R&D throughout the industry has led to significant steps in innovation this year. VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards recognize the most innovative of these offerings from several different sectors.
Vendors submitted hundreds of entries for the 2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards, but only a handful emerged as purveyors of unique, groundbreaking products. Here's a look at the winners.
HP's first touch-screen notebook for consumers has plenty of options for work and play.
ToughBook 8 Made For Mobile Butterfingers
11:33 AM EDT Fri. Sep. 26, 2008
The ToughBook 8 Series (W8, T8 and F8) offers 802.11a/b/g/draft-n and Bluetooth 2.0. The PCs will also ship with optional embedded GobiTM 3G technology, which helps enable seamless selection between mobile broadband carriers and simplified international roaming within a single embedded device. It packs Intel's Core2 Duo processor, comes with up to 4 GB of RAM and a 160-GB shock-mounted hard drive.
According to the manufacturer, the 8 Series business-rugged Toughbook notebooks survived "Mil-spec" testing: in this case, drops of 12 inches for the unit itself and 30 inches for the shock-mounted hard drive. The vendor itself requires that 8 Series notebooks survive a 30-inch drop to the base of the unit while it is operating. That distance replicates the fall a notebook might take if it were pushed off a table or desktop.
For those careless with drinks, the unit's spill-resistant keyboard design protects against liquid spills of approximately 6 ounces--almost a full cup.
The ToughBook 8 comes with a 14.1-inch wide LCD display, an internal optical drive and the ToughBook's distinctive integrated handle. It weighs in at 3.7 pounds, only slightly heavier than, for example, the MacBook Air but far lighter than a Dell Vostro.
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