Ruggedized Laptops

[RJM62]

Sorry I haven't been around much lately.

Work has been oddly busy for this time of the year. I've also had house guests who were rude enough to take me up on my customary offer of free, if slummy accommodations while visiting NYC (who'd a thunk THAT would ever happen?), so I've been playing Tour Guide / Chauffeur, as well.

ANYWAY...

I may be able to get a decent deal on MILSPEC 810F ruggedized laptops, if anyone's interested.

I'm not posting this under "Classifieds" yet because I'm not quite ready to sell them. I'm waiting to see how many people from other venues I'm involved in might be interested. The number, of course, would largely determine the pricing I can get from my supplier.

Nexlink is a pretty new vendor for me, but they've rapidly become one of my favorites. I started dealing with them because they're my regional Acer distributor. I switched to Acer from Dell after Dell screwed up several important orders, and then decided I liked Acer machines better, anyway.

But Nexlink also makes fine machines under their own label, with good internals (Intel mobos, Seagate HDs, etc.), at a fair price and without the crapware. They're also a pleasure to deal with and have handled every order efficiently and perfectly so far.

My cost on a single one of these particular ruggedized laptops would be about $1350.00, which isn't particularly great; but obviously the more I buy, the better a price I likely can get.

Like I said, this isn't an official offer; I just want to get some idea of how much, if any interest there is in this particular machine before I order a batch of them. If there's enough interest that I can get people a good deal, I'll do it and post it under "Classifieds."

-Rich

 

[Steve]

I might be interested.

What will it spec out at (CPU, HDD, RAM) ?

Thanks.

 

[RJM62]

The standard package is Core2 Duo T7250 (2 GHz clock, 800 MHz bus, 2 MB cache), 80 GB Seagate SATA HD w 8MB cache, and 1 GB DDR 667. Those things can probably be changed to order. 1 year warranty standard; up to 3 years available.

Max HD is 160 GB, max RAM is 4 GB.

Rich

 

[ntbjounin]

I had 2 acer laptops... after 6 months both overheated the mainboard and i had to send them back for repairs. then i sold one about 4 months later, and the 2nd one overheated the mainboard 6 months later....

so, i'm done w/ acer products for good. they're powerful and cheap, but learn from my mistakes.

 

[wsuffa]

Ae they fully ruggedized? INCLUDING the high altitude spec?

 

[Steve]

The brochure uses the term "semi-rugged".

Not sure what that means.

Ae they fully ruggedized? INCLUDING the high altitude spec?

 

[gprellwitz]

Ae they fully ruggedized? INCLUDING the high altitude spec?

As Steve said, the brochure says "semi-rugged" and the website doesn't give any additional details. They do say:

Special Features:

• Drop Resistant - Magnesium alloy case that is twenty times stronger than ABS plastic
• Shock Resistant - Anti-shock mounting design protects LCD screen and hard disk drive from damage
• Spill Resistant - Spill resistant design stops spills from leaking into sensitive interior parts

and I note that altitude isn't on that list.

 

[RJM62]

No, not "fully rugged." That's apparently yet another MILSPEC. These are "semi-rugged." I'm not sure exactly what the difference in specs is, but I can find out.

Based on my own experience with MILSPECs, though, I wouldn't be surprised if "fully rugged" had to do with being dropped by parachute, sloshed through swamps, hit by bullets, and that sort of thing, all of which probably are a bit extreme for most users.

Rich

 

[wsuffa]

Mil spec requires full functioning to an altitude of either 16,000 or 17,000 - sufficient for an unpressurized plane (hard drive will continue to function without crashing). Most semi-ruggeds don't meet that spec. I have a tablet that DOES meet the altitude spec.

It really is the difference between hard drive crash or not.

 

[gprellwitz]

They are probably just selecting certain portions of the spec to meet.

MIL-STD-810

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
The MIL-STD-810 series of standards are issued by the United States Army's Developmental Test Command, to specify various environmental tests to prove that equipment qualified to the standard will survive in the field. The current revision, as of 2006, is revision F, issued January 1, 2000, superseding revision E from 1989. The under, and different methods test for different things.
For Instance:
MIL-STD 810E Method 500.3 Low Pressure (aka Altitude testing)
MIL-STD 810E Method 501.3 High Temperature (Both storage and operating)
MIL-STD 810E Method 502.3 Low Temperature (Both storage and operating)
MIL-STD 810E Method 503.3 Temperature Shock (How well does the device handle going from high to low temps, and back)
MIL-STD 810E Method 506.3 Rain (How does the device do in wind blown rain)
MIL-STD 810E Method 507.3 Humidity (Can the device handle high Humidity)
MIL-STD 810E Method 508.4 Fungus (device is exposed to warm moist air in the presence of Fungus to see if it grows on the device)
MIL-STD 810E Method 509.3 Salt Fog (does the device rust/fail when exposed to salt fog)
MIL-STD 810E Method 510.3 Sand and Dust (how well does the device work when exposed to sand and dust)
MIL-STD 810E Method 511.3 Explosive Atmosphere (does the device create enough sparks/etc to cause an explosive atmosphere to blow up)
MIL-STD 810E Method 512.3 Leakage
MIL-STD 810E Method 513.4 Acceleration (constant acceleration)
MIL-STD 810E Method 516.4 Shock (either Shock Response Spectrums, or Triangle/sine/square wave shocks) - also transport shock
MIL-STD 810E Method 519.4 Gunfire Vibration
MIL-STD 810E Method 520.1 Temp, Humidity, Vibration (Traditionally sine wave (pre D) - later random vibration - combined with Temp testing)
MIL-STD 810E Method 521.1 Icing, Freezing Rain (what the device sounds like)

 

[gkainz]

Elephant = generic mouse, built to MILSPEC ...

 

[RJM62]

Fungus, huh? Handy for use in some hotel showers I've been in...

Seriously, though, the rep says the machines are certified to MILSPEC 810. I'll contact him for more clarification. Maybe there are, like, different levels within 810?

I'll try to get detailed testing data. This has me interested now.

Rich

 

[RJM62]

Okay, I fired off an email to the rep. I'll try to get the results on the individual methods tests.

I want people to get what they need, so thanks for the input.

Rich