Friday, March 14,2008 @ 8:30am
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]
