Durabook TA10 is a tablet so rugged that it could be used on a battlefield with no problems at all. In addition, it would save clumsy persons of a lot of trouble, provided that they have the money to buy it.
GammaTech is a company specialized in designing and manufacturing army strong notebooks and tablets. Durabook TA10 is the latest addition to their line of mobile products. Unlike other manufacturers of tough products that withstand damage well, but fail miserably in terms of specs, GammaTech made sure to pack the latest and the greatest technology in this shockproof tablet, from most points of view.
The name of the product hints at its 10.4″ XGA (1024×768) TFT LCD display with LED backlight, but this isn’t a spectacular feature, since many manufacturers nowadays make at least Full HD resolution tablets. As a downside, this tablet features a resistive multi-touch LCD, while mainstream tablets come with capacitive IPS, PLS or Retina displays. The resistive display is a downside in our world, but it might be an advantage in a theater of war. The luminance of 700 nits, on the other hand, is more than impressive, since soldiers will be able to use the tablet even in very bright sunlight.
The wow-factor is represented by the great number of certifications that this product has, along with its amazing processing power. More precisely, has the following certifications:
- MIL-STD 810G for drop and vibration
- IP65 for water and dust protection
- MIL-STD 461F (electromagnetic compatibility/interference standard)
- MIL-STD 810G 509.5 for protection against salt fog
In case you’re not familiar with the MIL-STD acronym, it stands for military standard. The tablet is powered by an Intel Ivy Bridge i5 3247U CPU, which is coupled with up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM. Data will be stored on a primary quick release 2.5″ HDD or SSD, and if that won’t suffice, an optional mSATA SSD of up to 128GB can be installed.
In terms of communication, Durabook TA10 comes with a LAN port, 801.11 b/g/n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0, LTE/3G, dedicated GPS and various sensors. As far as connectivity is concerned, GammaTech included two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, a 9-pin D-SUB and PCMCIA card expansion slot. If the tablet falls into the wrong hands, the enemy won’t be able to access the data, unless he carries your hand in his backpack (I apologize for the gory image). One version of the tablet is equipped with fingerprint reader, which should ensure the safety of sensitive information.
GammaTech’s latest tablet will run either Windows 7 or 8, and promises to offer a battery life of up to 10 hours, if both hot-swap batteries are installed. Unlike modern tablets, which tip the scale at around 500 grams, this one will definitely be remembered for its heftiness, as it weighs around 2.4 kg.
Durabook TA10 will carry a price tag of $2,300. While the governments may have no problems with paying that much for logistics, for casual geeks who break their gadgets all the time and who might want such a rugged tablet, the price is rather steep. Of course, investing that much in a rugged tablet may save geeks money, in time, considering that they’re not interested in updating their hardware too soon, which is certainly not the case for tech addicts.
If you liked this post, please check Sony’s Xperia Z, which withstands harsh condition pretty well, despite not being rugged, and the rugged PS3.
