SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » Dell Competes with ToughBook

April 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Dell Competes with ToughBook

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Panasonic sent me a ToughBook a couple of years ago. This was still the full-bore, can't kill it ToughBook that looks like a space ship component. (Now, Panasonic's introed new ToughBooks that are shorter on toughness, longer on style and aimed 'business rugged' whatever that means.) Brian Chee and I had some fun throwing the thing across the ANCL lab and then seeing if it would still run--it did, never even hiccuped.

Seems rugged PCs is a decent enough market for some more big-name competition, however, and right now that name is Dell. The company recently introduced a new Latitude ATG (stands for All-Terrain Grade, tho it should be All-Terrain Geek) notebook, aimed at road warriors who need to take their PCs into less-then-friendly conditions. The box is optimized to resist dust, big-time vibrations and higher-than-average moisture--though it's definitely not water-proof. Still, it ain't a wimp, since Dell says the ATG can pass the MIL-STD810F spec for battle-ready hardware.

The ATG comes with a Core 2 Duo, up to 4GB of RAM, a shock-mounted 80GB hard disk, and Vista or XP. The screen is optimized for outdoor viewing, the case is made of partially rubberized magnesium alloy with the external ports protected from environmental nastiness.

All in all, it looks like a worthy competitor to the ToughBook line and runs about $2,600 for those who are interested.

Posted by Oliver Rist on April 2, 2007 02:18 PM

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