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macnn/electronista

03/14/2008, 8:30am, EDT

Friday, March 14th

Frontier promises rugged MacBook Air rival

Frontier today put out an aggressive challenge to Apple by claiming a system which is both lighter and tougher than the MacBook Air. The FRLN is thicker than its American counterpart but occupies less space through a smaller 12-inch, LED-backlit screen and weighs just 2.75 pounds, all the while being more resilient against everyday use. The chassis of the FRLN can withstand up to 265 pounds of pressure and survive drops from up to 2.5 feet; it also comes with a water-resistant keyboard that guards against rain or spills.

In an unusual move for this system class, Frontier is opting to use the same 800MHz Intel A110 processor as found in UMPCs, providing four hours of battery life even with the small standard battery. An extended battery runs the system for up to 8.5 hours. The notebook is also supplied with 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and 802.11g Wi-Fi. It ships to Japan in late march for the equivalent of $1,291 and will not be officially released in the US. [via Impress]




Filed under: computers
Other story tags: MacBook Air, Frontier

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FRLN
0
03/14, 8:41am, EDT
Is that supposed to be pronounced Forlorn? Like RAZR?
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined Sep 2000
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ugliness
0
03/14, 8:53am, EDT


ugly machine ugly OS
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2007
User is offline
03/14, 8:57am, EDT
MacBooks have see through characters that can be lit in the dark, which the Frontier doesn't have, instead it has the typical PC notebook stickers for characters that wear-off in a couple of months. It's thicker, and runs Windows, comes with less RAM, smaller screen and costs a measly $300 less. And I don't know about it being "stronger", the MBA can also be dropped from 2.5 feet or 30", that's not very high.

Although I'm not a big fan of the MBA, Apple's model makes more sense. It comes with software to remotely install apps from your desktop, and did I mention that it runs OS X?
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Aug 2007
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not really a rival...
0
03/14, 9:08am, EDT
... given the processor.

it's more like an oversized UMPC.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Nov 2005
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High tech
0
03/14, 9:22am, EDT
It even comes with VGA! How 1998!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Feb 2006
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New Light Laptop
0
03/14, 9:35am, EDT
Hey... No doubt a lot of machines are just great. Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows Wind.
It still runs.......
0
03/14, 10:37am, EDT
Yea! But it still runs......

Windozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzezzzzzzzzzzzze!

So it is still a piece of crap!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Oct 2006
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More like
0
03/14, 11:07am, EDT
a competitor to the Asus EEE PC, not the MBA.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Oct 2003
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Strong Competition
0
03/14, 11:35am, EDT
This Frontier (who?) thing competes with the MacBook Air about as well as a set of hedge trimmers - with the hedge trimmers faring a little bit better than the Frontier in actual tests.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Feb 2005
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Fugly
0
03/14, 11:38am, EDT
I don't see the folks at Apple shaking in their boots over this offering. Compared to the Air, its fugly.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2004
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