Ruggedized Laptop / Handheld PC

Hi guys. I was wondering if anyone has experience with using ruggedized laptops or handheld pcs. Is it hard to get? If there is any maker / model you recommend, do let me know.

-stingraze

@thenzero doesn’t have one yet but I think he was looking into something similar to what you were looking for perhaps?

I used to have TDS Recon, but that wasn't a H/PC / Laptop so yeah, just wondering what options I have.

I haven't been looking at ruggedized laptops, no.

I have used the Panasonic CF-19 in the past at work and it's OK, but my knowledge ends there.

Thanks for your input. That is the TOUGHBOOK line.

-stingraze

Yes that's the one

If you have any questions on that one I can answer but I don't have any other knowledge of other ruggedized laptops

Thanks! I know it's heavy and all, and it's a bit of a stupid question, but what are the advantages of it being very heavy?
Sturdiness for work, yes but other than military and law enforcement do engineers really need to carry that much weight? Is it worth the strain?

-stingraze

There is also a tablet (slate-pc) from Toughbook. Same ruggedness as the other ones and an up-to-date hardware.

The GPDs (micro-pc) may be a good combination of "not too heavy" and ruggedness (it was intended to do some field programming in the industry sector). Much more robust than our beloved historic palmtops.

If you go with Android there are lots of devices intended for supermarkets or the regular energy counter readings. These you can throw under a bus and they will survive. The Black&Decker of mobile computing

And if you like Epoc then look for some old Psion devices for the same purposes.


Edited by dl1av 2023-02-22 3:39 PM

@dl1av Thank you for your input.

I actually own a Panasonic TOUGHBOOK P-01K, same model as TOUGHBOOK N-1 Tactical for military use but a Japanese business model. It is very sturdy, but I want a keyboard. GPD is pretty sturdy! That's nice to hear. I went to see a mobile pc only shop in Akihabara today called HIGH BEAM AKIBA ( https://high-beam-online.com/ ) where they sell ONLY UMPCs (like GPD and those game UMPC)

Edited by stingraze 2023-02-22 4:13 PM

Just depends what kind of engineering you are doing :-) I was using it to interface with an embedded Linux computer on an operating helicopter and it was great for that purpose

Sorry about that, I thought we had talked a little about those GPD Pocket ones before so that’s kinda what I meant.

Oh. Yeah, I don't consider those ruggedized but maybe they are in some context.

Oh I misread the thread post. I thought it was ruggedized or Handheld PC

Not sure which way it was meant really but interesting convo either way!