverage the best of the tablet and PC worlds.  The new device is a laptop-tablet combo, with the convenience of a touch screen tablet and the features and power of a laptop.  The Latitude XT3, with a larger 13.3 inch high definition touchscreen display, is priced high at $1957 for the base model, more than buying a laptop and tablet separately in some cases.  Dell’s hoping the appeal will be its capabilities around switching from laptop to tablet mode quickly and easily, with a new bi-directional hinge which enables you to rotate the screen from left-to-right or from right-to-left.

The Latitude XT3 runs Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), powered by an Intel Core i3 2.1 GHz processor, with 2GB of RAM and 250GB of internal storage that is expandable up to another 205GB with the help of a second hard drive.  There’s also touchscreen features that recognizes 4-finger controls, stylus, and trackstick controls. The combo will have all the enterprise security features, and greater computing power.

Dell plans to market this product to heavy users who like larger graphics files and more computing power, such as healthcare professionals, animators and professionals who work outdoors.

When it comes to Dell’s product lineup, the company is hedging its bets, hoping to build out an end user advantage around its combination of hardware and software offerings.  Dell recently added an end-to-end free storage and synchronization service on a select set of desktops and tablets. The service, Dell Stage, comes installed on the Dell Streak and Inspirion tablets, and offers file transfers from your smartphone to a PC without the need for USB cables. It also offers 2GB of media storage in the cloud.

Dell may be after a niche market with the Latitude XT3, but its widespread tablet approach is targeting large scale, global markets.   The Streak 10 pro tablet will be pushed in Asian markets including China.  The Dell Streak Pro 10 features a 10.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The tablet runs on an NVIDIA 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 chipset, with 1GB RAM and 16GB built-in memory. It has 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera. The Wi-Fi only device supports 1080p video playback.

But the tablet war, especially at the global level, is only getting more intense, even from Android OS device manufacturers.  Samsung also released its next version of the popular Galaxy Tab series, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, in the Indian market this week, a move that more companies are following to explore other revenue options outside the US.  Apple has hindered Samsung nearly every step of the way,  having banned sales most recently in Europe following a German court order.

Apple has still the dominance in the US market with over 80 percent of tablet owners using an iPad.  From a brand and distribution standpoint, this has only encouraged other tablet makers to push harder in their device development and marketing, in the US and beyond.