AlbertPacino
Skilled
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<font color="#3366FF">Have a habit of breaking your notebook PC? Maybe it's time to look into one that can stand up to a little mistreatment.</font>
"Occasionally I have a nightmare about bad things happening to my laptop. A drink gets spilled in the keyboard, or it goes crashing to the ground. Either would be enough to give me a real start in the real world and would be certainly enough to shatter an otherwise peaceful night's sleep."
I guess that says something about how much time I spend in front of a computer, and how important the contents of my notebook's hard drive are to me.
With these fears in mind, I've always wanted to try out some of the so-called "ruggedized" notebooks I've heard so much about over the years. The opportunity finally presented itself when I got samples from two manufacturers of rugged notebooks: Panasonic, a unit of Japan's Matsushita , and the privately held Itronix, based in Spokane, Wash.
Rugged notebooks are the kind of computer you buy when your job, your bad habits or your clumsiness wreak havoc on typical notebook computers. A fully ruggedized notebook can survive spills into its keyboard, drops to hard surfaces, dust, vibration and general rough treatment.
These are the machines that utility companies buy for their field service personnel, that police departments buy for cops and that the military buys for soldiers in dangerous places around the world.
And yes, they cost more than a regular notebook. A lot more.
They're heavier and bulkier, and generally tend to lag behind regular notebooks in features. The costs of notebook repair (both financial and the cost of time lost and general aggravation) add up. But if you're the kind of person who tends to treat notebook PCs like a sack of dirty laundry and has repair bills to prove it, then perhaps one of these beefed-up babies is worth considering.
I spent a week testing Panasonic's Toughbook 29 and the Itronix GoBook III, and during that time I tried to dream up reasonable ways of testing their resistance to maltreatment. I'm happy to say both survived their terrible trials. But are they good computers overall?
Source
<font color="#3366FF">Have a habit of breaking your notebook PC? Maybe it's time to look into one that can stand up to a little mistreatment.</font>
"Occasionally I have a nightmare about bad things happening to my laptop. A drink gets spilled in the keyboard, or it goes crashing to the ground. Either would be enough to give me a real start in the real world and would be certainly enough to shatter an otherwise peaceful night's sleep."
I guess that says something about how much time I spend in front of a computer, and how important the contents of my notebook's hard drive are to me.
With these fears in mind, I've always wanted to try out some of the so-called "ruggedized" notebooks I've heard so much about over the years. The opportunity finally presented itself when I got samples from two manufacturers of rugged notebooks: Panasonic, a unit of Japan's Matsushita , and the privately held Itronix, based in Spokane, Wash.
Rugged notebooks are the kind of computer you buy when your job, your bad habits or your clumsiness wreak havoc on typical notebook computers. A fully ruggedized notebook can survive spills into its keyboard, drops to hard surfaces, dust, vibration and general rough treatment.
These are the machines that utility companies buy for their field service personnel, that police departments buy for cops and that the military buys for soldiers in dangerous places around the world.
And yes, they cost more than a regular notebook. A lot more.
They're heavier and bulkier, and generally tend to lag behind regular notebooks in features. The costs of notebook repair (both financial and the cost of time lost and general aggravation) add up. But if you're the kind of person who tends to treat notebook PCs like a sack of dirty laundry and has repair bills to prove it, then perhaps one of these beefed-up babies is worth considering.
I spent a week testing Panasonic's Toughbook 29 and the Itronix GoBook III, and during that time I tried to dream up reasonable ways of testing their resistance to maltreatment. I'm happy to say both survived their terrible trials. But are they good computers overall?
Source