My work laptop is rapidly dying so I went looking for a new one and was initially thinking about a Tough Book. But I can get more bang for the buck with a regular laptop from Lenovo or the like. I have never broken my current laptop which is a normal style one, not a tough style one. What do you guys use?
Hmmm I always spec'd 2 spd Eatons cause they were really stout and I never broke one... however a lot of people get hundreds of thousands of miles out of SQ's. I'd go with the SQ's nowadays. I have a an ancient Mac Book that while it is ok it’s power supply is giving up. It is 13 or 14 years old now. Been on its head a couple times. Sort of depends how unfriendly the environment is.
I'm like you Birken. I use a "normal" laptop and have never broken one either, probably because I take care of it. Toughbooks seem very expensive to me for what they are but for a shared laptop between mechanics that no-one is going to look after then they're probably the right thing to buy. I've always had good service out of what used to be IBM, now Lenovo. My current machine is a T450 that I bought "refurbished" at 9 months old for less than half new price with over 2 years of the 3-year warranty still left on it.
There's a hard drive standard. I forgot exactly how its written. Essentially it is where the computer can tell when its falling and does emergency shutdown in a moment. This prevents loss of programs, software etc. It also allows you to salvage the information on it . My current employer uses Dell inspiron. Some latitude and recently into tough books. I am too old to stare at a screen the size of a postage stamp. I need a bigger widescreen just to be able to see what I'm looking at.
Had one employer that went with a Toughbook and it was way overkill for just doing gensets. Especially since it spent 90% of it's life in a padded case in the cab of a pickup. Last couple of companies provided just standard HP laptops (IIRC) with all the dealer diagnostic software and some adapter cables. Wife just bought me the $550 HP from Costco for my Bday after I got frustrated with my 5 year old $500 HP from Costco and hit it right on the hard drive (luckily everything important is on an external HD). New laptop is way ahead of the old, and I wouldn't hesitate to use one in the field. Just did a few tweaks to make Windows 10 bearable (i.e. more like Windows 7).
Whatever brand you get, I would recommend a SSD. Even with the computer off bouncing and vibration is hard on the platters of a HDD. And they boot so much faster.
Last job had Tough Books. Heavy as sin but they were dang near indestructible. New job has Lenovo Think Pads? The Lenovo definitely isn't as tough. I guess being in a shop now the laptop usually just sits on the bench so it doesn't need to be anything too crazy. Not like its out in the elements all day.
Our field and shop mechanics use Dell business class laptops. They have a good survival rate unless knocked out of a cab. The USB ports and charging port are going to be as weak on a Toughbook as a regular laptop and that’s where we have the most minor troubles. Each location has spare laptops available if someone needs to send their laptop to the IT department You can get refurbished Toughbooks for much less than the new costs which are rediculous IMHO.
My last job before I retired, we had one regular Dell laptop for in the shop (truck work mostly) and a Dell rugged series that looked like a toughbook (but easily 1/2 the price) for the field, I think it was called a Latitude. The reason they went for the rugged was mostly because of our weather, lots of rain. The shop laptop was 3 years old when I left and the field was 2. Never had an issue with either one. Programing was another story.
I think my old Fujitsu did the same!
I’m thinking about switching to big pad, for one simple reason - you can “blow up” the picture of diagram just with two fingers!
Well, I just pulled the trigger on a new Lenovo business laptop. Nothing special about it except they say the keyboard is spill resistant, hopefully that means it might take a little rain. I needed it quick, my current laptop is barely functional. Just due to age and deterioration, not damage.
Port Dust Covers https://www.amazon.com/Efanr-Univer...of-Computers/dp/B01M6UKW74?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_2
It might also help with the coffee/keyboard interfaces that result from reading the Jokes section of the TGIF forum....
I can't look at HEF or do anything with a laptop. I hate looking at the screen. Same with my phone. Sometimes the laptop will go months without coming out of the bag. Of course when I get my new one and it has a good battery and is not buggy, that ought to change a little. It will probably change some as everything becomes more electronic-ified and the laptop is required for every service call. Not quite that bad yet.
Most all new laptops have solid state drives (SSD). Be sure your new has one in it. I removed the disk drives in my two laptops and replaced them with ssd's. Super fast bootup times from a shut down. I would encourage everyone to get the software and cable kit that allows you to clone your drive with everything on it to a spare ssd. If a disaster happens to your computer you can simply swap in the spare and everything, including the operating system will be there.
Extra HD-SSD is good advise and back up, back up to external hard drives any data that is important, like invoices.