14 DAY TRIAL // In an attempt to answer the increased demands of professionals working in risky environments, GammaTech has unveiled a new fully-rugged notebook, called the Durabook R8300, which aims to provide portability and performance even in the most hostile environments.
The laptop has received its MIL-STD-810G and IP65 certification, meaning it won’t give in to harsh conditions, like the ones usually encountered by military or public safety personnel.
GammaTech President, Jen Chen, commented on the launch by saying “it is easy to produce a computer that works well in a climate-controlled environment, where Mother Nature is held at bay.”
“It is something entirely different, however, to engineer a computer to withstand long exposure to wind, dust, rain and extreme temperatures as well as surviving bumpy rides, drops and working in sweltering heat or frigid temperatures.”
“Designed specifically for outdoor usage, our new 8300 notebook offers unsurpassed performance, even in the most hostile environments.”
Being a rugged laptop, the device naturally looks quite bulky, but GammaTech refrains from actually saying how much the device weighs. Anyway, let’s take a closer look at what the laptop has to offer.
Performance
The R8300 is powered by a 3rd-generation iCore LV/ULV CPU i-Core i7-3555LE or i-Core i5-3437U, so you’ll not be getting the Haswell treatment here.
The laptop also bundles a mobile Intel QM77 Express Chipset which brings an integrated USB 3.0 Intel AMT 8.0 and Intel Storage Technology with RAID support to boost performance, power management and keep sensitive data safe, too. The Durabook runs on Windows 7 OS.
Display
The R8300 notebook comes equipped with a 13.3-inch TFT touch-screen LCD display that should provide decent screen visibility even in direct sunlight. GammaTech says professionals will be able to use it in optimal conditions “mid-day through late-afternoon sun.”
Storage
When in need to store information, rugged professionals can inter-swap either 500GB or 750GB HDDs by virtue of turning a few knobs. Those more comfortable with solid state drives can go for that option, as well.
More additional storage comes via 5.25-inch Super Multi-Slot optical disc drive. On top of that, there are DDR3 SODIMM slots capable of providing 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of memory.
Connectivity
The Durabook R8300 features all the connectivity feats you might be asking for, including Wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.0 class 1 combo card, built-in antenna, M2 card slot for WWAN module, built-in SIM Card slot, built-in GPS and more.
Battery
The R8300 is said to be able to last up to 8 hours and if more is needed, there’s always the second-battery pack that increases the laptop’s existence to 12 hours.
Look for the GammaTech Durabook R8300 in the second quarter of the year; pricing specifications haven’t been revealed yet.