The Latitude XFR D630 from Dell is not sexy.
But that's not the point. The PC maker's first ruggedized notebook isn't having a New York coming-out party with runway models a la the colorful Inspiron and XPS laptops from last summer. But the company does hope that an option for a tough exterior whets the appetites of some of its most loyal customers, large IT departments.
Dell's first rugged notebook, the Latitude XFR D630.
(Credit: Dell)The Latitude XFR D630 is basically a Latitude D630 in full body armor built to withstand extreme temperatures, falls, moisture, dust, and more.
Dell isn't really breaking any new ground here. Panasonic has been doing its Toughbook thing for a while now, and neither is Dell trying to beat Panasonic with lower prices. At a starting price of $3,899, that's more than the lowest-priced configuration of the Panasonic Toughbook CF-30, the Latitude's closest equivalent. So why rugged and why now?
Dell has been in turnaround mode for about a year now. Recent earnings reports seem to indicate that there's still much more that needs to be done. Sure, Dell has been trying a lot of new things, all at the same time, and, yes, it can be a tad dizzying. One need only review its stream of press releases over the past year to understand the cacophony that is its corporate message. The slew of new products and strategies, many taken directly from its own customers' suggestions, do include some trendy and new (for Dell) ideas: Linux! Colors! Green computing! New focus on design! Retail!
But it's the arguably boring, ostensibly more practical enterprise niches Dell is going after that might be the keys to reinvigorating the company. Dell is spending a lot of energy lately on the business notebook segment. (See the Latitude XT Tablet announced in December.) The people who buy the XFR D630 likely won't buy it for its looks or cost, but for easy compatibility. The Latitude XFR D630 is just a ruggedized version of the Latitude D630, which is a standard issue for many IT departments. Dell is hoping that its customers will simply swap in the XFR version for certain employees that require tougher notebooks.
Director of product management for Dell's commercial notebooks Brett McAnally says the ruggedized Latitude is "100 percent compatible" with other Latitude D-series notebooks. That means common batteries, AC adapters, software, and more. "When IT wants to update, it can update in a standard way," McAnally said.
Dell's consistent mantra for the past year has been "simplifying IT," and this fits in well enough with that strategy. But there are lots of questions the company still needs to answer. Will Dell be stuck playing catch-up with its peers after abandoning the one thing that made it different--and incredibly successful--from everyone else? And it's still defining exactly what kind of company it wants to be. Consumer friendly? Or business focused?
With a bit of momentum in product shipments on its side, a renewed sense of purpose, and no pesky corporate scandals hanging over its head, the company has a clean slate and a chance to stake out a new identity over the course of this year. So far, what that will be is still a little murky.
Mobile computing can be a haphazard business, and new notebooks from General Dynamics and Panasonic give their owners permission to drop them (from a reasonable distance) as often as they like.
General Dynamics Itronix miniscule rugged notebook PC
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News.com)General Dynamics' GoBook MR-1 claims to be the smallest fully rugged ultramobile PC, and it may very well be. It weighs 2 pounds, and is about the size of a small jewelry box. It was made to have all the same features and capabilities of the full-size GoBook XR-1 but in a more compact form factor. That means four wireless connections: Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, GPS, and Wireless Wide Area Network. It's built on Intel's Napa platform. (NOTE: We goofed when we first posted this, giving the wrong platform. The GoBook is indeed built on Napa.)
All of General Dynamics' touchscreen notebooks, which are cold- and heat-resistant, now come with its proprietary outdoor viewing capability, called DynaVue. Outdoor viewing is one of the most confounding problems related to rugged computing. General Dynamics' solution is to put the polarizing film closer to the top of the touchscreen underneath the glass to reduce reflection.
Consumers aren't General Dynamics' customers--the company sells to militaries, telecom and utility workers, and public safety officers.
Panasonic's new Toughbook 52
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic's new Toughbook 52, which replaces the 51 series, is aimed at business users as well as government, utility and safety workers. The 52 model adds a widescreen display and a carrying handle, but keeps the magnesium alloy case and shock-mounted hard drive of its predecessor. It's built on the Santa Rosa architecture, and has a Core 2 Duo processor.
Though it's semi-rugged (as opposed to fully rugged), Panasonic still promises the Toughbook will survive a 1-foot drop on concrete, and that the removable hard drive can weather a 3-foot drop. Besides being drop-proof, it's also apparently spill-proof--the notebook has a special system so that any liquid spilled on the laptop is drained out of the bottom without getting inside.
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