Archive for the 'Rugged Notebooks' Category

The European Panasonic has announced that its refreshed CF-74 and CF-52 Toughbook ruggedized laptops, featuring the latest Intel mobile “Santa Rosa” platform, will be available in June and July respectively.

“The new Intel mobile technology platform is centered on an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with an 800 MHz front-side bus, mobile Intel 965 Express chipset, Intel Wireless WiFi
Link 4965AGN wireless module, and Intel Turbo Memory,” Panasonic explains.

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Dell today announced that it is offering a 1.8-inch 32GB solid state drive (SSD) from SanDisk on Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks.

“Dell sees potential for flash-based drives and is committing to offer them across next generation Latitude notebooks because they enable better reliability, increased performance and noise reduction”, according to press release.

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Panasonic will release the tablet PC-like rugged PDA device called ToughBook CF-08, Japanese web-site Impress reports.

Along with 10.4-inch touch-sensitive 1024 x 768 display, Panasonic ToughBook CF-08 features Intel PXA270 processor at 312MHz, 64MB RAM and 64MB ROM memory, up to 14 hours of battery life and Windows CE 5.0.

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Along with its semi-rugged ultra-mobile PC, TabletKiosk has announced the semi-rugged tablet PC called Sahara TufTab i310XT. It features protection from rain, dust, humidity, extreme temperatures, as well as from drop, shock and vibration.

Sahara TufTab i310XT has a 12.8-inch wide-angle touch-screen, Intel Celeron M ULV processor at 1GHz, 512 MB of main memory, 60GB of hard drive storage, 802.11 b/g wireless and Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth and a PCMCIA Type II PC Card slot. It features three USB ports, VGA out with dual screen support, SD-IO/MMC slot, and a fingerprint reader. The announced Tablet PC weighs 3.5 lbs.

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TabletKiosk has announced the eo TufTab v7112XT, its first rugged ultra-mobile PC (UMPC). Designed for field work, warehousing, mobile point of sale, data collection and other jobs, the TabletKiosk eo TufTab v7112XT is a semi-rugged mobile computer with 7-inch sunlight viewable touch screen, 1.2GHz VIA C7-M ULV processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory and a 40 GB hard drive storage.

The v7112XT is based on VIA VX700 chipset with integrated S3G VIA UniChrome Pro II IGP graphics. Along with 802.11 b/g wireless, Ethernet LAN and Bluetooth, it has an 1.0 Mega Pixel CMOS Camera, an USB port, a VGA output with dual screen support, a docking station connector, a SD-IO/MMC slot and a fingerprint reader.

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Motorola Inc. today announced the new ML910 Rugged Notebook and MW810 Mobile Workstation, the “fully-rugged, wireless-enabled mobile computers that give government, public safety and enterprise mobile workers quick and secure access to vital information”.

Motorola ML910 Rugged Notebook

Motorola ML910 Rugged Notebook is built and tested to the MIL-STD-810F United States Department of Defense standard. It incorporates a 13.3-inch widescreen display, an Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz processor and an AMD ATI Radeon X1400 dedicated graphics card with 128MB of video memory. The ML910 also has a video capture card for high performance graphics and real-time video processing. The notebook computer includes as a standard feature a hard drive heater for startup and operation in freezing temperatures and also has diagnostic software that monitors internal conditions and prevents outages due to extreme heat and cold, according to Motorola. There is also a fingerprint reader.

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Dell today announced the Latitude ATG D620 (All-Terrain Grade), the company’s first semi-rugged laptop computer for customers who work in tough environments.

Dell Latitude ATG meets military standards for vibration, humidity and altitude and is designed to protect against accidental bumps, moisture, and other elements that customers encounter working in the field. The new system features a shock-mounted hard drive, spill-resistant keyboard, port covers and high durability paint and is designed to withstand challenging conditions commonly associated with military environments, construction sites and first responders, such as police and emergency organizations, according to Dell.

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Twinhead Corporation launched its DURABOOK D13RY and DURABOOK D14RY rugged laptop models at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The two new DURABOOKs feature Intel Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors, magnesium-alloy cases, spill-resistant an anti-shock mounting design, as well as optional hardware-based security technology TPM 1.2.

Twinhead says DURABOOK D13RY is a mobile multimedia center with 13.3″ WXGA TFT LCD screen, 1.3 mega pixel webcam, and four 1-watt stereo speakers. The DURABOOK D14RY is built for the road warrior and includes a non-glare 14.1″ XGA TFT LCD display.

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NEC launched Shield Pro FC-N21S rugged tablet PC, featuring 12-inch touch-screen panel and Intel Core Solo Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) U1400 processor running at 1.2GHz. NEC “Shield Pro” FC-N21S is protected against ingress of dust at levels that would harm operation and against splashes of water from all directions. NEC also guarantees the Shield Pro tablet PC will be safe when dropped as long as drop is not more than three feet, the machine is switched off, and its lid folded down.

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Panasonic today introduced two new rugged computers: Toughbook CF-30 laptop and Toughbook CF-19 convertible tablet PC. Both the CF-30 and CF-19 are constructed of magnesium alloy and include shock-mounted touch screens and hard drives. According to Panasonic, the new computers deliver “the brightest displays available today, without compromising battery life”. The 13.3-inch screen CF-30 boasts “an industry-leading” 1,000 Nit (candelas per square meter) LCD, while 10.4-inch screen CF-19 features a bright 550 Nit screen with a new low-reflection coating .

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Dell has been studying the idea of expanding its laptop lineup with a “rugged” notebook model and a tablet PC. One or both products could be offered as soon as 2007, Alex Gruzen, general manager of Dell’s Product Group said last week.

Gruzen said in an interview with eWEEK that Dell would be able to supply a rugged notebook that is based on the same hardware as its standard Latitude notebooks. He said that it might make it simpler for businesses and government customers to buy and maintain the machines.

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Panasonic unveiled three new laptops from business-rugged ToughBook series. The CF-Y5, CF-W5 and CF-T5 ToughBooks feature magnesium alloy chassis, while one of them, CF-Y5, has spill-through keyboard. The new business-rugged notebooks meet Military Specification drop test, which is about a 1-foot drop onto plywood. All three announced laptops have Verizon’s and Sprint’s EV-DO service, and eventually options for Cingular’s HSDPA.

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Itronix, a General Dynamics company, yesterday introduced the fully rugged General Dynamics GoBook XR-1 laptop. The 12.1-inch (touch)screen GoBook XR-1 uses Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz processor and it features the capability for up to four embedded concurrent wireless radios - WLAN, WWAN, Bluetooth and GPS. The GoBook XR-1 comes with up to 2GB of RAM, a 40 MB or 80 MB 5400 rpm SATA hard drive, an integrated Ethernet 1GB LAN and Microsoft’s XP Professional operating system.

The laptop provides 32MB of dedicated video memory and 96MB of shared memory for a total of 128MB graphics
memory. It’s possible to increase its graphics capabilities using a dedicated ATI M22-CSP/32 external graphics controller.

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Panasonic ToughBook CF-74 is a “business rugged” laptop model. The 13.3-inch screen ToughBook CF-74, powered by Intel Core Duo processor, includes features such as magnesium-alloy casing, a shock-mounted hard drive, a spill-resistant keyboard, WWAN connectivity, and a outdoors readable screen. Here are the reviews of the Panasonic CF-74 notebook, with links to the full stories.

:: LAPTOP Magazine - Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 ::
Like all rugged and semi-rugged notebooks, the Toughbook CF-74 is expensive. Its list price of $2,999 matches that of the Itronix Hummer, but the Toughbook has a three-year limited warranty, two years longer than the Hummer’s. There’s also a 24/7 telephone support line, which the manufacturer claims has a wait time of less than a minute (in our test, they answered in 25 seconds). After seeing two or three mainstream notebooks destroyed, many forward-thinking buyers would rightly consider this semi-rugged Toughbook one of the best bargains on the market.

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