March 10th, 2009
Dell's second gen rugged laptop: Can it stop a bullet?
Dell on Tuesday launched the second generation of its rugged laptop—the Latitude E6400 XFR—with the biggest improvement being a new suit of armor.
Dell's rugged laptop targets a niche market, but can take some water torture.
Dell is clearly going after Panasonic’s ToughBook market and to do that you need some cool stats via the company’s blog and launch statement (Techmeme):
Among them:
- A proprietary “Ballistic Armor Protection System featuring PR-481,” which is a material used in aircraft components, medical devices and military equipment. In a nutshell, the armor allows you to drop Dell’s rugged Latitude four feet powered down and up to 3 feet with the system on and the LCD open.
- PrimoSeal technology to protect from dust and liquid, say water from a fire hose (right).
- Meets 13 military standards for operating in tough environments.
In a statement, Dell mentions Panasonic repeatedly and touts the Latitude’s performance on graphics, battery charging and temperature extremes.
While the market for Dell’s rugged Latitude–first responders, military, oil and gas industry, homeland security and field techs–is relatively small it’s a niche that has to have good profit margins. The Dell Latitude E6400 XFR starts at $4,299.
More extreme computing:
- Extreme PCs and “Homebrewing”: Rest in Peace
- Extreme PCs and homebrew systems are here to stay
- Homebrewing isn’t dead yet
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 03/10/09
