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Notebook for the Field (fwd)
Douglas B Hanson (dhanson@WORLD.STD.COM)
Fri, 18 Mar 1994 10:06:43 -0500
HANOVER, GERMANY, 1994 MAR 17 (NB) -- Take a portable PC, put it
out in the blazing sun (120 degrees) for a day, leave out for the night
in the rain in 100 percent salty humidity, before dumping it in the
Sahara desert in the middle of a sand storm. To clean it up, pop it
under water in the bath for a half hour. Will it work? If it is a
Badger PC it will.
That is the kind of stress that Badger rates its computers as having
to withstand. The company's 386 and 486-based portables are also
billed as being able to withstand a 30 minute pounding in a cargo
plane being buffeted at 15,000 feet unpressurized in a storm.
The company, which hails from Tampa, Florida, but sells its
computers through agents worldwide, acknowledges that there are
other manufacturers that produce similarly-specified ruggedized
systems, but at substantially higher prices than Badger.
This pricing means that ordinary users can buy a Badger portable
for use in conditions that would severely damage a conventional
machine, without breaking the bank, claims the company.
"Field computing demands a notebook with processing power and a
go-anywhere attitude. The GT-486N (the company's new 486-based
portable) can do just that," claimed Carl McCormick, the CEO of
Group Technologies, the parent company to Badger Computers.
Despite the ruggedized nature of the PCs, the only giveaway
feature of the GT series is the fact that the keys are of a square
"calculator-style" type, and have almost double the normal number
of keys, to avoid the need for a mouse or similar pointing device.
According to Jeanne Kuehner, Badger's business manager, five
machines comprise the company's rugged range, ranging from the
GT-110 a handheld 80286 PC-AT computer, through to a portable
RISC workstation. Pricing depends on the level of support needed,
as well as the country and reseller sold through, she told
Newsbytes.
(Steve Gold/19940317/Press & Public Contact: Group
Technologies, (US) 813-972-6486)
Douglas B. Hanson, Ph.D.
Bioengineering Department
Forsyth Dental Center
140 Fenway
Boston, MA 02115
dhanson@world.std.com
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