Itronix unveils lightweight, rugged XR-1 laptop

If any of you have plans to venture towards the Sahara desert or Arctic Circle, but can't bear the thought of making such treacherous journeys without a laptop in tow, Itronix has the goods to keep you connected while fending off the brutal elements. The latest laptop to make it out of Itronix's testing facilities alive is the XR-1, a lightweight and rugged notebook that doesn't sacrifice performance in order to operate in less-than-ideal conditions. The 6.8-pound beast sports a 12-inch XGA touchscreen display, 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 40GB SATA hard drive, 512MB of RAM, and a fancy glow-in-the-dark keyboard to boot. While specs this good aren't usually found in such rough and tough machines, the XR-1 also manages to rock WLAN, WWAN, Bluetooth, and built-in GPS antennas that can all be utilized concurrently to presumably track down a signal from any corner of the globe. Making sure that all this internal goodness remains functional, the company designed the notebook to meet "military standards" for drops, shocks, vibrations, and water / dust resistance, not to mention its ability to survive a "bleach-water" bath if exposed to toxins. For those headed towards a pole, the built-in hard drive / display heaters warm up your fragile components before attempting to boot in sub-zero temperatures (and probably double as a halfway decent space heater, too). While we're impressed with the amount of power found beneath the plates of armor, er, casing, the (practically) everything-resistant XR-1 demands a premium for its abilities, and we'd humbly suggest changing your vacation spot unless the $4,330 (and way up) pricetag doesn't deliver a shock of its own.

[Pietro @ Aug 14th 2006 10:40PM]

and battery life? hope there is a charging outlet in sahara...

[scooter @ Aug 14th 2006 11:41PM]

I have a itronix go book III. Its an awesome computer. The battery life is insane. On the main battery i get about 6 hours if im using my bluetooth mouse and sierra wireless card. With the optional battery i get about 10 to 12 hours. With the two batteries i can swap in my two spairs without having to turn it off. Its overkill, but thats what makes it fun :)

[MMagic @ Aug 14th 2006 11:48PM]

you are lucky out of the 40 itronix we got for our units we are ready to replace all of them , pieces of !@#$ didn't even last for more than 3 year warranty , we have had so many problems with them we are getting tired of us shipping them to the manufacturer.
you want a real hardcore laptop get yourself a panasonic thoughbook for the same price they are much more durable, specially going through our fleet of officers.

[Finished.Law.School @ Aug 15th 2006 1:17AM]

But does it use a Sony battery? And if so is the case and components fire proof? Because if not they will need to be...

[Nikolai @ Aug 15th 2006 3:02AM]

I, for one, welcome our rugged terrain laptop overlords.

[Humajime @ Aug 15th 2006 7:43AM]

Itronix is now General Dynamics, which I work for. I wish we got these things just to see how rugged they really are.

[Eazy @ Aug 15th 2006 9:02AM]

Wont a laptop still boot in subzero temsp. I mean pahse cooling a cpu still allows it to boot. And why do you say subzero if it only it only applies to celsius and americans use fahrenheit.

[PMX @ Aug 15th 2006 9:22AM]

A 12 inch laptop that weights 6.8 pounds is considered lightweight? Also depending on how harsh the environment it would face is, wouldn't it be cheaper to buy 3 "regular" notebooks (each with better specs) and keep 2 as backups in the trunk?

[jb @ Aug 15th 2006 9:22AM]

For the "true" rugged needs - get a Miltope.
http://www.miltope.com

[PMX @ Aug 15th 2006 9:24AM]

Three notebooks for the same (or less) price, that is. ;)

[tiuk @ Aug 15th 2006 10:06AM]

I think the problem with booting in cold temperatures is with the hard drive, not the CPU.

And as for your "subzero" question, allow me to refer you to this handy map which highlights the number of countries that do not use the metric system:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Metric_system.png