Construction Informer

The ultra-rugged Algiz XRW notebook is a full featured performer that weighs only 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). (PRNewsFoto/Handheld Group)

Just when we thought laptops couldn’t get any tougher along comes The Handheld Group to demonstrate it just might be possible. The Algiz XRW is a rugged laptop sporting a 10.1-inch widescreen with sunlight-readable screen technology, and a 2 GHz Intel Atom processor. It has a 64 GB solid state disk and 2 GB of DDR2 RAM. The Algiz XRW runs the Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate operating system.

Here are the other specs the company provides:

The Algiz XRW comes standard with Bluetooth, WLAN and GPS as well as a built-in 2-megapixel autofocus camera that allows video conferencing in the field.

An optional 3G modem can provide high-speed GSM/UMTS/EVDO data transmission. The Algiz XRW is ready for Gobi(TM) 2000 technology – which means you’ll be able to work on your choice of wireless frequency anywhere in the world. And you can put in a full day’s work, with a 57.6 Wh battery that works for 8 hours on a single charge.

The company says the unit weighs three-and-a-third pounds (1.5 kilos), has keyboard and mouse-touchpad that are illuminated by two led lights and are fully sealed, and it carries an IP65 rating against sand, dust and water. It passes MIL-STD-810F ruggedness testing, including drop tests from almost 4 feet (1.2 meters), and it is comfortable in temperatures between -5.5 degrees F and 158 degrees F (-21 degreesC to 70 degreesC).

I’m not convinced the company has actually “redefined the world of rugged computing,” and there’s not much in the press release that explains just how it has done that. But with that observation aside, it does for me what all the other rugged laptops I’ve written about here and here do, and that’s create an insane desire to throw them against a brick wall and see what happens.