Notebooks For When The Going Gets Rough

Rugged notebooks are an important mobile computing category, and one that’s still quite profitable for solution providers because these specialized units are fairly expensive. Certain vertical markets and applications require notebooks that are far more durable than the machines typical business users can get by with. An ordinary notebook isn’t going to work if it gets soaked with water or caked with mud. But rugged notebooks not only survive in such conditions, they are meant to thrive. CRN Test Center engineers reviewed two rugged notebooks from Getac and Panasonic.

Getac MobileForce M220 Getac’s MobileForce M220 meets the rigorous military standards for extreme use and is ideal for construction, military, police, fire and emergency services—anywhere a traditional notebook would suffer. The M220 is impervious to 3-foot drops, dust, dirt, moisture, vibration, temperature extremes, high altitude and even salt fog. There’s even an option to immunize the M220 against electronic interference. The M220 is unaffected by a water jet spray from any direction, and an optional rubber keyboard withstands acidity. A backlight allows for use in the dark. The M220 comes standard with a 14.1-inch XGA screen. A 15-inch XGA display with outdoor-viewing and touch-screen options is also available.

The M220 includes an Enova X-Wall 40-bit real-time cryptographic gateway embedded in the motherboard, making the machine impervious to hacker attacks. Users must manually enter a five-character alphanumeric preboot password to load the operating system and view the contents of the drives. The password is hidden on the hard disk and never placed in the registry. The drive will appear to be unformatted if removed and installed in another computer. This kind of security is a must for top-secret applications such as homeland security services. The removable hard-disk bay lets multiple users share the notebook but not the hard drive and allows the drive to be placed into a new system if the original one fails. An optional hard-disk heater allows for operation at temperatures as low as minus-20 degrees Celsius.

The M220 is built around a 1.4GHz Pentium M processor with up to 2 Gbytes of DDR SDRAM. The main battery lasts up to 4 hours, and an optional second battery adds 2 more hours of runtime. An optional vehicle mount lets the unit run continuously while plugged into the vehicle’s adapter. Other features include two Type II PC Card slots, built-in speakers, one serial port, one parallel port, two USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 NIC, 56K modem, VGA out, a PS/2 mouse/keyboard port, audio ports and more. Special GPS and communications module options are also available.

The M220’s case is made of textured magnesium alloy finished in dark gray, with rubber cushions on each corner. It has protective screen armor, rubber gaskets covering every port and drive bay, a suitcase-like carrying handle and even “tow hooks,” or loops for lashing down the unit. This tanklike notebook weighs less than 9 pounds and costs $3,995.

Getac has been distributing to North American resellers since 1994 and recently began working with Synnex on a distribution level to better serve its growing number of VARs and resellers. There are two levels of partnership: distribution and reseller. At the distribution level, the distributor is solely responsible for logistically supporting the reseller. Margins average 15 percent to 20 percent. Resellers must be certified by Getac. Getac’s in-house engineering staff can assist resellers with customer solutions.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-73 Compared to typical notebooks, Panasonic’s new Toughbook CF-73 looks rugged, exotic and quite attractive. But compared to the Getac unit, the CF-73 looks fairly normal. A good analogy is that the Getac M220 is built like a tank while Panasonic’s CF-73 is built like a pickup truck. The Toughbook CF-73 isn’t quite as rugged at the Getac unit, nor is it quite as heavy or expensive. Like all Toughbooks, the CF-73 features a strong magnesium-alloy case with a matte silver finish. It also has a suitcaselike carrying handle.

The Toughbook CF-73 features a 1.86GHz Pentium M processor with a 533MHz front-side bus, as much as 1,280 Mbytes of DDR2 memory, an Intel 915 Express chipset, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, PCI Express, Gigabit Ethernet and Intel 802.11a/b/g wireless connectivity. It also features a shock-protected 13.3-inch daylight-readable, anti-reflective touch screen with XGA 1,024 x 768 resolution, DVD/CD-RW drive and a 56K modem. Other features include integrated stereo speakers, two Type II PC Card slots, an SD Card slot, VGA out, one serial port and two USB 2.0 ports.

The Toughbook CF-73 is smaller and lighter than the Getac unit. The CF-73 measures 1.7 x 11.7 x 10 inches and weighs 5.7 pounds. The keyboard and touch pad are spill-resistant, and all of the ports have splash-proof rubber covers over them. But it is possible that water could leak in around the edges of the optical drive, which is not sealed. Two models are available: One with 256 Mbytes of memory and a 60-Gbyte hard drive costs $3,500, while a higher-end model with 512 Mbytes of memory and an 80-Gbyte hard drive costs $3,750.

Panasonic’s Premier Partner program (TP3) has been in existence since 1998. Partners are rewarded based on total Panasonic solution sales including rugged models and wireless WAN models. The average reseller margin ranges from 10 percent to 15 percent. The program offers rules of engagement, MDF, sales rebates (on a promotional basis), lead generation, a dedicated partner Web site, priority technical support and local sales support. Training is offered in person, over the Web and at Panasonic’s annual reseller event.