Rugged Laptops

[Scott Brady]

I am forced to move on to a rugged laptop a little sooner than expected. My HP 17" work powerhouse is dying a slow death and so is my adventure laptop (a Winbook X1 titanium case). The Outback Challenge was the final nail in the X1.

They are both still working but with one leg in the grave. I always prefer to upgrade machines on my terms instead of when one crashes.

I thought the research and final decision may be helpful to others here, so here we go.

Requirements:

1. Rugged or Ultra Rugged
2. Big HD 100gig
3. Fast processor with min 2gig memory
4. HD screen and hinges
5. GPS

Anyone have experience with these models?

 

[Scott Brady]

Mil Spec

MIL-STD-810F: Specification

 

[Scott Brady]

Industrial Specification

IP54: Specification

 

[pan7eraboyca]

http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/toughbooks_home.asp

Panasonic Toughbook if you need the meatiest laptop out there.

 

[gcec]

I use, highly recommend, but don't sell Xplore Technologies ix104 rugged tablet PCs. Way better than laptops IMHO.

 

[Dave]

I'll second the Panasonic Toughbooks. I help maintain a fleet of 20+ Panasonic Toughbooks for a local police department and a small ranger division. We've had them for at least six years. I can't say they were a problem free six years, but they haven't exactly been babied either. Most of the irrepairable damage has been user inflicted...like slamming the screen down to the closed position with an ink pen resting on the keyboard.

I think the only widespread problem we've had with them was when the officers would leave the laptop running in a car that was shut off for hours on end in very hot weather. Once we trained the users to shut down the laptop in those circumstances, the problem "fixed itself".

They're heavy and pricey compared to most other conventional laptops, but the model we use has a handle!

 

[Scott Brady]

Great feedback Dave. I will begin researching in earnest early next month.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Scott, I tested a Panasonic Toughbook some time ago. It was as rugged as they claim, but way, way behind its non-ruggedized peers in processing speed, which the rep told me was because of the problem of heat dissipation in the sealed chassis.

What about a partially ruggedized model, with a shock-mounted hard drive and spill-proof keyboard, but higher speed?

 

[bigreen505]

Check out what the teams of the Volvo Ocean Race and other offshore ocean race boats use in the nav station. Those laptops see the worst of what the world can dish out except for dust -- hot, cold, water, huge shocks. PM me if you want and I can see if I can dig up Stan Honey or Larry Rosenberg's e-mail they would be excellent people to ask.

 

[Dave]

It was as rugged as they claim, but way, way behind its non-ruggedized peers in processing speed, which the rep told me was because of the problem of heat dissipation in the sealed chassis.

That's a pretty good point, but I think they've come pretty close to catching up. I was looking at them fairly recently and I think they had a fully ruggedized model with a Pentium M CPU at 1.6GHz. I'm not sure you can get one with a full 2 GB of memory and a 100 GB hard drive in a fully ruggedized model though. I know they do come with onboard GPS and some even come with onboard Sprint CDMA EVDO cell cards which is what we use for connectivity. Another nice feature is the touch screen. I don't think my officers could function on the road without it.

I'm assuming the laptop would be used for navigation, but what else would it be used for to require 2GB of RAM?

 

[Scott Brady]

I do really like the Tough Books

The Model 29:

It gets close in the spec with an 80gig HD, 1.8gig of max memory and a 1.6mhz processor.

Here are the specs

 

[Scott Brady]

What about a partially ruggedized model, with a shock-mounted hard drive and spill-proof keyboard, but higher speed?

I might need to go that way. For example, my winbook X1 is semi-rugged with shock mounted HD and titanium chassis. It survived pretty well through NVTR and the Outback Challenge.

There are a few other companies I am researching. Hopefully I can find the right solution.

 

[Scott Brady]

$999 Semi Rugged Laptop

I would not purchase this model (doesn't meet my needs), but it is one hell of a deal

Systemax Semi-Rugged: $999

 

[Dave]

I would not purchase this model (doesn't meet my needs), but it is one hell of a deal

I know you said that model wouldn't meet your needs, but the first thing I noticed about it when looking at the pictures is that the ports are all exposed to the elements. The nice thing about the Toughbooks I've used is that all the ports are sealed behind access doors. Sure you have to open those doors to use the ports, but out in the field where you don't have a bunch of peripherals hooked up (since GPS and EVDO are onboard of course :ylsmoke: ), your ports will be protected from dirt and grim.

 

[Scott Brady]

I'm assuming the laptop would be used for navigation, but what else would it be used for to require 2GB of RAM?

This machine will replace two laptops. My HP 17", 3mhz, 100gig, 2gig RAM work laptop and my Winbook X1, which got trashed in Morocco (still works, but is hurting).

So, I do a lot of photo manipulation, web and graphics design and then of course the moving map with Ozi Explorer, which is pretty processor intensive.

On too many recent trips I have needed to bring BOTH laptops along, which is crazy.

And the HP 17" is starting to fail. It shuts down at random now and requires an aux. fan blowing into the cooling vents to stay running (and the stock fans still work).