Toughened laptop

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Tacet

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I'm looking for a thoughened laptop. It's for a student who will mostly use it for academic purposes, skype, and for presentations. The presentations are sometimes indoors, sometimes outside, and life can be quite harsh on the laptop.

What brands currently sell decent tough laptops? I don't mind the specs too much, the most important is decent HDD size and hardiness. It won't be used for gaming, and the projectors used are not HD, so it doesn't need a top-end GPU. A built-in mic and camera would be nice, but is not vital.

Suggestions?
 
You're looking for one of these. They are fairly pricey, but they're really the one to go for when it comes to non-military grade ruggedized laptops.
 
For a serious tough laptop the Panasonic Toughbook is the main contender, but costs an arm and a leg and is pretty bulky and heavy.

Dell do the ATG. Some of the Vostro V series are reasonably sturdy and covered by a good warranty.

In my opinion the strongest standard laptops are Lenovo Thinkpads. Not the lower range SL or Edge models, but more the T, R and X range with their magnesium roll cages. You can also upgrade your warranty to accidental damage protection to cover it if you drop it, crack the screen etc.

HP do the 8440p that is hardened.
 
Tacet said:
I'm looking for a thoughened laptop. It's for a student who will mostly use it for academic purposes, skype, and for presentations. The presentations are sometimes indoors, sometimes outside, and life can be quite harsh on the laptop.
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Question is, does it have to survive a drop test or just daily bumps and scratches?

Drop test: Panasonic Toughbook
Bumps and scratches: I personally have a Lenovo Thinkpad X series and it's pretty solid, exterior is a rubber like material.

Of course it has to have a SSD to qualify IMO.
 
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get an asus that comes standard with a one year accidental warranty, and a good carry bag
 
Get something with an SSD harddrive as a normal spinning HDD is probably the most 'fragile' part of a machine when it comes to bumping it around.
 
Macbook Air is an option. Damn sturdy and light. For true ruggedness, yes a Panasonic toughbook.
 
Thanks for the replies! Yesterday proved busier than expected, so I could only read the replies this now.

It doesn't have to be mil spec. I'm looking for something that will be a little more sturdy than your standard home-use laptop. The laptop will be taken on camps, outings, university etc, so there's always someone who will pick it up to move the projector a bit, and many people can't care less of putting it down carefully.

ramar's Lenovo suggestion seems to be about what I need - a good balance between tough and something I can afford. I'm looking to pay about R5k, and most of the really nice stuff is about 3-4 times that.
 
You wont be able to get a new lenovo thinkpad for that budget. Unless you go for and Edge or SL. The T and L range start at about 7-9K
 
Tacet said:
It doesn't have to be mil spec.
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Dell used to make a semi rugged notebook but dunno if it's still the case.

Alternatively buy a Lenovo Thinpad T series notebook, they are as durable as consumer grade laptops come. Another option would be a Macbook, also durable.
 
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Reviews

ponder said:
Panasonic Toughbook is NOT the best out there. They cost more and come will less 'Mil' specs than another brand out there which is excellent, seen them in action.

General Dynamics Itronix is what you want, http://www.gd-itronix.com/index.cfm?page=Itronix:Home

Locally http://zollhaus.co.za/
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Interesting -- you got one ?

Here are some reviews from some good sites

This is one of the best sites for notebook info

Rugged Laptops: Essential to Business and Home?


Here is another good one

Rugged Notebook Computers

I already have 802.11n WLAN , 4G WWAN and GPS
Now just to put two SSD's into my metal alloy base DELL and I will be ready -- not sure for what though :confused: :D
 
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