Trimble Launches Tough, Atom-Powered Yuma

The upcoming tablet borrows hardware from the netbook set and a rugged exterior from the industrial crowd.

For those who eschew the typical office environment in favor of a muddy river bank, slippy oil rig or arctic tundra, Trimble has a new replacement for the desktop. The Yuma tablet offers guts similar to a netbook, with an exterior that’s built to survive.

The rubber-wrapped and sealed Yuma resists dust, sand, mud, humidity and extreme temperature. An ingress protection rating of 67 even means it’s protected against immersion in water up to one meter deep – a rare level of durability even in the rugged-PC sector.

Inside, an Intel Atom processor running at 1.6GHz supplies power equivalent to what you would find in a netbook, while a 32GB solid-state drive gives it resistance to shock, and integrated Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS deliver connectivity. There are also dual integrated cameras for videoconferencing or taking photos, as well as ExpressCard and SDIO slots for expandability. The screen spans seven inches, and the whole unit weighs 2.6 pounds with batteries aboard.

The Yuma should be available by April, but pricing information has not yet been announced.