Well, I wanted to put the title as “you can simply throw it anywhere you want”. While that is technically correct, we do not want to encourage violent behaviours or anyone trying to throw their notebooks at other people’s heads. Hence, the slightly tamer title. Still, we may not prevent golf sticks from landing on top of one. We do not condone that too.
Now we got over that, let us look at what Acer has launched here – the Acer Enduro series. No they are not bikes, they are still PCs. Notebook PCs to be specific and are made to take on the harshest of environments today. This sort of reminds us of the highly rugged notebook PCs that we saw a few years ago from Acer as well.
Still, this is an all-new line-up from Acer that is built for a highly underserved market segment. The devices in this series all gets MIL-810G certification and up to IP65 dust and water resistance rating. Now you see why I would say you can throw the device on anything.
In the series line-up you get form factors from as small as a tablet, to an all-day working powerhouse that is the N7. That is where we will start too, the top-of-the-line, made for front-line use Acer Enduro N7.
Acer Enduro N7
There is a problem that is largely unsolved in places that are dusty, humid, dry, hot, and cold in the extreme sense. I mean, when you go to the quarry, you hardly see computers outside their office, or within an enclosed cabin of a rig. There is a good reason for that.
While we have been able to send man to space, make electric cars go 500km on a single charge, and make LED patches as bright as the sun, we have not been able to make PCs more durable than our own skin. Yes, we are saying that PC parts, no matter how powerful, are fragile. You cannot put water on them unless you have a special coating, dust will amass more heat for parts, and anything out of place might short the board and kill everything. Yes, they are that fragile.
Which is why Acer answered with the Acer Enduro N7. The Acer Enduro N7, while sounding like the name of an adventure ready bike, is a small powerhouse you can take to Antarctica and conduct research freely even outside the base and research camps. It offers portability like no others.
Under bright sunlight is no issue for its 700-nits bright screen. You can still see details and comfortably work around under the harshest, coldest conditions from its 14-inch Full HD display. That, or watch a good movie if you have strong enough internet connection.
It packs a 10th Generation Intel Core i5 (up to) to really wring out everything out of whatever you might want to throw at it though, since you might need the computing power in these working conditions. Acer also managed to add some of their own security measures on both hardware and software level to protect any sensitive or important information you might put into it. Of course, a fingerprint sensor keeps everything inaccessible to the wrong people.
What is more amazing though is its battery. It has a big battery that is good for 10-hours of continuous use. Of course, that 10-hours is highly dependent on moisture, temperature, and requirements. If that is not enough, you can swap out the battery anytime. It is hot-swappable, which is something we have not seen for a long time, and also means that you can bring a couple of batteries with you for a long research trip. Built-in bridge battery also means that you can swap your battery without the device dying on you.
Acer Enduro N3
The Acer Enduro N3 is the one you take with you when you work plenty outdoors. It is made to really last your use case. They say event managers might want this. I would say that the MIL-STD 810G and IP53 dust and water resistance on this thing will allow even the most clumsy of people can appreciate it.
It is not too heavy and big too at just below 25mm and just below 2kg. That is quite amazing considering that you have a Corning Gorilla Glass protecting the Full HD display. The rugged notebook is no slouch though. It still packs up to a 10th Generation Intel Core i7, up to 32GB of RAM, and even up to an NVIDIA GeForce MX230 GPU and 512GB of SSD.
No, it is not made for rugged gaming in the harshest conditions, but why put yourselves through that for gaming? This is made to be outdoors. This is made to last 13-hours is stressful work conditions where accidents involving dropping your PCs or other hardware is highly possible and a less painful situation.
Acer Enduro T5 Tablet
When even more portability is required, nothing beats a light, touch-sensitive display on your hands. That is the Acer Enduro T5 Windows tablet. The 10-incher packs a powerful 7th Generation Core m3 processor that might be needed in managing a production line effectively and efficiently. Of course, this still needs to be tough. That is why it is built to MIL-STD 810G standards and IP65 dust and water resistant rated.
Attach it to the endless accessory option on Acer’s long list and you have yourselves the ultimate productivity machine that can take on anything in your factory. Please do not throw one in one of those heavy-duty shredders though. We are not going to be responsible for any destroyed machineries or hardware.
Acer Enduro T1
The Acer Enduro T1 comes in two sizes, a 10.1-inch tablet will bring Windows 10 experience from a touch screen to a notebook form factor in a single move. It still has the MIL-STD 810G and IP54 rating to make it a versatile and durable workhorse. Its power comes from an Intel Celeron processor paired with a 64GB storage to make it a quite work-around in any situation.
The 8-inch option is an Android tablet that can take on the world. When we say that, we mean it has MIL-STD 810G certification still along with IP54 rating. But it is made to be in all kinds of uncomfortable situations, including retail. In these day and age, you need to work with gloves, and so this thing also works with gloves. That also means it could be perfect in a hospital environment.
Prices and Availability
The Acer Enduro N3 will be available in North America region in August with prices starting at US$ 899. The EMEA markets will get it sooner in June or early July at prices going from EU€ 999. No word on Malaysia specifically just yet. But would you need that though?
The Acer Enduro N7, T5, and T1’s prices are yet to be revealed. There are also still no confirmation on when they will be available to the market, but we can safely say that they will be available within 2020. Information on the Acer Enduro series is available on their website though.