By Andrew Liszewski

Oh sure, an all-metal chassis carved from a single piece of aluminum might look sleek, but I have my doubts that the latest MacBooks will survive the beating the General Dynamics (yep, the people who make tanks) Itronix GoBook MR-1 is designed to take. At just 2 pounds and 6.6 inches wide it might look like another run-of-the-mill netbook, but it’s actually engineered to meet or exceed the US Military’s MIL-STD-810F standard for drop, shock, vibration and temperature endurance. That and the $5,649 price tag definitely remove the GoBook MR-1 from the netbook category.

The GoBook MR-1′s 5.6 inch touchscreen display has a native resolution of 1024×768 and thanks to Itronix’s DynaVue screen technology it’s as viewable in direct sunlight as it is indoors. The MR-1 also features a full QWERTY keyboard that’s sealed to repel water and dust, a touchpad and a small joystick for controlling the cursor and a built-in GPS receiver, but only a single USB port on the back. However, more ports can be added via a small collection of customized docks designed for office or in-vehicle usage. While Laptop Magazine wasn’t really impressed by the performance of the MR-1′s 1.2-GHz Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core Solo U1400 processor, I guess durability is the real reason why anyone would pick one up.

[ Laptop Magazine - General Dynamics Itronix GoBook MR-1 ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]