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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!"
The testers were fairly impressed with how well this laptop took a beating. The title of this post is pretty inaccurate.
On topic, forget these no name laptops that give away samples to shady review sites, Panasonic Toughbook is the real deal.
sulli
RTFJ.
I bet there's a *huge* difference between dropping the notebook flat and dropping it on a corner. It's still hard for me to believe that any notebook I've seen (including the Panasonic Toughbooks) could take repeated 30-inch drops on the corner of the case and still work properly. If anyone knows differently, I'd love to hear about it.
No, a reasonable person would think that in all of their testing the 27th drop was the earliest it failed. That all of them are guaranteed to survive at least that much.
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.
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.
I can't really say much for the newer models, but I'm typing this on a CF-27 toughbook that's dropped from my back (probably something like like 150cm; I carry it on a strap) onto a concrete floor; the paint scratched, and the floor chipped rather substantially. It takes a point impact to the center of the back of the screen, or being fully thrown into a brick wall to crack the screen, and the machine will still run afterwards, it'll just have a visible crack in the screen. Especially the older toughbooks are well beyond the military spec for such things.
It is much much much harder than you think to light a magnesium-cased computer: see http://www.simson.net/hacks/cubefire.html
The ToughBooks I've used on sites before now take a serious beating. Drops off scaffolds, falls to concrete (corner and flat, open and not), kicks, and at least one which had a pile of bricks dropped onto it (Left a nice gouge in the shell, but worked perfectly). If the laptop is running or not makes no difference.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
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.....
The three most common ways (in no particular order) for a laptop to be dropped are in fact:
Question everything
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. --