We've been big fans of Panasonic's Toughbooks when it comes to toughened laptops, and now Dell is getting in on the action.
Announced overseas, the Latitude XT2 XFR is Dell's thinnest and lightest rugged touchscreen laptop, measuring 1.2 inches (38.1 millimeters) at its thinnest point, and weighs 5.4 pounds (2.45 kilograms) with a four-cell battery and solid-state drive.
It is designed to meet the requirements of customers in the military, police, border patrol, field service organisations, factory fulfilment and first responders. The US military standard it's been awarded means that it will survive three foot drops, as well as rain, dust and temperatures from minus 10 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
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| The Dell Latitude XT2 XFR features a sealed external housing, magnesium alloy, sealed I/O ports, and a 12.1in capacitive touchscreen. |
But its big selling point though is the 12.1-inch four-finger-input multitouch display so you can pinch, zoom and twist your way through apps and docs. Presumably while chasing down a gang of border jumpers or paragliding over the desert with people shooting at you, or something.
The laptop comes with Microsoft's Windows Vista OS for now, but the recently released Windows 7 will be added as an option "very soon" according to a Dell spokesperson.
It's powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo SU9600 chip, which runs at 1.6GHz and includes 3MB of cache. It supports up to 5GB of RAM with solid-state drive storage of up to 160GB. With a six-cell battery the laptop can run for up to six hours.
There is no word on Australian pricing or availability, but we will bring you this information if and when it comes to hand.