RUGGED NOTEBOOKS

Twinhead back in the Thai market

TONY WALTHAM

Taiwanese notebook manufacturer Twinhead has re-entered the Thai marketplace after being away for more than a decade or so.

It had a soft launch during the ICT Expo in August last year and is represented here by local distributor NextGen Mobile, which is promoting the Twinhead Durabook range of ruggedised notebooks built to US military specs.

NextGen's product manager Ng Shee Zher explained that the Durabook range of notebooks, featuring a 15-inch model, the R15D, with an Intel Centrino processor (44,900 baht) and a 13-inch Core2Duo-based unit (the S13Y for 47,900 baht), incorporated eight distinct features that hardened them against drops, shocks and spills.

Protected by an external mag alloy case, these notebooks had vibration resistant LCDs, flexible internal cables, an exclusive optical drive lock design, shock-mounted hard disk drives, a sealed keyboard and touch pad, battery protection and a spill-resistant keyboard, touchpad and buttons, he said.

Ruggedness is a key differentiating factor for Twinhead, which was the only company to market notebooks built to the US military's STD 810F specification but costing just a few thousand baht more than competitors' models offering the same specifications.

NextGen also distributes two models of Twinhead sub-notebooks, the F10D with a 10.6-inch WXGA screen (42,900 baht) and the F12D with a 12.1-inch screen along with Sierra Wireless air cards for GPRS or EDGE cellular networks, including having an exclusive agreement with DTAC and with CAT's high-speed EV-DO network. Another product represented is Magellan GPS devices.

The Twinhead range of Durabooks and sub-notebooks can be found at Data IT and IT City retail outlets.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007