So you like the looks of Dell's 14.1-inch Latitude E6400 do ya? Well what if we told you that Dell plans a semi-rugged E6400 ATG version? While it won't replace Dell's fully-rugged XFR D630 when the ATG launches in June, we can't help but be intrigued at the prospect of a dust-proof, shock-proof, and spill-proof, humidity and altitude resistant Centrino 2 laptop with super bright 750cd/m2 (or 650cd/m2 touchscreen) display, GPS, UWB, DisplayPort and more. It can get pretty rugged working unwashed in our robes and slippers, you know. Full features listed after the break as our Week o' Dell scoops continues.

It's been a solid tick since we heard a peep from Motion Computing, but nearly a year after we first wrapped our paws around the firm's C5 medical tablet, the F5 has arrived. Granted, this bugger is more suited for service industries and field work than the ER, but its "semi-rugged" nature ensures that it'll get the job done almost anywhere. Packed within the IP54-compliant (read: dust, water, shock and temperature resistant) chassis is a 1.2GHz Intel Centrino U1400 processor, 10.4-inch XGA (1,024 x 768) View Anywhere display, 40GB HDD (optional 32GB SSD available), built-in 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth, WWAN (EV-DO) support and a 2-megapixel camera for good measure. Additionally, you'll spot an optional barcode reader, integrated RFID reader / passive tag, a biometric scanner, three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, VGA output and a battery good for about 3.5 hours of usage. Unfortunately, such a well-spec'd Slate PC won't come cheap, as this creature will set you back a stiff $2,699 to $4,000 depending on configuration.

Update: Check out videos of the F5 surviving a brutal drop test and enjoying the rain after the jump.

It's not like you couldn't get connected to an EV-DO network on a Toughbook before, but Panasonic and Verizon Wireless are making things uber-easy on us all by certifying "the full line" of rugged lappies for connectivity with Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A. Yep, the Toughbook 30, 19, T, W, and Y series of machines have now been admitted into The Network, which means that you can potentially download a presentation while surviving a hail storm at up to 1.4Mbps and send in your corrections whilst dodging tree limbs at up to 800kbps. The Verizon WWAN treatment will require users to purchase the Sierra Wireless embedded MC-5725 PCI Express card and VZAccess software, but the oh-so-important pricing information was casually omitted.

[Via Slashphone]

Joining the slew of other handhelds computers that surfaced at Computex is the Ruggedbook PC657 from Samwell, which does indeed pack a beefy shell to protect the innards from whatever comes its way. The seven-inch UMPC includes a 800 x 600 resolution touchscreen, a 1.2GHz VIA C7M processor, Windows XP Professional, a PCMCIA slot, SDIO / MMC slots, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a fingerprint scanner, and an integrated camera. Additionally, it'll handle up to 1GB of RAM, offers up your choice of 30, 60, or 80GB 1.8-inch hard drives if you're not kosher with the built-in 2GB/4GB/8GB flash storage option, and allows you the luxury of slipping a DVB-H tuner or GPS module into the PC Card slot if you so desire. We hope you weren't counting on a price or release date directly from the show floor, but do click on for a few more hands-on pictures.

If you're interested in getting into the semi-ruggedized laptop game, but aren't quite ready to sacrifice those Dell, um, good looks, then you might dig this new ATG D620 Latitude from your boringbook manufacturer of choice, which claimed to be considering going rugged late last year. The new laptop plays off of that plain vanilla D620 we saw early last year, but beefs up the exterior, shock-mounts the hard drive, spill-resists the keyboard and covers up those ports to defend against the harsh outdoors and / or occasional board meeting skirmish. The 1280 x 800 14.1-inch display is the same as its non-rugged counterpart, with the notable exception of 500 nits of brightness, making the display much more viewable outdoors. The laptop also includes ATG task lights for finding the keyboard in the dark, and that lovable selection of WWAN options Dell is so fond of providing these days. No pre-loaded Vista here, but the laptop does come Vista ready, and with Core 2 Duo processors and room for 4GB of RAM, there should be plenty under the hood to manage the new OS. Prices start at $2499. The folks over at Notebook Review already got their hands on one of these, and they seemed to enjoy the 500 nit screen, thought the battery life to be good with the 9-cell option, and found the rugged feel to be "convincing." Downsides of the laptop include the lack of dedicated graphics, the 1.8-inch HDD (since the full-size drives don't fit with all that padding) and a few other more minor quibbles.

Read - Dell Launches its First Ruggedized Notebook
Read - Dell Latitude ATG D620 Semi-Rugged Notebook Review