Panasonic ToughBook Testing Facility Tour

An anonymous reader writes "ToughBooks are considered by some to be the most resilient of all notebooks. So how does Panasonic ensure that their line of indestructible portables are just that? In a recent tour of the Kobe plant in Japan it was discovered that 1000's of ToughBooks are destroyed each year in pursuit of the most rugged systems. Soaking, electric shock, heating and electromagnetic radiation are among the many methods of torture used."

not bright enough

[cpearson]

Even with toughbooks the single biggest problem with portable computers is screen brightness. In direct sunlight lcd screens are not practical. I speak from expirence beacause I developed a business application for the tablet pc. I have recieved plenty of feedback from customers about how hard it was to use them in the field.

Vista Help Forum [vistahelpforum.com]

Um...

[AeroIllini]

From TFA:

I therefore jumped at the chance to nip over to Japan and see Panasonic's setup in person.

Perhaps not the best choice of words...?

Re:Instead of a Toughbook...

[clonmult]

Nice idea, shame its useless. Most of these are used out in the field, and it may not be realistic/practical to take several laptops out into the field, and when one dies, swap out the harddrive. Half the users probably aren't capable of swapping the drives themselves either.

Re:not so tough

[atcurtis]

we have been using them for over two years for some of our users, and have found them to be not so tough. Connectors come loose, screens crack and backlights fail. Thinkpads have proven much more reliable.

Give users something and tell them it is tough and they will break it by being wreckless.

Give users something and tell them it is fragile, there is a good chance they will treat it reasonably.

Better to give a rugged notebook to someone who needs a rugged notebook due to the work that they do and tell them that it is not indestructable and that they should handle it as carefully as their job permits... Then it should last a reasonable amount of time.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Parts Quality Counts Too

[robertc5]

I used to use IBM Thinkpads. In fact; I went through four of em in as many years. Hinges broke. Power connectors broke, plastic case parts broke. And don't ask about the number of times I almost dropped one.

After buying a Toughbook 3-1/2 years ago; I have not had one single problem. The laptop industry's dirty big secret is not that laptopls need to be ruggedized for real-world use but that most laptops are flimsy and are designed so that they are prone to break under normal use. Most have a very slippery, low-profile shape; but no handle. This often leads to the unit being dropped or being set down hard.

Most users do not need ruggedized laptops. We do need laptops built well enough to be used by real people in the real world.