NEC Shows Rugged Laptop

TOKYO -- NEC launched its latest laptop PC this week with a splash: executives poured a bottle of water over the computer while it was operating to demonstrate its toughness to harsh environmental conditions.

The "Shield Pro" FC-N21S laptop is rated to IP54, an environmental protection rating developed by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. IP54 signifies that the machine is protected against ingress of dust at levels that would harm operation and also against splashes of water from all directions.

It can also be dropped from waist height onto a hard surface and survive, as NEC also demonstrated at news conference here. NEC guarantees the machine will be safe when dropped as long as drop is not more than three feet, the machine is switched off, and its lid folded down.

Notebook Specs

The computer has a 12.1-inch touch panel LED-backlit screen and is a convertible-type laptop, which means the screen can be flipped around and folded down on the keyboard so that it resembles a tablet PC. At its heart is an Intel Core Solo processor running at 1.2GHz. NEC looked at using a Core Duo processor but the desire to keep the PC fanless meant that it wasn't possible to use a more powerful chip because of the amounts of heat that it would generate.

Users can choose between a 60GB Serial ATA or 40GB Ultra ATA hard-disk drive. Users also get to choose between Windows XP Professional or Linux as the operating system.

The machine will go on sale in Japan in January for between $2165 and $2600. NEC is still considering its international sales plans.

Other Models

Several other vendors have marketed rugged notebook computers with varying success, although most are used in specialized applications. Tough notebook cases sometimes bring unusual challenges, however, such as overheating.

In March several new models will be launched including a laptop that can stand up to a wider range of temperatures than the standard model. It will be able to operate at between -4 degrees and 122 degrees Fahrenheit. A model with an 8GB solid state disk made up of flash memory chips will also be available.