GoBook MR-1 - Tougher Than RoxSilverbane?
Tough and tiny, the new Gobook MR-1 from Itronix as an IP54 certification, which means it has passed rigorous dust and water testing. Laptopical's Ian Bandy shares his thoughts on this rugged ultraportable laptop.
OK, I admitit, I had a misspent youth. While other people were partyinguntil the first light of dawn, my pursuits were more sedate. Agroup of true friends would gather around a table top and whiskourselves away into the mystical world of the Dungeons andDragons role playing game. These were truly golden days, we wereyoung, creative (girlfriendless geeks), and life hadn't crushedus yet beneath subtle size 15 boots and/or 6 inch highheels.
What hasall this got to do with the world of laptops I'm guessing you arethinking. Well when I saw the new GoBook MR-1 from GeneralDynamics Itronix, it cast my mind back to one of my manycharacters in that Role Playing game, rugged, witha penchant for reckless lich slaying and magic item collectingthat put his party in daily mortal danger - Enter Rox Silverbane.A fearless Dwarf with ratcheted up constitution and strengthscores that struck fear into the hearts of ne'r do wells, andCharisma, Intelligence and Wisdom attributes lower than a limbobar at a jockey disco.
Now for the uninitiated (and you really don't know what you'remissing) a Dwarf in the context of D and D, obviously inspired byJ.R.R Tolkien's seminal work "The Hobbit", is a short, stocky,powerhouse and tougher than a quadratic equation after a fewbrewskis.
As is the GoBook MR-1, weighing in at 2 pounds with a minisculefootprint of 4.3 by 6 inches. This Windows XP pro powerednotebook is small enough to be carried anywhere you need to be.Onboard power is in the form of an adequate 1.2Ghz Intel CoreSolo U1400 Processor ("Napa" chipset) with 533 MHz front sidebus, 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 reasonablepressures of the modern world. Indeed, it has been awarded anIP-54 rating for dust and humidity, making it suitable for use inharsh and unpredictable environments. The precious componentsinside are housed in a magnesium alloy clamshell case with impactabsorbing bumpers, as tough as Rox's +5 dragon scale armour.
Factor in the innovation of a 5.6-inch SVGA-W screen which can beclearly read in bright sunlight, with new DynaVue touchscreen tech thrown in, you have a package whichshould secure orders from government depts and humble members ofJoe Soap public.
It's worth pointing out that with 3D Intel Extreme Graphics withup 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 likedependable old Rox defending Waterdeep all those yearsago.
User Opinions about Rugged Gobook MR-1 Laptop.
I am a corporate customer of go book... they have too many hardware issues and are not as rugged as they claim. I have gone through 3 of these in 4 months. THEY ARE JUNK! - BY Joe