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Durabook Laptop Marketing Claims 'Destroyed'
jkwdoc writes "The crew at [H] Consumer got a hold of a Durabook sample from Twinhead and got the green light to hold Twinhead to their word about what kind of abuse the unit can withstand. Twinhead originally claimed that their unit could survive 26 drops from 29 inches. A cracked LCD and busted hard drive later, they changed their tune. Complete with video!"
Twinhead originally claimed that their unit could survive 26 drops from 29 inches. A cracked LCD and busted hard drive later, they changed their tune.
Seriously, did anyone really think that *any* notebook could take that?
The testers were fairly impressed with how well this laptop took a beating. The title of this post is pretty inaccurate.
While it certaintly looks like it didn't live up to the full expectations, the damage taken was gradual. For the most part it was "optical drive came out, system still works." I wouldn't want to see what happens to my macbook pro in the same circumstance.
No smoking sigs indoors.
On topic, forget these no name laptops that give away samples to shady review sites, Panasonic Toughbook is the real deal.
sulli
RTFJ.
Surely a reasonable person would expect the 26 drop number to be a mean time to failure sort of number. Otherwise you are left to think: "Oh, 26 drops is no problem, but that 27th is the real doosy".
The MIL-STD-810F test, procedure IV, calls for 29 drops of the test article while in its shipping box without functional damage. Think of that as soldiers unloading a truck in a hurry. Or baggage handling at some airports.
The operational tests are much milder. Procedure I, functional shock, is 40G for 11ms, 3x on each axis, with the unit running, without any operational glitches. Think of this as in use in an off-road vehicle bouncing over rough terrain, i.e. normal military usage. Procedure VI, bench handling, is a 100mm drop test in normal orientation, power off, 4x. That's just dropping it on a table from 10cm.
Summary
Obviously, the Durabook didnt survive some of the abuse Twinhead initially claimed it should, but lets look at this in real-world terms.
If you find yourself accidentally dropping your laptop 26 times from a height of nearly three feet, you should probably see a doctor. Most of us have probably sent our laptops tumbling only once or twice. Our first Durabook survived three very gnarly drops before something broke off completely (an easily replaceable optical drive faceplate), and at least 10 drops before we started to get some significant hardware failure. It took around 20 drops for the hard drive to fail. Thats some fairly serious protection, especially since the data on that hard drive is often worth more than the laptop itself.
The second unit was more of the same. Although we saw some minor damage within the first 6 drops on both units, all of the essential hardware, including the LCD and hard drive, was still fully functional and the machines had no problem booting. This is a huge testament to the security a form factor like this can give the consumer.
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So as far as hardened notebooks go, it fairs decently, but marketing's original claims were clearly out of whack with reality.
http://www.griduk.com/
I've seen test videos and they are amazing. You can drive car over them and all that happens is the screen cracks, they are still useable. Also seen them dropped down a flight of concrete stairs and they still worked.
From the article, they made the machine more durable by replacing plastic structural parts with magnesium parts.
Given the apparent propensity of lithium ion batteries to catch on fire, I wonder if this is a good idea. I know I don't have any fire extinguishers that will put out burning magnesium.
My 366mhz Apple iBook "Clamshell", with its case made of rubber on thick ABS on a thick steel frame would take that and keep on running. it's fallen over 4ft while open and running (on one occasion only) and suffered no noticeable damage at all
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
... back at my last job, one of my co-workers ordered a bunch of ruggedized WinCE boxes for a set of field measurements products. The units in question were supposed to survive a 4-ft drop.
One day I was walking past his office and I saw that he received the units. I stopped in, and picked up one of the units. I looked it over, and asked if these were the units in question. He replied 'yes.' I then proceeded to drop the unit I was holding on to the floor.
My colleague jumped up, yelling "what the h*ll are you doing?" I replied "the unit is supposed to be able to survive a 4-ft drop right? I wanted to see for myself."
FWIW, the unit kept on ticking....
Anyone reading the article here on /. and comparing it to the 'Conclusions' as described on the linked site might have a problem wondering if they are talking about the same product!
Yes, ya get attention and prompt ppl to read when the /. article exhagerates its commentary.. but its at the cost of credibility.
Your conclusions suggest the product is at least very good for its intended purpose. The article here was , shall we say. considerably less positive!!
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
If one wanted a "tough" notebook for field work, why not revert to that kind of form factor? Screen above the keyboard covered by thickish Plexiglas - no screen hinges to break and the screen can be thicker. All storage on a (say) 5 GB Flash ROM disc. No moving parts. USB ports or Bluetooth to connect external peripherals when needed. Slightly slower processor than top of the line for lower heat production - a fan wouldn't be needed. All powered by standardized LiIon or NiMH AA-sized batteries. You should even be able to use alkalines or NiCads in a pinch.
-b.
you're a total asshole
Actually, that was probably a good idea to make sure the things you paid extra for, for being rugged, really were. If they aren't, you need to find something that is or not pay as much money. You want to go out in the field and find out THERE with some unexpected whoopsie they aren't tough enough for the job you needed them for? Then you are really stuck. I would have done the same thing if it was me and had to order them, because I don't trust marketing claims that much. Probably order one extra and do the initial testing on one, then keep that one for a spare if it passed the test.
I dropped a dell inspiron of a roof once, and it ran fine with no damage whatsoever. granted it was in a leather laptop case(that wasn't zipped up). It rolled end over end down a steepish roof and fell about 20 feet to the ground. I was doing a site survey for wireless internet and it stayed where it was until I walked away.
Oh Crap, I'm an optimist.....
TwinHead 15D. Cracked the case on the top edge of the lid, eventually killed the power socket.
TwinHead warrantied it. The warranty service was slow (took nearly a month) but the repairs were effective.
I drop the thing about monthly, typically off a chair onto the floor & while running. It runs Mandriva Linux 2007.0 well enough, except that sometimes the wireless card forgets to have an encryption key & forgets how to reinstall it again, & the mousepad is too easily made active (extra scrolling & clicks). I've never had a hard-disk failure, or a cover fall off, or anything like that. The batteries last about 20% longer under Linux than under the copy of XP that it shipped with.
Compared with a brand-X notebook (for example, a Gateway Solo), the ruggedness has probably been worth about four times the cost of the notebook to me. It travels well on aircraft & in cars.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Because there is no Apartheid there. Carter's clumsy world-play fools only ignoramuses with an attention span measured in nano-units:
There simply is not anything like this in the region called Palestine.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I have so far purchased 20 of these durabooks - we issue them to staff who work in the field, and aren't particularly carefull with corporate equipment.
The Durabooks cost approximately the same as a similar 'non-hardened' laptop does, but are a far more rugged construction.
They aren't competitors for the OpenTec Warriors, Panasonic Toughbooks, or Grid laptops. But they also don't cost the same.
A typical Durabook will cost you AU$2,000 each. An Opentec or Panasonic will cost you around AU$8,000.
You pay your money, and you take your chances. At the end of the day the Durabooks have easily outlasted the Dell laptops we previously purchased, and represent good value for money. At least these days when I threaten to bend a laptop over someones head they take me more seriously than when we issued the Dells.
(As far as my experiences with Twinhead are concerned, I'd be surprised if it worked when it arrived.)
I unfortunately dropped my PowerBook 15" top of 66cm (~26") tall washing machine to tiny and hard bathroom tiles (below it is about 15-25 cm concrete slab) floor about a year and half ago.
It was running, lid closed when it happened.
It all happened when on my way rushing to work I decided to I wash my hands before leaving house and save few steps not taking PB to briefcase waiting in the lobby and placed it top of the closed washing machine to wait. When I then tried to pick it up it just happened. I had left few papers top of it I was working and when I tried to grab it one handed PB pivoted under my fingers and slipped straight to floor corner first.
Realizing what had just happened, felt I'm about to get a stoke (seriously), I opened the lid immediately and it was all black <ouch, ouch, ouch>
Anyway, I was in hurry to work. Decided to drive first to local Mac repair shop on the way and ask to have quick scan what's broken. PB was still under the care plan, so I tought better not to touch it even I've opened and fixed several laptop problems past years, even TiBooks which is also fairy tight package.
Ok, told in the shop what just happened and heard "OMG -- it's propably gone ...".
Asked them to have a look anyway and opened the lid again as a gesture to get
them even try. I pushed the power button as usual and supprisingly heard the
friendly DVD-drive initial seek & churn and screen came normally on. All came
up just fine and I logged in. It appeared like that the shock had just powered it
off said the technician. Dunno, but I felt certainly great relief!
I was in hurry to work, so I left it there for the full inspection after changing OF-password etc. so that they can run all software checks necessary.
I picked it off few hours later afternoon and the only damage was found is a little ~8 mm diameter ~2 mm deep nice round dent in the right front corner (next to that DVD-drive) that came first down. No other noticeable and measureable damage. Nothing that the software inspection had found either. Later I found that the chassis was bent about half millimeter and it tilted on straight table a bit. But that stress apparently has leveled as it's not there any more, can't see anything any more not even looking against the light. Just the dent in the corner remains.
That's it, I'm still using this same PB. Of course that incident about 18 months ago lowered the reselling value of this PB, but I'm not considering to sell it (yes, it's my private gear). When the service plan expires next summer I will just buy brand new MBP and have this as a backup/secondary whatever use, like I did with my previous laptop (HP nc800 & Linux). I grew frustrated setting up (Linux) desktop & devices after each major upgrade. (I did that over 10 years, growing frustration that there was no light in the end of the tunnel thought I give OS X a chance as a desktop environment and haven't regretted a bit, it has been worth every penny and more as has been this PB too.)
My PB is spring 2004 model, with no suddenmotion detector or the like. It's nice to know how sturdy stuff PB's are ;)
ps. BTW, there is a dark aluminium left spot on the tile still visible today, can't remove with any detergent and ordinary abrasive cleanser available I've tried. It's pretty hard on that glass coated tile <eh. --
...only gets you bigger contracts. The brass and purchasing guys don't care, only the grunts in the field deal with that.
I wrote an assembly language version of Space War that used the system's RS-232 port to "network" two 102's together. When you cloaked your ship, the ship only disapeared on your opponents screen.
-peace
p.s. Both my 102's were stolen when I moved to NYC but a friend of mine just sent me a Model 100 so I'm going to poke around with some old software I wrote for it.
"A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us w
FTFA:
The Bottom Line
What we've got here is a very basic, but very reliable, mobile computing solution. What it lacks in cutting edge technology, it makes up for in physical endurance. If you need a computer that can withstand the rigors of travel and less-than-ideal operating environments, we recommend looking into Twinhead's reasonably priced line of Durabook laptops. Just don't drop it 26 times.
I used to be a partner in a company that built clone machines. We decided to get our machine FCC certified. We contracted a testing house to do the measurements for us.
Our machine failed pretty miserably.
They had a bunch of copper mesh tape and grounding wires and all sorts of such things. We were able to modify the machine in order to meet the tests.
According to the tech we were working with, this is almost universal, or was 15 years ago when I was there. Companies actually modified a single unit of each model in order to meet the tests, and they just kept it around in case further testing was required.
As a result, I wouldn't trust ANY tests that were done on a unit that was provided by the manufacturer for the purposes of testing. You can be sure that it's gotten a thorough going-over beforehand that a production unit wouldn't. And that "2 out of 5" I'm sure means that 2 out of 5 of the specially manicured units will pass, not 2 out of 5 production boxes.
Looking at the spec, it actually says that the test consists of 26 drops that may be divided among 5 test units any way the manufacturer likes, and that the average unit should be expected to be dropped 4 to 6 times in its lifetime.
I think the original 26 drops per unit spec was due to a misunderstanding of the spec; 4 to 6 is more accurate.
I would give them credit that they appear to have removed the 26 drop claim from their website, which I think was inaccurate to start with. It now just says that it meets the required spec.