Stealth Computer boasts waterproof desktop

We've seen plenty of ruggedized laptops, but we can't say we heard of a rugged desktop until today's announcement from Stealth Computer. According to Stealth's press release, it built the WPC-500F to the IP67/NEMA 6 standard, which means the system is certified to operate while submersed in water. Assuming the video below from Stealth's Web site is the real thing, it seems to have achieved its goal.

The base WPC-500F unit costs $1,995, and includes six custom-designed cables for power, networking, and peripherals. The core configuration includes a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 33 CPU, 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, a ruggedized 80GB hard drive, and no operating system. You can also add Vista, XP, Ubuntu Linux, a variety of solid-state hard drives, and other upgrades via Stealth's online configurator. If this were a normal PC we'd seriously question the hardware for the price. Given the specialized nature of the WPC-500F, you're obviously paying for more that just the computing power.

[Roger7273]

That's awesome!! That PC will go good with my fireproof ioSafe hard drive. Check out the crazy burn video.
http://www.iosafe.com/iosafe-solo-ces-news

[niko_osokin]

Now I can finally please my geeky mermaid girlfriend.

[paulimusmaximus]

Geez, it's about time. My passion is scuba diving, but I'm so busy with work all the time that I never get to go. Now, I can combine the two. Does anyone know if wifi signals go through water?

[viper396]

"Does anyone know if wifi signals go through water? "

No. WiFi and most other radio signals do not travel far very underwater.

Only Very Low Frequencies (VLF) travel thru water but you need a massive antenna and a huge amount of transmitting power to get any range. Submarines have to go shallow just to receive a VLF signal but they cannot transmitt on VLF. They have to raise an antenna above surface to reply using normal frequencies.

[EALChilazr]

Finally my Beta fish will have it's own PC! Before, I've had to buy a new computer every time he needed to check his facebook!

[Denebola42]

I suppose this could come in handy if you worked at marine world....or maybe it could work well if you had some kind of fancy setup on a boat...Man... I bet Jacques Cousteau would have loved this!

[zgreenwell]

IT'S ON A BOAT!

[infosuperhighway]

I feel like I need to pee.

[nikbballer214]

Sweet this will go well in my underwater office

[Csipa1]

I've been using pcs since 1995 and I none of them ever got any water damage

1) ? why ?

2) really good comments (humor) and truth (Csipa1)

3) "Does anyone know if wifi signals go through water?" don't know the exact answer, but have a hypothesis: since water is an electrical conductor & also affects light, wi-fi should be able to be conducted through it (I would think POSSIBLY even amplified)

4) not sure I'd want to try a desktop under water though (the whole "water is an electrical conductor" thing)

[viper396]

3)..the answer is No. The very fact that water is an electrical conductor, salt water being more so, makes it a very very poor medium for transmiting radio or WiFi.