ebay.co.uk: Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1

[ed_avis]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171652566650

This is the top spec ultra-rugged Toughbook CF-U1 at a good price.  The biggest fault with these units is the incredibly slow SSD they are fitted with.  Otherwise, it makes a handy (if not speedy) PC you can take anywhere.

[berserkfan]

Matter of curiosity, but can it withstand the three following tests:

being dropped a distance of at least 6 feet onto solid rock, bouncing off, and hitting solid rock again 3 times at the same distance (ie when a researcher is climbing a rocky slope and drops his by accident)

being driven over by a fully loaded humvee (eg by accident on the African savanna).

being dropped into severely polluted water (eg by some ham handed research assistant taking samples in China)

I'm not talking about deliberate abuse with guns and sledgehammers, but the kind of damage that nerds and absent minded professors in the field are likely to inflict.

[ed_avis]

I think it is not officially certified to withstand that.  The spec probably calls for only a single drop from 4 feet, or something similar (I don't have the exact details).  In practice though it would probably be okay with those drops.

I know people have run over Toughbooks with cars, but a Humvee is much heavier than that.  I doubt it would survive, but you never know.

The computer is not rated as submersible, but in practice I think if you fished it out of the water quickly and gave it a quick hose down it would be fine.

[berserkfan]

Looking at the reviews, I think it is still very much the thing that a fool and his money are soon parted. This is a laptop that will definitely survive all regular outdoor field usage, but field mistakes are a different matter.

[Melvang]

Not sure about this particular model but the Panasonic tough books we had in the service for maint manuals would have survived the fall you describe, look back at you, laugh, and ask for more.   Depending on the ground conditions it would probably survive the humvee, but I can't speak for their water resistance/proof qualities.

The other mechanical based shop from mine in our squadron drop one off the top of the rotor head on an H-60 3 times in one day.  Not one hiccup. 

My favorite thing to do with them was to get into the bios and disable the touch screen there on the one that was in the avionics techs shop.  They had one person that knew what was going on and he was just as much of an ******* as I was.  Back in 02 they even had touch screens.

[ed_avis]

This CF-U1 is the toughest of the Toughbooks (it is 'ultra rugged' while the others are only 'fully rugged').  So most comments about the durability of the laptop models go double for this one..