Anybody have experience with Toughbooks / Rugged Laptops?

baggytheo · 07-10-2007, 10:16 AM

Hey guys. I'm thinking about buying a retired toughbook or rugged laptop off of ebay or something, and I had a few questions.

Are the harddrives in these things easily upgradable? I was wondering if the shock-proofing for the harddrive is built into the harddrive itself, or if it is just a specialized mounting for a normal 5400rpm notebook harddrive.

What about RAM, and everything else that would be expandable/accessible to upgrade on a standard notebook?

Also, many being offered have touch-screen capability. How exactly does one utilize the touchscreen? Do only certain "touch-screen-enabled" softwares allow you to use it, or can you manipulate the windows cursor with it?

**BCCOMP** · 07-10-2007, 10:24 AM

The toughbooks are easibly upgradeble and very durable. The HD are sourronded by a sponge about 1/4" thick (Under keyboard) and the RAM has easy access to upgrade. The touch screens i have used have not given me any headaches. Depending on model you should check the specs. (MAX requirements) before purchase. Also many do not come with CD or Floppy drives.

minster9 · 07-11-2007, 03:13 AM

the toughbooks are great units,but expensive. no laptop likes hitting a concrete floor & landing on one of its corners vertically. I seen a sickening result of such an accident when some guy dropped it off at a local comp. shop. LCD display all cracked up,keyboard corner of base caved in. After the dude left,me & store guy just looked at each other for a little bit,and we agreed the unit ain't worth fixing. It wasn't a toughbook. But,hey,laptops weren't designed to be treated like a frisbee. I'd buy another one if I had a NEED for it. Used toughbooks ain't cheap,and there are certain production years to avoid. Yeah,you can buy a new laptop now for 5 or 6 hundred bucks;but it is fragile,runs hot(battery might be suicidal,too),and the new software will require endless patches. I'd rather spend a grand on a newer used toughbook than half that on something that on something that won't hold as much value. Apparently,the new lenovo machines are not as good as the units before ibm sold out. just my opinion.

07-10-2007, 10:16 AM	#1 (permalink)
baggytheo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 95 OS: Windows XP Pro	Anybody have experience with Toughbooks / Rugged Laptops? Hey guys. I'm thinking about buying a retired toughbook or rugged laptop off of ebay or something, and I had a few questions. Are the harddrives in these things easily upgradable? I was wondering if the shock-proofing for the harddrive is built into the harddrive itself, or if it is just a specialized mounting for a normal 5400rpm notebook harddrive. What about RAM, and everything else that would be expandable/accessible to upgrade on a standard notebook? Also, many being offered have touch-screen capability. How exactly does one utilize the touchscreen? Do only certain "touch-screen-enabled" softwares allow you to use it, or can you manipulate the windows cursor with it?

07-10-2007, 10:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
BCCOMP Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New York Posts: 7,108 OS: Win XP SP3 / Windows 7 Beta / Open Suse My System	Re: Anybody have experience with Toughbooks / Rugged Laptops? The toughbooks are easibly upgradeble and very durable. The HD are sourronded by a sponge about 1/4" thick (Under keyboard) and the RAM has easy access to upgrade. The touch screens i have used have not given me any headaches. Depending on model you should check the specs. (MAX requirements) before purchase. Also many do not come with CD or Floppy drives.

07-11-2007, 03:13 AM	#3 (permalink)
minster9 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 176 OS: windows 2000	Re: Anybody have experience with Toughbooks / Rugged Laptops? the toughbooks are great units,but expensive. no laptop likes hitting a concrete floor & landing on one of its corners vertically. I seen a sickening result of such an accident when some guy dropped it off at a local comp. shop. LCD display all cracked up,keyboard corner of base caved in. After the dude left,me & store guy just looked at each other for a little bit,and we agreed the unit ain't worth fixing. It wasn't a toughbook. But,hey,laptops weren't designed to be treated like a frisbee. I'd buy another one if I had a NEED for it. Used toughbooks ain't cheap,and there are certain production years to avoid. Yeah,you can buy a new laptop now for 5 or 6 hundred bucks;but it is fragile,runs hot(battery might be suicidal,too),and the new software will require endless patches. I'd rather spend a grand on a newer used toughbook than half that on something that on something that won't hold as much value. Apparently,the new lenovo machines are not as good as the units before ibm sold out. just my opinion.