Rugged laptop for military use
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Since 2003, Miltope is part of Vision Technologies Systems, Inc., a multi-national engineering group engaged in aerospace, electronics, land systems and the marine sector, itself the US subsidiary of ST Engineering Ltd of Singapore. The VT Miltope arm makes rugged computers and computer peripherals, designed and manufactured in the US, for military, industrial and commercial tactical and aviation applications. The TSC-750M is a heavy-duty, fully ruggedized notebook designed for military use. With dimensions of 12 x 11 x 4 inches the machine is large, and it weighs between 11.5 and 13.5 pounds. The latest version, the TSC-750M 915 introduced in April of 2006, is based on a 2.13GHz Pentium M processor, the Mobile Intel 915GM Express chipset, serial ATA, and a variety of state-of-the-art performance features. It can be equipped with 2GB of RAM, a 100GB SATA ruggedized and removable hard disk, and an optical drive. A 256MB ATI Radeon X700 graphics processor provides excellent graphics performance.

The TSC-750M 915 comes with a fully sunlight-readable 14.1-inch LCD, two massive internal Li-Ion batteries good for eight hours of operation, and a magnesium composite housing and structure tough and protective enough to let the big unit survive three foot drops. The new model also adds IEEE1394 Firewire to its impressive array of interfaces that include dual RS232/485, 2 USB 2.0, legacy parallel, IrDA, video, 56k modem, RJ45 LAN, audio in/out, and two Type II PC Card slots. Environmental specs are impressive as well. Operating temperature is 0 to 122 degree Fahrenheit, and the machines undergo MIL-STD-810F testing for shock, vibration, altitude, humidity, driving rain, sand, dust, and salt fog, as well as MIL-STD-461E testing for EMI/ESD. The 750M can also be run directly via 18-32 VDC military vehicle power.

Update 10/2010: The TSC-750M was renamed to Miltope MSD V2, which stands for "Maintenance Support Device." Specs seem mostly unchanged.