Timex uses that phrase for its watches, but the one computer I remember ( The Timex Sinclair) was no where near durable enough to use that phrase on it. But today that are portable pc's that can withstand a lot of abuse. Back in March an article "Rugged Requirements"was written about an Air Force testing of three rugged laptops and a gateway in a Samsonite Case. These were tested for Heat, Drops, usability and other stress testing. In the heat test the Gateway actually fared better than two of the rugged models, although it was beaten by the Itronix XC6250 Pro. And to add to their usability ratings they are now offering THE added functionality to compute in low-light environments by illuminating their keyboard according to a recent review. When the author compares the IBM Thinkpad to the Itronix XC6250 Pro, the author states " A clever idea, but it doesn't come close to Itronix' solution." Even Robert Blincoe of the register mentioned in his article comments concerning the IBM Thinkpad stating " the added glare to the LCD screen making it a little harder to read, and the keys are not lit evenly."
Slashdot Mirror
Follow up to this is a Slashdot:Rugged Laptops listing of the NY Times article on several different Rugged Laptops. (See How Tough Is Your Laptop? Some Are Built Like Tanks )
Takes a licking and keeps on ticking:
Timex uses that phrase for its watches, but the one computer I remember ( The Timex Sinclair) was no where near durable enough to use that phrase on it. But today that are portable pc's that can withstand a lot of abuse. Back in March an article "Rugged Requirements"was written about an Air Force testing of three rugged laptops and a gateway in a Samsonite Case. These were tested for Heat, Drops, usability and other stress testing. In the heat test the Gateway actually fared better than two of the rugged models, although it was beaten by the Itronix XC6250 Pro. And to add to their usability ratings they are now offering THE added functionality to compute in low-light environments by illuminating their keyboard according to a recent review. When the author compares the IBM Thinkpad to the Itronix XC6250 Pro, the author states " A clever idea, but it doesn't come close to Itronix' solution." Even Robert Blincoe of the register mentioned in his article comments concerning the IBM Thinkpad stating " the added glare to the LCD screen making it a little harder to read, and the keys are not lit evenly."
I can not wait to get one of these!!!