GoBook MR-1 – Tougher Than Rox Silverbane?

OK, I admit it, I had a misspent youth. While other people were partying until the first light of dawn, my pursuits were more sedate. A group of true friends would gather around a table top and whisk ourselves away into the mystical world of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game. These were truly golden days, we were young, creative (girlfriendless geeks), and life hadn’t crushed us yet beneath subtle size 15 boots and/or 6 inch high heels.

What has all this got to do with the world of laptops I’m guessing you are thinking. Well when I saw the new GoBook MR-1 from General Dynamics Itronix, it cast my mind back to one of my many characters in that Role Playing game, rugged, with a penchant for reckless lich slaying and magic item collecting that put his party in daily mortal danger – Enter Rox Silverbane. A fearless Dwarf with ratcheted up constitution and strength scores that struck fear into the hearts of ne’r do wells, and Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom attributes lower than a limbo bar at a jockey disco.

Now for the uninitiated (and you really don’t know what you’re missing) a Dwarf in the context of D and D, obviously inspired by J.R.R Tolkien’s seminal work “The Hobbit”, is a short, stocky, powerhouse and tougher than a quadratic equation after a few brewskis.

As is the GoBook MR-1, weighing in at 2 pounds with a miniscule footprint of 4.3 by 6 inches. This Windows XP pro powered notebook is small enough to be carried anywhere you need to be. Onboard power is in the form of an adequate 1.2Ghz Intel Core Solo U1400 Processor (“Napa” chipset) with 533 MHz front side bus, up to 1 GB of RAM and a 16 gb solid state hard drive.

It’s tiny, it’s durable, and will stand up to most reasonable pressures of the modern world. Indeed, it has been awarded an IP-54 rating for dust and humidity, making it suitable for use in harsh and unpredictable environments. The precious components inside are housed in a magnesium alloy clamshell case with impact absorbing bumpers, as tough as Rox’s +5 dragon scale armour.

Factor in the innovation of a 5.6-inch SVGA-W screen which can be clearly read in bright sunlight, with new DynaVue touch screen tech thrown in, you have a package which should secure orders from government depts and humble members of Joe Soap public.

It’s worth pointing out that with 3D Intel Extreme Graphics with up to 128MB of graphics memory this is not a gaming machine. Also the MR-1 may be small but the price isn’t, expect to dig deep into your money belt for more than a few copper pieces. However, if you need a tough, tiny and reliable notebook, you probably won’t go far wrong with the GoBook MR-1, just like dependable old Rox defending Waterdeep all those years ago.

Related articles:

- Itronix’s Rugged Hummer Notebook

- The Tiny Flybook

By Ian Bandy – Laptopical

Monday, July 02, 2007