3 Rugged Notebooks Take a Beating

bsk_cw writes "Brian Nadel got a chance to try to destroy three 'fully rugged' notebooks and get paid for it — Computerworld had him drop, spray, drown, bake, shake, and freeze notebooks from General Dynamics Itronix, Getac, and Panasonic. All three suffered some damage, but only the Getac M230 actually died as a result. Brian made videos of the tests (which were apparently done in his home, including his kitchen)."

Obvious...

[Bullseye_blam (589856)]

Brian made videos of the tests (which were apparently done in his home, including his kitchen)."

Proof that Brian is not married.

Re:Obvious...

[JCSoRocks (1142053)]

He also missed out on an awesome opportunity for a Martha Stewart impression when he was pulling those things outta the oven.
...Proof that I am married?

Insert obvious "you're not married you're gay / a nerd joke".

Re:

[Schmyz (1265182)]

well its good to know what the laptops can take...lord knows when we will fall asleep in our oven during a late night programming session...I mean come on...dont we all climb in to keep warm or is it only me?

Print link - avoid 6 pages of ads

[adpsimpson (956630)]

To save you having to wade through 6 ad-filled half pages - here's the link [computerworld.com].

Why this link is't published to start with is beyond me.

Re:Print link - avoid 6 pages of ads

[X0563511 (793323)]

As stupid and annoying as going through 6 ad-filled pages, that is entirely the publisher's choice to do, and working around it would be, while maybe not wrong, not nice. They pay for their bandwidth, and you have to admit that going to slashdot without ad support, would suck.

Re:

[JustShootThemAll (1284898)]

I tend to think of ads as electronic warfare. "They" try to get as much exposure, I try to minimize it. That means they get to try their latest pop-up/pop-under schemes, and I get to sharpen my skills with AdBlockPlus, NoScript and a very broad hostfile to exclude ad-domains. I'm not interested in the crap they peddle. I'm also think it is morally wrong to let them enjoy ad-income. And if they can't exist without the money from ads, well, they are free to remove their website.

Re:

[Otter (3800)]

I'm also think it is morally wrong to let them enjoy ad-income.

Truly, sir, you are the new Socrates.

Re:Print link - avoid 6 pages of ads

[element-o.p. (939033)]

I'm [sic] also think it is morally wrong to let them enjoy ad-income.

Great thesis. Now support it.

To put my money where my mouth is, I will attempt to support the opposing view (disclaimer: yes, I run Google AdSense on my web pages). Web pages such as the one in TFA are information that you, at your option, may find useful. Generating the content, and acquiring the bandwidth to provide it to you, costs money -- sometimes just a little bit (as in my case), and sometimes a lot (as, I suspect, in the case of TFA above -- destroying laptops in an abuse test can't be cheap). The content provider is providing that information to you completely free (as in beer). How then, if you do not charge for access to the content, do you pay for the bandwidth, hardware and, well, content required to provide interesting, relevant content? One way is to serve ads on the web page. Provided that the ads aren't the annoying, overly garish, flash-based crap that seriously detracts from the host web page, I don't believe this is too much to ask. As I said above, I put Google AdSense on my web pages because I don't think a simple text-based ad on the border of a web page is too intrusive. While other web hosts might disagree, I don't really give a rip if you want to run ad blockers, NoScript or edit your host files to block ads on my server. My web sites are primarily a hobby; I would just like to generate a little extra income to help offset the costs of bandwidth and servers. FWIW, I am a long way from breaking even on costs. My sites are pretty low volume (and ironically OTA right now; gotta call my upstream and find out what's going on...sigh).

And if they can't exist without the money from ads, well, they are free to remove their website.

On the flip side, if you are so morally opposed to ads on a web page, you are free to not visit my web sites ;)

Re:

[jdmetz (802257)]

Why this link is't published to start with is beyond me.

I think it is pretty obvious why the ad-filled link was published. Note that the article is from ComputerWorld, and the submitter was bsk_cw.

In Related News...

[cptnapalm (120276)]

Fisher-Price today announced that, rumors to the contrary, they do not intend to introduce notebooks for children. A company spokesman gave the company's reasoning in prepared remarks, "These laptops survived being buried, broiled, frozen and drowned for a weekend? That is a typical lazy Sunday for our products in the hands of our customers. We are supposed to be impressed by that? No, our customers would scoff at such fragility."

Re:

[gstoddart (321705)]

I wonder if anyone has any statistics on just how long stuff by FP lasts.

I seem to recall having a fleet of it when I was a kid, much of which had been through my brother (a human wrecking machine as a child, I'm told).

As far as I can tell, that stuff is nearly indestructible in the hands of all but the most determined children.

Cheers

Re:

[element-o.p. (939033)]

VERY good point...

Too bad FP doesn't make laptops. Maybe they would be better suited for some of the people I work with than the Dells we currently buy <grin>

Re:

[trongey (21550)]

Fisher-Price today announced that, rumors to the contrary, they do not intend to introduce notebooks for children... our customers would scoff at such fragility.

This is especially funny when you consider that everything from Fisher-Price is made of plastic.

What kind of drop test is that?

[devnullkac (223246)]

All the drop tests in the video showed the units being dropped onto a soft mat. Where's the drop onto the tile floor? Where's the drop onto parking lot asphalt? From a moving rental car? Landing under the wheels?

The Six Year Old Test

[Bananatree3 (872975)]

Nothing is better than the six year old test. The Beeb ran a test a few years ago [bbc.co.uk] on rugged testing CF cards. They nailed them to a tree, given to a six year old with simply instructions to "destroy" and put in a strainer and stove top boiled. now THAT is what I call ruggedized testing.

Re:The Six Year Old Test

[jellomizer (103300)]

It would have been more disasterious if he gave it to a 4 year old and telling them to be careful with it.

Re:

[AndrewNeo (979708)]

I don't think it deserved that sort of torment :(

Re:

[gstoddart (321705)]

It would have been more disasterious if he gave it to a 4 year old and telling them to be careful with it.

I think you have a potentially valuable line of research there.

I'm sure you can apply for a grant to study the relative destructiveness of children of various ages under various instructions.

You can fully quantify the Index of Capacity For Destruction under controlled (and uncontrolled) circumstances. As a control group, put them in the hands of people who think they're power users or pointy haired bos

Re:

[stranger_to_himself (1132241)]

All the drop tests in the video showed the units being dropped onto a soft mat. Where's the drop onto the tile floor? Where's the drop onto parking lot asphalt? From a moving rental car? Landing under the wheels?

Woah there! You might break one doing that. Those things is expensive. Here's some other advice: if you accidentally drop your laptop, try not to drop your laptop.

Also, why specifically a rental car?

Re:

[devnullkac (223246)]

Also, why specifically a rental car?

It's a reference to the intended audience of the original article (based on the first paragraph): business travelers.

kitchen test

[commodoresloat (172735)]

Well, come on, man, tell us what we need to know.

Did it blend?

Laptop raper!

[Bananatree3 (872975)]

What kind of maniacal beast would cook their brand new multi thousand dollar laptop in the oven?? Maybe he was hit over the head when he was a kid with laptops and this is some kind of twisted cathartic therapy?

Re:

[compro01 (777531)]

Ever left something in the car on the seat on a hot summer day? Stuff can get damn hot in there, so an oven is quite a reasonable emulation of that circumstance.

a jest

[Bananatree3 (872975)]

The above original post was a more a jest and not really serious. However, I completely agree that on a hot summer day, a car can become nice and toasty. I'm sure a black car with black leather seats would fry most bottoms, and bad things would happen to electronics. As with the guy who posted about his dad's ham radio, I am not surprised.

Re:

[gstoddart (321705)]

What kind of maniacal beast would cook their brand new multi thousand dollar laptop in the oven?? Maybe he was hit over the head when he was a kid with laptops and this is some kind of twisted cathartic therapy?

Do you really believe, deep in your heart, that someone hasn't accidentally done something equally insane to their machines?

I bet somewhere in the Annals of Documented Carnage (TM) you'd find an example of a laptop being subjected to something in that vein. It simply has to have happened. :-P

Heck, I

Heat treatment

[Nerdposeur (910128)]

I bet somewhere in the Annals of Documented Carnage (TM) you'd find an example of a laptop being subjected to something in that vein. It simply has to have happened. :-P

Oh sure - I can just imagine.

"I put it in the oven to dry it out."
"Dry it out?"
"After I dropped it in the pool."
[Forehead smack]

Laptop Testing services

[name*censored* (884880)]

Does this guy do house calls? If so, my neighbour's laptop might need some "testing".. I know his sound system works thanks to his rigorous 24 hour full-volume test, but I'd like to be just as confident in his laptop's abilities as well.

Oh, and don't tell him you're testing it either. It's a ummmm..surprise birthday present from me. Yeah, that's it. Birthday present.

drop test seems pointless

[by Anonymous Coward]

They should not be dropped flat or on their spine to simulate drop damage. I've seen plenty of notebooks survive that. Pick a corner.

Missed one

[plopez (54068)]

He missed one, battery life at low temps. A few years back for a former employer we looked at ruggedized laptops for field work and battery life at low temps was a major draw back. Our conclusion was that pencil and paper was still the best.

Re:

[joshv (13017)]

Huh, seems like it's be easy enough to add a temperature sensitive battery warmer - granted it would lower battery life a bit, but not as much as the temperature would.

Tiny Market

[MozeeToby (1163751)]

The market is growing quickly. In 2007, with sales of 575,000 systems, rugged notebooks made up only about 1% of the global notebook market. However, Krebs forecasts growth for rugged systems to top 11% annually, with sales reaching 879,000 systems in 2011.

So, they expect it to grow rapidly from 1% of the market all the way up to... 1.5% of the market over the next 3 years. Wooo!

Geek math error alert

[ciaohound (118419)]

Growth from 575,000 units to 879,000 units in three years represents 15 percent growth, when compounded annually. Are you in a market segment that is growing that fast?

The videos are a joke

[Bazer (760541)]

Don't bother clicking through for the videos. All three only show how they dropped the laptops on the floor. Whooping three shots per laptop: falling on the floor on the spine, base from 29 inches and in a bag from 60 inches. Nothing interesting. Just go with the print version [computerworld.com] if you want to read it.

Re:

[mobby_6kl (668092)]

I think I've posted this in another story quite a while ago, but this seems relevant again: Toughbooks are monkey-proof [monkey-proof.com]. Hopefully this will make up for the shitty videos from the article.

The motorcycle-in-the-rain test

[dtjohnson (102237)]

My IBM (nee Lenovo) Thinkpad T40 still works flawlessly after being bungied to the back of a motorcycle in rainstorms. Let's see how those models do in THAT test.

Re:

[Bryan Ischo (893)]

They would do fine. These systems are much more ruggedized than your notebook so if yours could take it, they could too, and much more.

Can your Thinkpad withstand having a cup of coffee dumped directly on the keyboard? These systems can.

Problem with Rugged Notebooks ... False Security

[piltdownman84 (853358)]

The company I work for has had trouble with toughbooks because people think they are alot more rugged than they really are. Employees have a real false sense of security with them. With the big macho 'Rugged Notebook' they expect it to be able to take abuse. What has happened in out experience is they still break when dropped from four feet onto pavement, and with a 'Rugged Notebook' they are more likely to be dropped because of the false sense of security. We have found that we are far better of with a really well built non-rugged notebook, like a t-series.

Re:

[Frosty Piss (770223)]

The company I work for has had trouble with toughbooks because people think they are alot more rugged than they really are.

I've dropped Toughbooks a number of times from around 4 feet to a concrete floor. Most of our have also extensively bounced around the back of a C17 in ugly parts world.

No issues.

Re:Problem with Rugged Notebooks ... False Securit

[anethema (99553)]

I have had my P3 1GHz toughbook for a long time. It has survived MANY drops onto hard and soft surfaces. It has survived extended use in the rain. I even ran over the corner of it once and no bending/issues.

The only issues it does have is the port cover hinges are very flimsy so most of the time those covers don't survive long.

but...

[wisdom_brewing (557753)]

... will it blend?

Itronics

[Ceiynt (993620)]

I work for an ambulance company. We use the Itronics GoBook III. It's rugged and touted for use by Fire depts, Police, Military and Ambulance people, with some other as well. We have a fleet of about 30 of these books, and have yet to have a problem with the rugged parts. We do have issues with displays getting cracked, ports breaking loose, missing keys, things like that. We've had one run over by an ambulance(they are heavy), and it survived. It was misformed but usable. As for actual performance, good luck. Your top of the line electronics do not match well with survivability in rugged laptops. They do make fine weapons to defend yourself with if need be.

What's the added cost to make them all tough?

[swb (14022)]

I'm sure it adds something to the cost of laptop to make it "tough", but is the real reason they're not all "tough" for a $5 upcharge is that makers want them to break (even after we buy their overpriced cases) so we come back and buy another one after trivial Newtonian physics has been experienced?

Why can't they make them all tough, or at least make "toughness" such a trivial feature that it doesn't require spending an extra $1500?

Nifty study, but only 25 degrees?

[Landshark17 (807664)]

Why did he only test them to 25 degrees? I've had to take my laptop outside in colder. If I had to guess, I'd say the coldest I've taken my laptop (a Dell Inspiron 6000, hardly a tough laptop) out in is 10, and it's worked fine afterwards. If he's going to test the physical limits of these tough-books he should test them beyond everyday temperatures, especially since winter temperatures often get below 25 in many places.

Really poor testing methodology

[TFoo (678732)]

"To imitate the sudden freezing, thawing and overheating of a notebook, I put each system into the freezer at 25 degrees Fahrenheit and let it sit there for 15 minutes. After they were allowed to warm up, I put them into an oven set to 175 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes."

15 minutes at 25 degrees? Come on -- find me a laptop, rugged or not, that *couldn't* do this. What a useless test.

Gobook III

[pdawson (89236)]

Watch out for the Itronix Gobooks, we've got some of them deployed in our police cruisers, and the PC card slots are not well attached to the MB. With the celluar data cards installed there (due to needing ext antenna connector) we've destroyed 4 of 6 that way.

The Toughbook CF-27s we had before this survived years w/o a hitch, on the other hand.

My Experiences

[BigDork1001 (683341)]

I'm a net admin in the Air Force currently deployed to Baghdad. Here on base we have various models of the Panasonic Toughbook and the Itronix.

When I first got here someone who worked flight line brought in an Panasonic that had fallout out of an airborn helicopter and onto the tarmac. It was all dented up and I could actually see the internal components. I plugged it in and the damn thing powered right up! I was shocked because this thing was beat up.

Oh Itronix... we seriously thought these things were made here in Iraq. What hunks of crap! I've had my share of experiences with them, all bad. They are slow, buggy, bulky, ugly... If price is not an issue definitely go with the Panasonic over Itronix. If I ever get a choice, I choose Panasonic over Itronix.

Re:

[Captain Splendid (673276)]

What about the GIs who also take a serious beating?

Well, obviously, you have to give up some form of frivolous pastime in order to show solidarity with them.

Re:

[oodaloop (1229816)]

You want to see videos of U.S. soldiers getting blown up?

Re:

[magarity (164372)]

While being run over with a truck is awful for a person it really isn't that bad for a machine, even if it is a laptop. The truck's tire pressure on the road is only a few dozen psi due to all the contact area. Most laptops are reasonably strong and can handle some things stacked on them when just laying flat with the cover closed. Dropping it on its edge from airplane luggage rack height makes for a good test because the impact g force is huge. Rather than destroy some normal laptops doing that, just t

Re:

[Bryan Ischo (893)]

Your HP is not more rugged than these laptops. They would survive a fall down the stairs just fine. The author of the article was definitely lacking in imagination of ways to test the laptops, and it would be nice to see other tests, but don't delude yourself into thinking that a normal laptop can withstand more abuse of any type than these ruggedized systems.