Some consumer electronics companies may want people to think selecting a computer is all about sleek design, the latest and greatest chips, and choosing a color scheme which matches your decor. But sometimes big and tough is a far better solution than fast and flimsy, and if you’re the sort of person who puts a notebook through a beating, Twinhead has added two new Durabooks to its lineup—the D13RI and D14RI—which meet military specs for shock, drop, and spill resistance.
“In the real world, people use their notebooks in all types of environments which may cause accidental damage to the system. One mishap such as a drop or a liquid spill and the portable user soon discovers that a ‘bargain’ notebook is no bargain at all if you have to keep repairing or replacing your system,” explained Steven Gau, Twinhead’s President, in a statement. “Durabook notebooks more than pay for themselves.”
Twinhead’s new Durabook systems offer spill resistant keyboards and magnesium alloy cases which are up to 20 times stronger than traditional plastic cases uses on many notebook systems. The systems each meet the military 810F spec for drop resistante, pass military standards for shock and spill resistance, and Twinhead’s design offers additional protection for internal components inclinding the LCD screen, CPU, hard drive, and battery circuitry. A patented DVD/CD tray lock prevents accidental ejection of optical media.
But horsepower…well, these Durabooks aren’t on the Intel Core bandwagon. The systems sport Intel Pentium M 740 or higher processors with a 533 MHz frontside bus and 2 MB of L2 cache, or a Celeron-M 3450 CPU with either a DVD/CD-Rw combo drive or DVD dual drive. Add 802.11b/g wireless, a max 2 GB of RAM, Intel integrated graphics, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports, one Type II PCMCIA slot, built-in 56K modemm, and built-in speakers and the systems start to take shape. The D13RI ships with a 13.3 inch widescreen display, while the D14RI comes with a 14-inch LCD display. But where you’re missing the latest processors, you might be saving money in durability and out-of-pocket costs: the D13RI is priced at $1099, and the D14R starts at $999. Might make you feel better about taking the notebook snowboarding. Or mountain biking. Or to construction sites. Or….
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