I think mine could do with this one. Nothing more scary than watching Number One Son wander around the (lamiinate floored) house holding a laptop with the wifi (pcmcia) card pointing downwards. This one might be too heavy to carry, as well as being resistant to the occasional drop...

Ok, PC Mark tests are ok, but does it do what is says on the tin? Has your tester taken it to Siberia and left it in the snow for a week? Have you buried it in the sand for a month then dug it up and used it to positively kill every mfkr in the room (oh, sorry thats the AK47)? Have you dropped it in the bath (not at the same time as you, that would be suicidal)? And finally, have you had it sat on by a fat estate agent from Chatham on the 08:15 to Kings Cross?

Dear mr Santa... I'd like one Getac B300 and E100 TYVM

Yeah, but imagine what this thing could do to your laminate floor if number one son dropped it! ;)

Looks like the Panasonic CF series to me, we have a lot of them here at work due to the industry we are in and they are indeed very hardy and if this machine is in fact a re-badged clone which it certainly looks like, it should also be good at what it does. As a normal laptop though don't bother, they are slow and very clunky to use.

Is it proofed against

* marmalade in the usb port (small child)

* coffee on the screen (reading el Reg)

* paperclip in the network port (slightly larger small child)

* the cat using it as a warm sleepy place

* beaten with a wooden spoon (very small child)

I've fooled around with a Panasonic Toughbook before, so I know where I'm coming from when I say that you'll want to not bother with the optionals except for the second battery. Laptops just *love* to suck the life out of your batteries.

Take it or leave it; it's just too expensive compared to a 900$ Toughbook.

It sounds like it's got an ordinary hard disk. Wouldn't a SSD be more rugged?

for that sort of money you could buy three or four standard ones, and replace your lappy every year when it gets trashed.

I bet it wouldn't survive the abuse I saw one laptop receive, it was an architect's Tosh Libretto (ancient Eee-pc alike) that had a trowel's worth of wet plaster, along with the trowel, dropped on it from about 20 ft overhead. I don't think it worked too well after that...

"It sounds like it's got an ordinary hard disk. Wouldn't a SSD be more rugged?"

That might be the case, but a lot of this kit is designed to work with datalogging equipment etc. which probably works better with older H/W (hence the serial ports)

"for that sort of money you could buy three or four standard ones, and replace your lappy every year when it gets trashed."

Picture the scene, your in your tent in the arctic wastes, and your cheap laptop gives up the ghost. Who's going to courier you a replacement?

Another possible reason for using the case as a heatsink might be to keep the batteries warm and prolong battery life.