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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."
.... (after all it is 11 pages) Try surfing here for some quick hits on how their notebooks are tested and what standards they meet.
s t.asp
http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/df_te
If they weren't so bloody expensive, I'd get one. It looks like it would survive the real world quite nicely. If only all notebooks were built to HALF of what these are built to survive.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
your customers are not buying the right toughbooks.
the toughbook-30 looks fantastic in bright direct sunlight as it has a correct reflective LCD instead of a standard Laptop screen, IF ordered correctly.
Most places do not buy the right gear when it comes to toughbooks because their accounting department craps their pants when they see the price.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The other maker of hardened laptop / PDA's is Itronix. I've got an old Itronix laptop that's built like a brick. Both Itronix and Toughbooks (particularly the later) are popular with police and fire depts. Fire depts. are very hard on laptops. They use them for things like communications, looking a dept. databases (fire inspection notes), info on hazardous materials,etc. I've heard of one fire chief who likes to test a vendor's notebooks by tossing them across the room. He's not very popular with sales reps.
I got my Itronix used (years ago) on E-bay. It has a 'Sprint' logo on the cover. Apparently was used by field service techs.
[Insert pithy quote here]