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Structural Integrity of Laptops?
d_m_i_t_r_i asks: "As a laptop-toting college student, I'm
very interested in just how much abuse my laptop can stand up to.
Just how many pounds of books can I stack on it? How hard can I bang
the corner, before it will cave in? Things like that. Does anyone
review the cases of laptops for their structural integrity? Are
there any sort of statistics out there of things like strength tests,
dropping from a height, etc?"
If it's a nice little Vaio or one of the IBM's just hope it never hits the floor. I have an old Toshiba that you could drop from about six ft a few dozen times, but eventually I lost half the hard drive due to bad blocks.
Basically if it has a hard drive don't drop it.
Now I feel that I have been trolled.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Dropped clamshell ibook from 6 feet and made a pathetic attempt to catch it that sent it flying in cartwheels. Hit concrete. No damage. None.
Lifted my Dell by the front gripping it gently on both sides with the display open. Cracked the motherboard inside the cheap flexible plastic case. Few rows of keys stopped working. While troubleshooting I smelled electrical fire. Dell replaced it saying that was "common".
Acer one year old, negligible abuse. Hard drive slid back in it's slot and shorted against motherboard. Acer told me to go fly a kite.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
PC/Computing used to run a series of pretty nasty tests on laptops once a year - stuff like spilling coffee, oven-roasting, ladder dropping, and so on. Is that magazine still around? I cancelled my sub when they dropped Penn Jillette in like 1994.
I've had a nice DEC Ultra 2000 for a few years, and it's held up to all sorts of abuses. Currently, I usually carry about a Dell Inspiron.
In practice, I can stack three large upper division mechanical engineering related textbooks on this thing and carry it around for 14 hours a day. This system is only a year old, and has minimal damage. The corner with the fan outlet is mashed in a bit, and there is one small stress fracture on the top of the display back. Other than that, you should expect an average system to hold up to two years of general usage. One thing you'll almost always have to deal with is the damn rubber feet coming off all the time. I don't expect my system to stay put on a desk anymore, and I haven't been able to find an adhesive powerful enough to keep those stupid things attached.
If you're really paranoid, find a big aluminum breifcase to carry your system in. You can find them for under $50 on E-bay if you have the time to waste.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
As someone who has owned and travelled with a Toshiba 3500, Libretto L50, Gateway 2500, Dell i5000, and now a Dell i8000, it all depends on the model, not the vendor.
Thee 3500 (i386) was fairly solid, being old. (And expensive as new.) The Libretto was also okay, in that is small. If you are really worried about how much your laptop has to withstand, smaller (less mass) is definetly better. The Gateway was average, no glaring issues but it was plastic-y and flexed too much.
By far the best was the Dell i5000. This thing was big, but for its size it was solid, and it was built really well. Quality in design and manufature was the hallmark of this one, and it is still my favourite for use, asthetics, and ruggedness.
When I upgraded to the Dell i8000, I was SO dissapointed. The i8k is a low quality piece of creaking plastic-y junk compared to the i5000. Now dont get me wrong, the i8k blows everything else away WRT speed, graphics, expandability, etc. Its a worthwhile upgrade to the i5k on paper, but in use, I am dissapointed with the low build quality. They could have done a lot better on this one.
BTW, I always wanted one of these, but it just didnt seem quite worth it, seeing as my system is insured anyway, and I treat it carefully. Maybe for next time I fly, I will get one.
Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random numbers is, of course, in a state of sin.-John von Neumann
I've had a PIII-500 for about 26 months now, and it's already been back twice, and about to go back a third time (as soon as I can part with it for a week). It has the 1400x1050 UXGA screen, which was basically duct-taped to the top of a smaller laptop body. As a result, the mounts for the two screen hinges are a joke. The cross-sectional area at the bottom is minimal, and the metal quality was pathetic, albeit from my minimal metalurgical knowledge.
First the left hinge-mount snapped. This rendered the laptop completely unusable. Sent it in for repair, they replaced the whole screen. Nice enough to transplant my stickers though.
Then, exactly two days (a weekend) before my trip to Europe for 2 weeks for GUADEC-2, the right hinge-mount snapped, same place, same ragged pot-metal edge, etc. Managed to borrow a laptop, just barely. Turns out that the geniuses at Dell figured that the right-hand mount would be fine after the whole screen dangled at odd angles for an extended duration (attempted workarounds, shipping, etc.), and left it. Fatally wounded.
Well, the current predicament is that now the left hinge-mount is still in one piece (not sure I can say the same for the right one for much longer...), but it's screwed into a completely detached section of the *FRAME*. That's right, the entire mass of some kind of metal to which the tiny little hinge-mount is screwed has totally sheared off. It's held in by the outer plastic shell. I've managed to limp along for a couple months now, but it's gonna get sent in in a week or two.
I *STRONGLY* recommend that any laptop you consider, you get your hands on one (a friend/coworker with one, even ask on a local newsgroup if you have to) and check it out for some of these brain-dead design flaws. I'm still considering Dell when replacing this one in another year or so, but I will be doing some heavy research on the 8[12]00 models available at the time, as far as structural integrity.
However, I've heard all sorts of bad things about the "feel" of Dells vs. other laptop brands, and I have to agree. For all the killer features and decent price they put into their laptops, it's almost universally agreed upon that the construction quality, as far as structural integrity and longevity, sucks.
Spend some time in the DellNet Forum, and probably the equivalent foraa for other manufacturers. You won't regret it.
GStreamer - The only way to stream!
I own an old Sony Vaio 505TS (slimtop) and have dropped it... Too many times. From as high as 4-5ft, no problems. I don't have any bad blocks, and it has weathered a couple of coffee and water spills (nothing major). The magnesium alloy case does tend to wear in spots but so far it's not all the way through.
Bah!
...unless you want to permanently damage your screen.
Most of the consumer-level laptops (e.g. Satelites, Presarios, etc) are made with very flimsy plastic. That's nothing new, however, that is a very important issue if you even THINK that your laptop might have to withstand any kind of abuse. And the biggest problem I've seen is with the screen lid. On the cheap laptops, the plastic is so thin and so fragile that the screen can be damaged by simply applying pressure with your finger to the outer screen casing. Nevermind putting a couple of books on top of it while jumping around.
By no means do I encourage this, but next time you're in you favourite mega pc store (FutureShop in Canada, I guess Circuit City or Staples in US), touch one of their cheaper laptops. With your palm holding the outer edge of the screen, apply some pressure to the OUTSIDE or the screen cover with one of your fingers. See how much it takes untill you can see a discoloured blob on the inside of the screen, right in the place where you're pushing.
Stop as soon as you see the discoloration. Any more pressure and you can permanently damage the LCD. Oh, and the notebook should be turned on while doing this, otherwise nothing shows.
Now if they have some corporate level notebooks, do the same. Try something like a Tecra, Armada, or the T series. I can guarantee you that you will not be able to do it. Well, if you're very strong, you might, but the amount of pressure you have to apply is much, much higher than on the consumer level notebooks.
This fact alone goes a long way to show (IMHO) how much better built some notebooks are when compared to others. And that's a general sign, it does not only relate to the screen side. A cheap notebook will have crappy components everywhere, while the more expensive ones are significantly better built.
BTW, one of the reasons I bought an Armada M700 is because of its very slim, rugged construction. Magnezium lid (short of cracking it open, nothing will damage the screed), and very high quality plastic everywhere else.
Well, that's my 2c worth...
I managed to drop a cordless phone on my compaq laptop, and broke off the 'g' key. Why they make laptop keys out of so many little plastic pieces, I don't know, but I managed to break all but the little scissorlike things that hold the key up. Compaq support told me I'd need to take it to a service center to get it fixed, for something like $40. A cheap tube of superglue got the key back on instead, but it still types unreliably.
When I purchased my VAIO SR7K I didn't want to take any chances. I found an aluminum briefcase (Vanguard is the name on it) that is very, very thin and is just large enough to hold my laptop. The briefcase is also padded inside.
I haven't dropped the laptop nor the briefcase so I don't know how rugged it really is. If nothing else it's relatively crush proof since I have stacked 4 or 5 big texts on it.
The briefcase has enough rough for a couple of cd's, pens, the ac adaptor, usb light (the flexible cable kind), my usb-ethernet adapter, and a small usb cable. The case fits inside a backup. The main pocket of the backpack can hold books, close, etc. The case is also handy as a surface to rest the laptop on when I don't have a table or some other surface to rest the laptop.
I've been using this for about a year now. It's handy for weekend flights to my girlfriend's. Enough room in the backpack for my briefcase, clothes, and a couple books.
Most laptops can't really take any abuse, I remember a test done a few years ago, by PC magazine I belive, they dropped pretty much all major manufactuers laptops from a height of 3 feet on concrete, they all exploded/shattered whatever. Suffice to say, they aren't designed for abuse, the LCD is very touchy (being made of glass and having a flouecsent tube to light it) and the cases are made of plastic and packed tight. If you are going to abuse the laptop, try and get one that is at least a little tough, Sony makes there cases out of magnesium, which helps (least for stacking stuff on them). Or if you have the extra money get a Panasonic Toughbook.
Get a pansonic toughbook, these things rock! If you want a laptop that can reliably survive being dropped, kicked, and generally bashed around then these things are hard to beat ;)
The "demonstration" model was brought in and the salesman just gets it out of the bag and throws in onto the desk as you might a normal book, then he picks it up by the narrow end and hits the desk with it. The laptop still powered up and worked fine with no damage or screen problems.
I wish I could afford one - they are expensive, but if you are prone to droping things, it might save you money in the long run.
If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go, because, man, they're gone.
I have seen a compaq laptop that had been run over by a car (twice). It survived with the exception of some cracks in the screen and plastic case.
The laptop belonged to a consultant who was at my company approx two years ago to do a presentation. When I asked him what happened to his laptop, he told me that when he was putting everything into his car he forgot and left the laptop bag sitting behind his car. He backed over it, felt a bump, drove forward over it again, then got out and saw that it was his computer.
I know that my Dell laptop sure wouldn't be able to take the same type of beating.
Unless you have a ruggedized notebook assume it is made of glass (a lot of it is ;-)
Seriously, it's an expensive bit of kit so you need to protect it.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
It was cheapest on market when i bought it (summer of 2000). It wont blow anyone away with speed (amd k6-2 475) came with 32M ram but i upgraded to 96 (maximum i believe). The thing is solid as a rock, the screen feels a bit loose, but this isnt the case, it is in fact very well attached. And the whole keyboard doesnt sink like on other cheap laptops. All in all very very good, im also a student, so it takes a fair bit of abuse. Oh, and it runs linux great, i never even tortured the girl by running windows on her. It arrived, boot disked and wahey - a solid system with a solid OS. What more can you ask for.
I also have a question along this same note. When I took in my three year old toshiba laptop in, because the hard drive was dying, the guy there said that every time you move a laptop a tiny bit, the hard drive gets jiggled, and that three years was a lot for a laptop. I think that is a bit fishy. (my sister got one of the same model on the same day, and hers still works) Is this true, and if so, how long could I expect from a laptop if I bought I new one today?
Buy something small, portable, inexpensive (more inexpensive than a laptop, anyway) that has a keyboard.
I used my old Palm Pilot with a keyboard to take notes in class. Worked great, no worries about battery life. Now that I'm working in the corporate world, it's an M105 with the folding Palm keyboard. Small, compact, more rugged than a laptop, easier to carry around.
The other thing to remember is that something like 10% of all laptops get stolen. Or if you look at some of the crap being peddled on eBay and Yahoo, then you know where that stolen stuff is unloaded.
I work For a local college who has a substanial laptop program. 50% of my job deals with fixing them. A few Points to remember
-Structral integrity exists only in the laptops completed form, them bend and flex quite abit unless they are all togeather.
-Putting your stuff on the keyborad is a bad idea. you forget its there, and close the unit, or drop it, Cracked case, cracked lcd, broken keyboard, eask $2k dammage (and you may think who does something that stupid, i see it atleast once a month.
-Drop survivability, good on carpet, not so good on floor. lucky damage is a cracked case (relatively cheap to replace, or can be crazy glued if small) ulucky is a cracked lcd
-laptops will take a fairamount of small bumps, and stacking, but keep in mind hard disk platters dont like alot of motion, so remember to backup regularly.
-Peter
THEN I finally see A different screen protection? by a guy who does damage certification for insurance
Mine will be going on its 3rd screen IF I decide to repair it. A little further down on that page is - Finally a chance to repair a broken screen
---
My wife may want to downgrade to just an organizer (address, calender) - I'll have to research one w/ an Open Source Sync
I may want to wait for the ARM based Palm's, but only for a shock resistant one.
---
Some Apple Laptops (Duo's?) had a magnesium frame for stiffness?
I've been tempted to buy the 'Grip it strips' I see in catalogs- anybody tried these?
A good well padded case is worth the extra cost (and weight). My laptop has survived abuse that should have killed it, but for the rigid, padded bag.
Another reason I like Targus products- two years after I bought the bag, I noticed the shoulder strap was failing, the catch that holds the strap to the bag was deformed. Pure user abuse. I emailed Targus about this problem with the strap, and they sent a new, improved shoulder strap by express mail. Free.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
I've hit my screen against things before and managed to put a crack in the casing around the LCD screen. I've also dropped the power block while connected to the machine and did some damage to the power connector.
Everything still works fine, although it drops into battery mode sometimes when the power connector comes loose. This is a fairly big laptop (15" screen and about 7 pounds) so I'd hate to see what happened if I dropped the whole thing.
I ordered another battery but they were on back order (apparently this must be a common problem), had to take out the screws from the keyboard so i can take it out and twist it when it stops working, and put a huge amount of ram to keep it from paging to disk and working the hard drive.
Next time I'm gettin a Mac DUDE.
Unfortunately, in the case of the Tecra, this strength brings with a weight penalty. Those are massive boxy laptops with thick dense plastic and a degree of metal framing underneath. Not fun to lug around.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
I've had my IBM laptop for two years now, no laptop bag at all.
Just toss it in my backpack, stack books on it, lean against the wall with it in my backpack(on the train while it's shacking etc).
No problems at all. I mean....none.
By all logic it should have broken by now; it just hasn't.
In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!
(..that's what happens if you play Baldurs Gate in Bed and you get so scared by the whole thing that you hide under the linen, and then your laptop falls out of bed...)
Dirk
My 486dx2/66 (desktop) had more capacity than that (128).
Even my compaq armada 7400 (P2/266) has a max of 256mb (its at 192 right now).
What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
The choice of U.S. Army Special Forces and the Navy Seals, the Panasonic Toughbook.
Here are the design features and here are videos of the various abuse tests.
A couple of years ago, I saw a really cool video of an SUV driving over one if these while it was turned on. Outside of some scratches the unit fared well and continued to operate. Unfortunately, I can't find that video now.
My 3-month-old iBook (the 500 MHz white model, not the colorful toilet seat) tumbled down 12 carpeted steps when it slid off a stack of books I was moving. Held my breath and opened the lid... no cracks, booted up fine. I've been a lot more careful since then.
My dell Latitude CPx-J model and the CPI before it...just about indestructable...the CPI survived a 4 foot fall, while running once. Landed on its side(crushed the PC-Card and the dongle pulled into it, but the socket had no damage...) fell on to the bottom...the system continued running, infact I jsut picked it up and continued working, after replacing the PC Card.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
I own a panasonic toughbook model CF-47. fairly awesome beast with magnesium encased LCD panel and body shell, gel encased hard drive with shock absorbing mounts, motherboard on shock absorbing assembly, water resistant...the works. dropped it 3 months after i got it from a 3rd floor window onto concrete (dont ask how) along with my motorola flip-phone (old model ...huge..they dont make em anymore). both of them survived. motorola phone had a tiny scar on the flip cover where it scraped against the concrete after it bounced several times. the panasonic toughbook bounced twice and the CD drive and floppy were smashed to a pulp. i replaced the cd drive with a dvd rom from a gateway and powered it up. smoke curled up from the machine so i powered it down, unplugged the floppy and repowered it up. worked fine. ignored the floppy since i never use it anyway (it was an LS-120 but what the heck).
8 months later my panasonic toughbook's backlight went. since its impossible to find anyone repairing them (and panasonic told me to fly a kite..no warranty) i converted it into a desktop and attached a monitor to it.
bottom line -- if you buy a toughbook make sure you HAVE A WARRANTY.
I've got a Thinkpad A21p, and I regularily drag it around with me everywhere. It's got the 1600x1200, 15" screen. It's got some special shell over the screen, and the whole thing clamps together rather well. I'm, on the whole, incredibly happy with it. Though, I wish IBM would've omitted the floppy drive or at least, replaced the floppy drive with a zip drive. The screen hinges are tough, much tougher than the PowerBook hinges I've seen - also, the edge of the screen wraps down and catches with the side of the base, so it is less likely to stress the hinges with lateral movement (being jarred around.). I did put a piece of duct tape over the bottom dock-mate port. I felt that the flaps could be moved aside too easily, and didn't want anything getting in there. Oh, my thinkpad doesn't seem to have a fan that I know about, and if you use it for 30 hours straight, it gets warm on the bottom, but, I could easily leave it on my lap, not like some of the powerbooks.
Anyways, about wear and tear. The corners of the laptop are now showing some brassing. Otherwise, I just have a roll of foam in the bottom of my backpack's laptop pouch, to kushion the beast when I set my bag down.
I've had this thing since mid-summer, and it's still fine. I'm confident it could handle a reasonable drop if the lid was shut, but, otherwise, I'd feel safer with one of those iBooks with a polycarbonate shell. I take it everywhere - the law library reading room here at the university of michigan is a great place to study; I lug it there every day. Also, I tend to keep a few sheets of paper caught between the keyboard and the screen - and, no problems yet. The screen, again, is gorgeous. On the whole, I like the machine much better than the competing Dell models. It's definately sturdier and tougher, and, IMHO, a better engineered product.
Btw, I also like the Thinkpad T series, and was considering one - but, I got this A21p used, and was sold on the screen. Now, I'd be keen on a T22 or something with the 1400x1050 14.1", though. At the time, the best was a 1024x768, I believe.
With laptops, I've found that what matters most is the amount of ram, the size of the screen, and the battery life. I personally, couldn't care less if my laptop was 1ghz, 850 mhz, or 400 mhz. I speedstep my processor as slow as it can go. Hell, I use linux vga-console a lot.
The new iBook's tempt me for this reason - great battery life, OSX, decent screen, and industrial case.
I was not impressed with the Inspiron 3500's I worked with this summer. They were being used in the field by pipeline engineers, and were regularly coming back with the shit knocked out of them.I get the feeling my thinkpad would have fared better. Some of our execs were using 8000 series, and they were decent, but might as well have beeen desktop machines - they never left the office. The people with 5000's seemed to take them back and forth from home with enough regularity. (This might be that the people with the more expensiev laptops didn't do work at home, too.)
Someone mentioned that the 8000's had poor build quality - I agree. Though, I liked the 5000's - they were tight. I'd definately recommend T-series IBM replacements though, if I could.
Oh, yeah, I also had the pleasure of using a sony 505JS for a while, and loved it. The screen was small, but, the whole package was tiny. If owned one, I'd be tempted to mill out a box to keep it in, if I could keep it in something roughly the size of my calc text, I'd be happy and confident enough to throw it around recklessly. Granted, putting it in a thick metal box would defeat it's light weight, but I'd have the option between insane ruggedness and portability. If I ever replace my A21, I'd look at these.
In conclusion: Thinkpad's rule, so do iBooks.
fnord.
http://users.bestweb.net/~rogerd/MyLaptopWasHalfOf f.jpg
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
That stinks... my +/= key on my iBook came off (same problem, those little clamp things broke) and I brought it to an Apple store. Within 20 minutes I had a brand new *entire keyboard*, and they gave me another laptop with Airport to play around with while I was waiting.
_sig_ is away
I've already gradauted college and I've been carrying laptops since high school. That makes you a young whipper snapper, who is less 'l33t than I, young poster. ;)
;)
I have had the best results with a nice Kensington backpack case. It's got a little padding -- it's mostly the G's that kill a dropped laptop, so unless you are using a toughbook or have a massively padded case, the relitive amount of padding doesn't do a damn bit of good. Plus, it's on your back, which makes it hard to bang into things.
Sometimes you can drop a laptop and have it all survive, sometimes you can't. My old laptop was dropped twice. Once it killed the hard drive, once it didn't. Both were from the same height, more or less.
Your laptop will last quite a while if you treat it right. It's best to err on the side of cautiousness. Keep it in a laptop bag when you aren't using it, don't stack more than a book or two on top of it, etc. My last one lasted 5 years before the IDE controller died.
The main statistic that you can get is the number of g's that the hard disk can take. It'll be some number like 3,000 or 5,000 or maybe even more when the drive is powered down. This translates into varying numbers of feet that you can drop it before the drive is useless. In most laptops, either you or the serviceperson can replace the drive, however, and it's usually economically sound to do so.
There are, AFAIK, no statistics about the LCD screens. If your LCD dies, you just got yourself a desktop with a built-in battery backup. It'll die if you drop it, kick it, stack too many books on top of it, or any other form of abuse.
I will say that I rather like the latest Sony laptops. Sony is nice and posts the drivers for their stuff, so you can rebuild your system without getting all of the Sony crap with it.
You can always pay more and get a protection plan, although they try to keep costs down by making it hard to get repairs unless there's clearly a hardware problem.
Don't plan on the machine lasting more than 4-5 years, max.
Oh, and BTW... For chrissakes, take the fscking laptop out of your dorm room. I know far too many college kids who have laptops that just sit on their desks. Which means you paid a premium for the same grade of hardware and created a theft risk, basicly for convenience you didn't use. I *used* my laptop in college, took notes on it, wrote papers on it, etc.
Gentoo Sucks
pay extra for the super warranty, i know of at least one company (toshiba) which has a warranty which includes 'if anything happens to this other than fire or abuse, we'll fix it' once a year for the term of the warranty
try to see and play with a floor model first, try to evaluate the strength of the case in a store: metal may dent, but (in general) it doesn't crack, plastic (unless really thick) will crack.
nearly all of the weight of the laptop should come from the structure, get a thick,heavy laptop
if all else fails, get some (additional) metal plates to reinforce delicate parts: i got a $25 386 laptop (formerly used by the IRS) from a swap meet once that had a large metal plate on the back of the screen holding it together... it may look ghetto-style, but it works
Need a Catering Connection
I am a machinist. Want a titanium case for yer laptop? It won't be cheap, but a lot less than a new laptop :)
send email.
knee-jerk? check. post? check. okay, time to read the article.
Two months ago I was riding shotgun heading back to college after Thanksgiving break. I was using my ancient Austin Steplite 486/50. We hit black ice somewhere in the middle of Oregon, slid off the road, flipped the car. The windshield cracked, admitting large quantities of dirt and snow to the car. Snow plus dirt and heat equals mud, which caked my notebook. Excitingly enough, my notebook still functions, once I washed the mud off. The only downside is I lost my spacebar, so I taped on a plastic fork handle, which works better than one would expect. Too bad Austin stopped making notebooks long long ago; looks like the got something right in the crash resiliance part.
I've got a older 385XD ThinkPad from 96 that's traveled all over the Middle East and Europe in a backpack and the only thing that's gone wrong with it is that it has something loose rolling around in it. I'm assuming it's not metal since it's been that way for about 4 years and it hasn't shorted out........yet. :-)
I have a Sony PCG-C1XS (Picturebook), and it's been dropped numerous times. The magnesium case is cracked on one corner, but the laptop is otherwise fine. Having a small screen can be an advantage!
The wheel it turns, around and around, with an ancient rumbling sound.
I am a college student and I carry around my Thinkpad 600e with me on campus. It seems like it is a sturdy laptop and I have had no problems to speak of. One thing I do recommend is to carry the laptop around in a backpack designed for it and not just in with your books.
I use a Willow Design's backpack which has enough room for books and a padded compartment for my laptop.
Picture
Even with 2 notebooks and 2 textbooks it is not a burden to carry around. It is designed to be used as either a backpack or for use with a shoulder strap. In side the laptop compartment for the laptop there is more than enough room to carry a power-supply, pcmcia cards, network cable, and probably enough for a mouse and anything else you really needed to carry around. The price tag is a little steep but just consider what you're trying to protect. I am extremely happy with mine and have been using it for more than a year with no complaints.
I shattered my sternum, ribs and collarbone and suffered internal bruising. My whole chest turned yellow 4 days after the accident. It took about 6 and a half weeks to recover. It was the scariest experience I've ever lived through in my life. I'd say recovering was worse then the accident.
Needless to say, my iBook hit the dash at a force of over 500mph (according to the firefighters that pulled me from the wreckage of my car) Once the ambulance transported me to the emergency room, the CHP officers brought my belongings and my wife met me there. To comfort me, my wife fired up my iBook and to my relief it still worked and booted into OS X without any problems.
It's about 3 months later now, and all the damage my iBook has to show is some leather smear from the case on the corners of the nice polished white plastic. No other problems whatsoever. And yet iBook users complain about their hinges.... *shrug* I love my iBook, glad it made it through it OK.
-Pat
I own a Dell Inspiron 3200. It's a bit old now... P2-233, came with 64mb/3gig. But it was a good laptop, and worked well. It was sitting innocently enough by a window one day when it decided to rain while I was out. The water poured out of the case when it was tipped sideways... had to let that dry out for a while. But 3 months of drying later, and a new keyboard, it worked great. I've dropped it from 2 to 3 feet a bunch of times, on corners and sides, tops and bottoms. Never even had a bad sector or plastic crack. It was in the back of a minivan once, on top of a bunch of luggage in a backpack with 10-20lbs of books and it fell out when the door was opened... 6 ft fall onto asphalt, with a load of books on top to boot.
I've used my laptop as a doorstop, rain gauge (see above), hammer (had to hammer a contact on a car battery), and a bunch of other un-intended uses. I've replaced a keyboard and opened it up a few times, but it's kept working without any other damage. Pretty solid laptop... aptly named "Lazarus"... keeps coming back from the dead. I read that PC Mag laptop hell test, Dell used to win every time. I guess that kinda paid off for me.
I chose my laptop because reviews said it was more durable. I spent more money on it, but much less than I would have if I'd had to replace the laptop as many times as I've abused it. My investment was worth it. That's my story.
I've had my Powerbook for a couple years and have trounced all over the place with it and it still works just fine. I'm pretty careful with it for the most part but I know for a fact it stands up to my high G-force driving, airport X-ray machines, playing SW pod racer whilst driving on the freeway (I wasn't the one playing of course), and being toted all over the place in a backpack. I may not be able to play CS on my Powerbook but it has never had to be sent in for repairs form my touching some portion of it with a little too much force (I've never had to send it in for repairs). The Lombard and Pismo PBs (and to an extent the Wall Streets) have curved shells which makes them a little tougher when it comes to pressure being applied to them. The back to the LCD is curved enough I can set two fair sized computer books on the top of the PB without breaking my screen (done that). The only part I really worry about when I have it in a bag in the CD-ROM faceplate because it doesn't sit exactly flush with the side of the case. The one drawback is it is a little fat to carry around in my usual bag (one of those "daypack" style backpacks with the sinle strap going across your chest) so I usually have to use a normal two srap bag when I want to take it someplace.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Most severe laptop damage involves broken LCDs. Plastic case components seem the second most common point of failure, and hard drives actually seem to be relatively uncommon victims of laptop castastrophes.
Common ways of breaking the LCD included:
* leaving a pencil on the keyboard and closing the lid
* dropping something on top of the laptop screen with the screen closed, breaking the screen from behind
* otherwise putting pressure on top of the screen such that the screen breaks from behind (such as putting it in a briefcase with a mouse, and setting the briefcase upside so the closed laptop is sitting screen-down on top of the mouse pressure point)
* dropping the laptop
Contrary to popular belief, hard drives will usually survive fairly severe drops as long as they aren't running when they fall. They're also often suspended on anti-shock mounts in modern laptops. I never saw a signifcantly higher rate of failure in laptop drives than desktop drives.
Some laptops don't even survive themselves, let alone physical abuse. Laptop screen hinges are particularly a point of stress and must be well engineered. There was a time when PowerBook 5300 screens would spontaneously snap off, along with most the rest of the plastic parts on those computers; it turned out to be a design flaw in the plastics, and they were repaired for free with updated plastic parts.
Right now I'm using a 2001 iBook, and it lives in my backpack with 15+ pounds of books, etc. To prevent damage I put it in the middle of the books so that when I throw the backpack down the stress is distributed across the entire laptop evenly. So far the iBook's high gloss finish has been scuffed to hell, and all the little feet have rubbed off, but there have been no mechanical failures despite almost a year of such abuse. I treat my backpack with the laptop exactly as I did before I carried the laptop in it.
I have a fragile laptop - Sony Vaio Picturebook. It is tiny and people who have picked theirs up by the screen - well they don't have a screen anymore...
So I treat it like a box of eggs and it is mint condition. I have been using it every day for over a year and a half now.
Be carefull - it will last for a long time
realkiwi
I hate it when that happens!
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Being a poor college student, my laptop budget is next to nothing. I ended up with three IBM Thinkpad 701c's that turned into one working machine and a bunch of parts that paid for the whole mess when sold (thanks ebay!). Anyway, I've lugged the 701 all over the place, dropped it a couple of times, and had the cat sit on it (open and closed). Granted, it's a 486-75, but they can be upgraded if you have a steady hand and a soldering iron. Runs Linux, runs Win9x, can run with (not so heavy), ect.
Dig it,
Ryan
The spec said they had to survive being used as ramps for armoured personel carriers, because squaddies are not very bright! The rep drove his estate car over one, and it survived that OK, but it was not running at the time. He said the airforce was considering driopping them on Saddam from a great height. Obviously they didn't drop very many, because Grid went out of business before I earned enough to buy one.
I believe IBM use titanium for the cases for the more expensive models. Not sure about bomb proof, but it could be close!
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
I've hiked the Appalachian Trail carrying a computer with me. Well, actually it was a rotating cast of computers. This was in 1996, so I'm sure that there are better options right now, but the basic structural integrity of laptops doesn't appeal to have changed a great deal since then, at least in my experience. A quick run-down:
:)
Thinkpad: Lasted just over a month. I took it out of my pack in North Carolina and found that it had shattered into thousands of pieces. The screen was responsible for most of the shrapnel, but the butterfly keyboard had pretty much exploded. I have no idea what caused it.
Compaq Aero: IIRC, it snapped in half.
Toshiba Satellite: So damned heavy I nearly threw it off a cliff, but that doesn't count. The case collapsed after some bumps.
Some Army Notebook: Some army contractor had me test out this ruggedized computer. It was an early pen-based laptop, with crude handwriting recognition. It was supposed to be indestructable. By this time I was in northern Maine, in October, and the thing stopped working below about 40 degrees. Needless to say, I didn't get much use out of it. IIRC, the stupid faux-leather-and-plastic case peeled off and the battery door ceased to close.
Apple Newton: The perfect ruggedized computer. I had a keyboard for it. It worked under all conditions, had a battery life of the gods. I kept it in an outside pocket of my pack (for easy accessibility), where it got all kinds of scrapes and bruises. But it was never harmed structurally or in any way had any problems. In fact, I was so convinced of its merits that I bought my very first Apple (horrors!) when I got back from the trail in the fall: a Duo 280c laptop. I've been a Mac user ever since.
-Waldo Jaquith
I've had good luck with Toshiba Tecra's over the years. Dell's are pretty wimpy.
In the last 5 years I've lugged a Tecra 520, 2 Tecra 8000's and a Tecra 8100 through just about every airport in North America. I abuse the hell out of them and the only problem I had was a busted screen on a 8100 when a coworker knocked it from a 6 ft workbench onto a concret floor, while the case was open. Replacement screen cost half as much as the laptop!
Toshiba also has great warranty support in just about every major/minor US city through Unisys or Pomeroy. Never been out of an hours drive of a repair depot when I did have a problem. The early 8000 keyboards *really* didn't like moisture, so I went through a few of them before I realized that spilling Coke on them wasn't a good thing.
"I hit a highway divider while on my daily commute to Tulare, CA (from Fresno) at over 70mph after an 18-wheeler ran me off the road. "
The fact that you survived sounds like you are very lucky.
"Needless to say, my iBook hit the dash at a force of over 500mph (according to the firefighters that pulled me from the wreckage of my car) "
I'm still trying to figure out how hitting a stationary object while moving at 70 mph will cause an object within your car to move at 500mph.
You suck - I had to pay $90 after shipping to get a replacement keyboard for my PCG-C1X from Sony - and that's just the part, I did the 'work' myself. (Only mention that from the $40 complaint from our parent) . . . mine was just getting at its end and all the keys were worn and getting unreliable (popping off from plastic being worn and over-flexible). It was worth it, but barely, $90 is a good chunk to be dropping on a replacement keyboard for such a slow system :)
cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
My 8201-A has over 25,000 hours of runtime and has never needed repairs. The usual bumps and shakes, plus 2 auto accidents and a housefire. (The Mac Centris 650 also survived, tho several connectors needed replaced.) The laptop survived umerous camping trips, including both desert, and winter in the Northwoods. 12-14 hours on 4 AA batteries
Downsides: Text only display, maximum 1200 baud modem, 128 K RAM (upgraded from 16.)
These days I only use it for particularly hazardous duty, ie Rainbow Gatherings
Ben Masel: 51,282 votes for US Senate in the Wisconsin Democratic Primary
I've had a whole bunch of portable computerish devices over the years... here's the empirical evidence on abuse-ability...
In reading this, I'm thinking it has more to do with the bag than the machine - when you're trying to protect a multiple thousand dollar investment, DON'T SKIMP ON THE BAG and you'll be much happier!
I'm still trying to figure out how to convert mph to pounds :)
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
I bought a Sharp AX10, mainly because I wanted something very lightweight. It's thin, and classed as ultralight, or ultraportable.
I've probably treated it quite badly; its fallen off various furniture, it's been turned on its side while in use and then accidentally leaned on, it's had food and drink splashes on it, it's been chucked in a rucksack with my other pits and pieces and thrown about on a train.
So far (6 months) there have been no problems at all, although the comments above make me rethink how I should be treating the poor thing!
I'd happily recommend it - I'd never realised that robustness was an issue. Although the case is plastic you can knock on the lid when it's in use, no problem.
Go to Google's rough computer catagory:C omputing/Rugged_Hardware/
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Mobile_
That's a list of companies that make durable laptops and other computer equipment.
I finally gave up and put mine on the floor after I dropped it off the desk onto the tile floor about 20 times. Plus it's been dropped onto concrete parking lots a few times (while turned on), and has travelled about 30,000 miles in the top case of a motorcycle in a minimally padded bag. None of this has fazed it in the least.
Too bad nobody wanted to buy these things. And too bad Mitsubishi didn't overproduce enough of them so that they could still be found in the surplus outlets.
If you're the type even considering how much stress a laptop can take, you should look into programs like Dell's CompleteCare Program. According to their website, it is "provides you repair or replacement of your Latitude or Inspiron notebook PC for any damage that is caused by accidents."
Not suprisingly, not covered in this program: Damage from fire, intentional damage (hammer marks), stolen unit, and normal wear.
I'm still trying to figure out how hitting a stationary object while moving at 70 mph will cause an object within your car to move at 500mph.
.45cal bullet.
IIRC from my first-year physics course it had something to do with the transfer of momentum. A 2000 lb car at 70 MPH has ALOT of momentum(obviously) If you transfer that momentum into a 10 lb notebook you effectivly can increase the speed by 20 times. Granted, most of the momentum of the car ended up in the highway divider, but still there are alot of forces involved. I've responded to accidents were knobs on the dashboard get pushed through the skull with as much force as a
A more accurate representation, however, would be to represent the forces in G's. Typically 200 to 300 G's is not uncommon in object hitting solid parts of the car like dashboards.
I bought a cheap panasonic cf-41 for £200 a few years ago. It is a wonderful piece of designed-to-last kit. The screen back is metal, and it has a nice backlit screen. Runs a 50mhz 486 so the battery runs for hours. I've used RH4.2 and slack 7.0 on it (running X). I had to put a 10Gb disk in it (was 250mb ish.) The things are built to last, and have the only laptop keyboard I have ever seen that doesn't flex in the middle. You dont need that 1ghz processor on the move, but you will love the ~4 hours battery life.
I am the NUL and the DEL, the beginning and the end.
!!
I had a similar problem with my iBook's Q key. The local Apple service center said that they couldn't get replacement keyboards themselves - that since it was a 'user-replacable part' I would have to call AppleCare.
When I called AppleCare last Friday, I learned that since it had been more than 90 days since I purchased the computer, I'd have to pay ~ $50 for phone support before I could order a keyboard, which cost about $100. Fortunately, since it was still under warranty and the damage wasn't caused by abuse, the phone tech managed to get one shipped out on warranty replacement without me having to fork over $50 for phone support.
Needless to say I'll think hard about buying another Apple product if I'll need to telephone them and pay $50 for the privlidge of buying basic spare parts.
This has to be one of the most stupid topics I've ever seen on Slashdot. At least the author used proper scientific terms and units, such as "how many [books] can you stack on [a laptop] and [how hard] you can [bang] it until the corners [cave in]..."
I really can't understand why people don't test for these things. I mean, personally I think the "corner cave-in ratio" (expressed in litres) is a major factor when buying a laptop.
My own tests show that you can stack precisely 21.3 [books] (doesn't matter which books, or what laptop model - this is a universal constant) and that you can bang it with a force of exacly [a few] Newton hard until the corners cave in by precisley [a bit] (yes, a bit of litres).
Slow day, I guess.