Dell's tablet chatter

There's been a lot of, as the national security types would say, "chatter" about an upcoming convertible tablet PC from Dell--an area they've mostly ignored in the company's current lineup. We've seen a few references pointing toward an early November announcement here and there, from trade pubs such as Investor's Business Daily and Computerworld, but very little on the official front from Dell.

Fortunately for you, we got an eyes-on tip from someone who was at the IT Expo Alaska in Anchorage earlier this week, where Dell was reportedly showing off a demo version of its new tablet. Our tipster gave us the following rundown of their impressions:

Beautiful, crisp touch screen

Thin and light

SD card reader and fingerprint scanner

Small, pocket-sized power brick

Magnetic lock for screen, instead of a clasp

Dell reps said the pricing will likely be between $1,500 and $2,000, and release date was "end of year."

More details as we get them, or when Dell fesses up and releases official details.