The Humvee of Laptops

Business Week ^ | April 11, 2003 | Peter Burrows

[Mister Magoo]

Panasonic's Toughbook has found fans among troops in Iraq. That should boost sales for the whole "ruggedized" laptop segment.

Early in the war in Iraq, a firefight broke out in a neighborhood that had supposedly been secured by coalition forces. As bullets whizzed by, a U.S. soldier did what came naturally: He held up his laptop computer, a Toughbook 72 from Panasonic Computer Solutions Co. Unlike most plastic-covered laptops, this "semi-rugged" model has a hard magnesium shell and steel-reinforced innards. The improvised shield did the trick. "There's a bullet lodged in his hard drive," marvels Maria Leadingham, who manages technology for the Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Center at Fort Bragg, N.C.

[Fixit]

Bump.

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[July 4th]

Cool story. I had a ruggedized "laptop" about 12 years ago, but only by chance. That's how they were built back then. :) It was an indestructible Toshiba that weighed 16 pounds and had plenty of steel reinforcement.

[martin_fierro]

[green team 1999]

notebook bump

[Fixit]

As bullets whizzed by, a U.S. soldier did what came naturally: He held up his laptop computer, a Toughbook 72 from Panasonic Computer Solutions

[quietolong]

Aaaa. But are they TEMPEST qualified. Same with the Gameboys on the line. There electronic emissions could give away there location, be locked on to Or interfere with other sensitive electronics.
Maybe not so important this conflict. But maybe the next?

[ikka]

I have played with many of these models and the rugged ones are very rugged.

Take the laptop; close the screen' toss it onto the carpeted floor which has concrete underneath a few feet away from you. Then stand on it. Then pick it up and open the screen - it's like nothing happened.

[I got the rope]

I use one of these when I'm doing field work. We've had it for a year and it works great! I can tell you that I've entered data in a rainstorm right off the bay and this thing keeps on ticking. I think it cost our company 5K, but I can tell you it's worth every penny.

[John Jorsett]

I have one of these things sitting next to me for my development work for a military project. Them dudes are tough all right. If you're going out into the field and need a laptop, they're what you should use.

[Billthedrill]

The improvised shield did the trick. "There's a bullet lodged in his hard drive," marvels Maria Leadingham...

"Hello, Tech Support?..."

[AgentEcho]

indestructible Toshiba that weighed 16 pounds and had plenty of steel reinforcement.

Sounds like the GRID laptops i maintained in the Air Force years ago...

Ant they were tempest compliant.

Æ

[kidd]

The improvised shield did the trick. "There's a bullet lodged in his hard drive," marvels Maria Leadingham...

Man, I hate it when that happens.

[Red6]

The most bought computer in the US Army and Airforce is the DELL. The toughbook is used, but go into any Army TOC or TAC at BN/BDE level, go into a division main or corps HQ and you will see DELL everywhere. Even the servers are DELL.

[_Jim]

There electronic emissions could give away there location, be locked on to ...

With today's smaller geometry 'chips' and lower operating voltages coupled with multi-layered (ground-signal layer-signal layer-...-ground) PC (printed circuit) boards - this has become less and less a problem as time goes on ... match that with either a semi-conductive 'plastic' enclosure (case) or a zinc-flash (on the interior) and those things are quite 'quiet' ...