Motorola\'s Rugged Notebook.

Home → Laptop News → Motorola\'s Rugged Notebook.

Written by Matthew Brodsky on Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Rugged Mobility - The ML910 Motorola

More known for their cell phones than laptops, Motorola has now entered the rugged arena with the release of the ML910. This widescreen machine boasts a fingerprint reader and hard disk heater for operation in cold enviroments.

Ruggedized Motorola Notebook Motorolareleased its ML910 Rugged Notebook and its MW810 MobileWorkstation-both meant to be the It for government workers andpublic safety folks. In other words, users who will most likely,whether intentionally or not, abuse their laptop in the field andopen it to risk of theft and damage from those malevolentne'er-do-wells looking to steal state secrets.

Thus, notonly are these devices built to withstand a physical pounding,they can also handle your average hacker and other privacyattacks. The ML910 is built to U.S. Department of Defensestandards, includes a fingerprint scanner, and can safely accesswireless signals in a variety of formats, including LAN, GPS,Bluetooth, and WAN. The secret to the secrecy is special softwareproprietary to Motorola that allows it to bounce effortlesslybetween wireless bands.

The ML910 Motorola laptop also has one of the widest widescreens (13.3inches) available of any "rugged" classnotebook. Its hard drive is capable of starting up at freezingoutdoor temps, and the notebook has an outside-environment sensorysoftware that monitors air temps and can prevent system shutdownsfrom jumps in the mercury.

The MW810 workstation has similar technology to manhandle wireless workacross multiple networks, as well as GPS technology to placeyourself and your vehicle anywhere in the world. What sets thisworkstation apart from others is that it is built in threepieces-the CPU, the display, and the keyboard-all of which can beupgraded and swapped in and out on their own.

Now that we've got the cool spy stuff covered, we can check outthe usual stuff, such as the ML910's 1.7 GHz Pentium processorand its replaceable 40GB hard drive, the fact that it runs on oldWindows XP (which might be a benefit to some), and that it comeswith an integrated digital videorecorder.

The ruggedized market has traditionally been the arena of Toughbook manufacturer Panasonic, but it's great to see another brand offering competition in this sector.