Durable Laptop Suggestions for the Desert?

glarbl_blarbl asks: "My brother is assigned to the 82nd Airborne in the US Army. His last laptop was a Sony Vaio whose power jack and hard drive both failed after about three years, and it didn't see anything worse than a state college dorm. He has just been ordered back to Iraq, and as the family computer geek I have been trying to help him with some general advice - but I have no experience with laptops in exotic environments. Does anyone know which brands/models would be better suited for life in the desert?"

Ruggedized laptops

[Bastian]

The keyword you're looking for are "ruggedized." If he's going to be in a really dusty place, you might want to look into getting one that's envrionmentally sealed, but those aren't the best things because they generally have very low-power CPUs, rubber chiclet keyboards, and the like in order to get rid of all openings in the case.

The only major consumer line I know of is Panasonic Toughbooks.

Panasonic Toughbook.

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Panasonic Toughbook. At least that's what we send, but we're only Air Force. Though I have seen them bounce down the stairs from the flight deck to the cargo area of a C-17 a few times and work just fine. Seem to hold up to moderate grit as well.

The MIL SPEC laptops

[jmauro]

These ones will take a lot of abuse. I use them in the California and Arizona deserts every so often without too much trouble.

Itronix GoBook [itronix.com]
Panasonic Toughbook [panasonic.com]

They are more expensive than your average notebooks but the extra costs means they take a beating from a baseball bat and still be fully functional. Also unlike some of the other types of MIL SPEC notebooks these actually look and function similar to a regular notebook.

Re:Panasonic Toughbook.

[xyzzy]

Hands down, Toughbook, CF-73. Buried one in the dirt in Hawaii at a military exercise last summer, with a DVD. Played the DVD fine the next morning, AFTER DRAINING THE WATER OUT OF IT that accumulated from the dew overnight.

Look for dustproof design and heat tolerance.

[Myself]

The magazine Pen Computing [pencomputing.com] has a nice lean towards ruggedized machines. You can always count on them for brutally honest, brutally violent reviews of the latest from Panasonic, Melard, Itronix, and whoever the latest challenger seems to be.

The issue currently on the stands is the 2005 Buyers' Guide, which deserves a read. A few issues ago, they paid a visit to a durability testing lab. The photos of the shower stall, drop test, hinge exerciser, button pusher, and screen scratcher were hilarious.

My personal go-everywhere machine is a Toughbook CF-M34 [wikispaces.org]. It's tiny, doesn't weigh much, and takes whatever I dish out. The other day I had it standing on top of my car when a gust of wind shoved it over the edge. A little chunk of metal was liberated from the hind corner when it hit the concrete, but the running apps didn't crash, and there was no cracking of the case beyond the ding. Thank goodness for padded hard drive mountings!

The main concern you have with desert operation is dust. A washable keyboard will let you simply rinse the grit out from under the keys. Rubber port covers will keep gunk out of the PCMCIA slot, for instance, when it's not in use.

There's an option in the BIOS of my '34 for "high-temperature operation". What it does is stop charging the battery when it reaches 80%, since operating a lithium-ion battery above its rated temperature is as simple as derating its maximum charge. Going to 100% at high temperature would significantly shorten the cycle life of the battery.

Everyone is saying it...

[BrianRaker]

And I'll say it too. Panasonic ToughBooks [panasonic.com] are the way to go. Used to service these things for the US Army back at Fort Campbell and the top end units you could have a HMMWV run over it and it would survive: LCD OK, powered on OK and booted straight into the OS. Got a couple back from NTC at Fort Irwin (tank training, in the middle of the desert) and all but one came back unscathed. The one failure was due to a crappy LS-120 drive.

Exactly what is he going to do with it?

[GrpA]

That's the question you need to ask. Once answered, you will find the right hardware.

Ruggedised stuff usually is not that cheap.

Aside from ruggedised computers, as a general rule, Toshiba stuff usually stacks up pretty well, but even Toshiba's break things like plugs and drives pretty commonly.

Aside from high strength, also consider small. Small size automatically improves structure (think inverse square law)... Half the size, means four times the structural strength... Although it's actually higher, because all you are really reducing is the form factor.

I have a small 90's era Libretto that I carry around to play GO on, so it gets very harshly treated. But it's suitable for travel as well. PCMCIA adaptors are small, hard to break (if you get good ones) and cheap to replace if they do. It gets dragged around with me everywhere, and it's still working. And I don't really take care of it. But I can log on to networks, comprise emails, play go and serve files... It's great.

Something similarly small, and perhaps second hand (newer palmtops often have overheating problems) makes a great PC with little weight or space taken up.

But maybe a PC isn't the best choice? Perhaps a games box, eg, PSP or DS.... Or even a palm device?

Again, the smaller, the easier to cart around, and the stronger.

Finally, what are his friends carrying around? Something similar is often a good idea, even if it's not the best choice.

Think of something to just get the job done. If it's just for a few years, consider something that will just last that long. Also field strippable can help (Seriously!).

And keep in mind that in a year or so, he'll know what he wants. Better then to get you to send it to him, so whatever he leaves with might only need to last a year.

Finally, keep in mind the operating system you choose. You want something he can fix himself, even if he needs to blow it all away, so being able to boot from a CD or USB you include and fix all might be a good idea too.

Just some thoughts.

GrpA

No fans

[strikethree]

You will want a notebook that does not use any fans. I am in Iraq right now and the dust here is like an ultra-fine baby powder. It gets into EVERYTHING. If there are no fans, you will find less of this dust inside of your laptop. I have a Sharp Actius PC-MM20. It is awesome here. While other laptops have dropped dead from sucking in too much dust, my MM20 keeps rocking.

strike

Fujitsu P1120

[jgartin]

I used this notebook for 15 months in Iraq. It's small, easy to carry, and heat resistant. It doesn't have a DVD drive, though. The P2120 does--it's a very similar model. Both notebooks have a multivoltage power adapter--a very important feature for any notebook you're going to use overseas.

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Going back with 101st Airborne myself

[Digital Dharma]

And I will be taking an up-armored Panasonic Toughbook [toughonline.com] with me. We use them regularly in the field, and I've been impressed so far with their durability. I've seen them dropped, thrown, punched, kicked, pushed off tables, etc. No one can break stuff like we can ;)

He wants something sealed.

[St. Arbirix]

The computer doesn't really matter if you cover it right [protectcovers.com].

Otherwise, I suggest a PowerBook. I beat someone with mine a couple of months ago and it still works fine.