American Industrial Systems, a designer and manufacturer of rugged solutions for vertical markets, grew its hardware offerings on Aug. 31 with the addition of a 10.4-inch Rugged Tablet PC featuring a 10.4-inch industrial LCD screen and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and an Intel 945 GSE chipset.
The Rugged Tablet PC, which AIS officially announced Aug. 31, has the look of a small, thin briefcase, with its handle and protective edging on its rounded corners. It has a fanless design and is said to be optimized for maximum thermal dissipation. It’s useable in temperatures from 4 to 140 degrees F., has a sunlight readable screen, and meets military specifications 810F and IP54 for shock and vibration, drops to three feet and exposure to water and dust.
This AIS tablet PC also has medical equipment certifications for being electronically compatible with use in medical fields.
In health care scenarios, the Rugged Tablet PC can be used with a shoulder-carrying belt that enables the tablet to lay flat in front of the user, like the offerings of concessions vendors or flapper-era cigarette girls. AIS is positioning the Rugged Tablet PC as a device flexible enough for numerous vertical markets, including field service, in which case it can be paired with an in-truck mount, as well as military applications, oil and gas industries, warehousing and machine control.
For on-the-go users, the handle can be positioned on its horizontal or vertical side, and a desktop docking station makes it easy to plug in to peripherals.
Wireless connectivity options include built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as GSM, CDMA, EDGE, GPRS and HSDPA cellular connectivity. A PCMCIA enables users to add a wireless modem or a third-party GPS device.
The tablet runs Windows XP, features a 4800mAh lithium-ion battery and features such as programmable hot keys. Retail starting price is $1,499.
AIG additionally offers 8.4-inch and 12.1-inch models of Rugged Tablet PCs.
Though created with very different users in mind, Intel also offers a (convertible) tablet with its Atom processor, the Classmate PC.