Interesting war-porn piece on the Panasonic ruggedized Toughbook, a laptop that, in its most extreme configuration, can survive being run over by a truck. Those boxen cost $5000, but a "semi-ruggedized" version, which is specced with "spill-resistant keyboards, hard casings, and gel-encased disk drives" is only 10 percent more costly to build than a standard machine.
Analysts say 20% of mainstream laptops fail in the first year, usually because of accidental damage. That rises to 35% once a notebook leaves its docking station and to more than 50% for machines that are used outdoors or on shop floors. But the failure rate of rugged or semi-rugged machines is just 5%.
(Thanks, anonymous person!)
