New rugged Dell -- the 'Anti-Air'

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- Dell unveiled today its latest (and definitely greatest) rugged laptop, the Dell Latitude XFR D630. The device is the polar opposite of the Apple MacBook Air. The XFR D630 is thick and ugly. The Air is thin and pretty. The D630 is "IT-Friendly." The Air, well, isn't.

Most fully ruggedized products are marketed at government, military and commercial users. But they're forgetting the extreme telecommuters, the "anywhere computing" crowd and people who like to take a laptop along during adventure travel. Dell's brand-new Latitude XFR D630 looks ideal for underserved segment.

The laptop meets the U.S. military's standards for indestructibility (the Pentagon's MIL-STD 810F standards). It can handle extreme humidity, extreme tempuratures (-20 all the way up to 140 degrees), extreme altitudes (15,000 feet) and extreme dust (it's completely sealed).

Dell is seeking to differentiate the system from other ruggedized laptop makers (i.e. Panasonic) by emphasizing performance, not just durability. The XFR D630 runs a range of Intel Core 2 Duo processors and can handle up to 4 GB of RAM. It has a 80 GB shock-resistant hard drive. It also sports a pretty big screen for a rugged laptop: 14.1 inches. Dell says a patent-pending thermal management system makes possible super fast graphics performance.

The company's press release brags that the XFR D630 offers:

• "Five times more data durability than leading competitors with solid state drives
• Latitude ExpressCharge batteries that charge at least 30 minutes faster than competitors
• Outdoor readable screen at 500 nits
• Integrated resistive touch technology
• Shock isolated mounting to help protect hard drive, LCD and core electronics
• Dual locking butterfly mechanisms for easy access to components
• Sealed keyboard designed to withstand driving rain and dust"

The XFR D630 is really a fully ruggedized version of the D630. That's a good thing. It means, for example, that the XFR D630 uses a totally conventional software configuration and doesn't require special firmware upgrades. It also doesn't require special batteries or AC adaptor.

The XFR D630 is the anti-Air: It's bulky (2.6 by 13.9 by 10.2 inches), heavy (8.9 pounds), has plenty of ports and comes in black or desert tan. And, unlike the Air, the D630 is expensive -- pricing starts at $3,899. It ships today.

The timing of Dell's announcement is unfortunate for DRS Technologies, which also announced today new rugged mobile computers: The ARMOR C12 notebook, and the ARMOR X10 Tablet. Here's the release.

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