Grrrr! - Dell toughens up laptops

After targeting the home and the office, Dell is gearing up for the building site with the launch of a range of semi-rugged PCs.

It has unveiled the ATG or all-terrain grade D630, based on its Latitude model of the same name.

The kit maker has added in features for outdoors workers, including screens that respond to daylight and LED-lit keyboards for darker conditions.

The toughened laptops will also sport solid state hard drives, which are less likely to fail after an impact - such as being dropped - than mechanical drives.

The D630 is the second in the range, following on from the launch of the D620 earlier this year.

Eric Greffier, Dell's head of client products, said the PC maker is targeting new types of customers including construction workers and the military with the ruggedised devices. "We have to have more products to target more segments," he added.