Borg's
Protege 8 and Protege 15, respectively measuring eight and 15 inches diagonally, were first introduced last year, at which time they were said to include Via processors: the 500MHz Geode LX800 for the 8 and the 1GHz Eden for the 15. Last June brought the introduction of the revised
Protege 15a and 8a, which stepped up to 1.6GHz Intel Atom processors and moved from Windows XP Embedded to Windows Embedded Standard.
Now, Borg offers the Protege 10a, which, as you'll readily be able to guess, sports a 10.1-inch screen. At 1024 x 600 pixels, resolution falls between that of the 8a, which offers 800 x 600, and the 15a, which offers 1024 by 768.
More than just a "tweener" model, the 10a introduces multi-touch to the Borg product line for the first time. It is also offered with either five-wire resistive touchscreen technology, or with projected capacitive touch, the company says.
A finalized image of the Protege 10a has not yet been provided, but the device will apparently look very similar to the Protege 15a, pictured below, except that it gets a 16:9 aspect ratio. Once again, there are four programmable touch buttons on an acrylic bezel under the display, and an optional webcam is also offered.
The Protege 15
(Click to enlarge)According to Borg, the Protege 8a runs Windows Embedded Standard 7 (or Windows XP Embedded, if preferred) on a 1.6GHz Atom processor (presumably the N720) along with Intel's 945GSE chipset. A single SODIMM slot is said to support up to 2GB of RAM, while the device is available with from 2GB to 16GB of flash storage, the company says.
Instead of the PCI Express x4 expansion slots offered by its siblings, the Protege 8a comes with a Mini PCI expansion slot, says Borg. It again includes a CompactFlash slot, two SATA ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and a gigabit Ethernet port.
The Protege also provides two serial ports (one RS232, one RS232/422/485) and a PS/2 port. In addition, the system offers 8-bit GPIO, Borg adds.
On left, a Myro home security app running on the earlier Protege 15a; on right, the Protege 15a protective backbox
(Click on either to enlarge)Specifications listed by Borg for the Protege 10a include:
- Processor -- 1.6GHz Intel Atom
- Chipset -- 945GSE
- Memory -- 512MB of DDR2 RAM, expandable to 2GB, and from 2GB to 16GB of flash storage
- Expansion:
- 1 x Mini PCI slot
- 1 x CompactFlash slot
- Display:
- 10-inch touchscreen with 1024 x 600 resolution
- 200-nit brightness
- 400:1 contrast ratio
- offered with resistive or projected capacitive technology
- Camera -- CMOS sensor (1024 x 768) 30fps (optional)
- Buttons -- Acrylic bezel with 4 x customizable touch buttons; 1 x power switch button; 3 x LEDs
- Networking -- 1 x gigabit Ethernet port
- Other I/O:
- 2 x USB 2.0
- Serial -- 2 x COM ports (1 x RS232, 1 x RS232/422/485)
- PS/2
- 8-bit GPIO
- audio -- stereo speakers and microphone
- Power -- external AC 100V/240V power supply; 1 x DC 9~24VDC input
- Operating system -- Windows Embedded Standard 7 or Windows XP Embedded
- Dimensions:
- front bezel -- 11.41 x 10.03 x .23 inches (290 x 255 x 6mm)
- wall cavity -- 10.55 x 9.13 x 2 inches (268 x 232 x 51mm)
- back box 10.48 x 8.89 x 2 inches (266.4 x 226 x 51.3Dmm)
- Weight -- 7.71 pounds (3.5kg)
Borg president CraigSlawson stated, "The new Protege 10a dramatically enhances the user experience leveraging thenew 16:9 widescreen format and new multi-touch interactivity like Apple'siPad. The dedicated in-wall embedded controllers areoptimal platforms for systems control, content, communication, ehealth,energy management and digital signage. Since Protg is an always-on appliance and generally located inhigh traffic areas, net-connected services get used more often than whenaccessed by PC."
Further information
No pricing information was provided by Borg Displays for the Protege 10a, but the device appears to be available now. More information may be found on the company's website here.
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