It's new laptop time here on Take Two.
It’s an endurance test for Tanya's machines. She squeezes about 5
years out of them, by which point they're literally falling apart. It's
hard duty too. Drops, spills, kids. Mine get more use, but I'm
generally nicer to them. I depend on them heavily though, so I typically
get a new one every 12-18 months whether I need it or not. I still have
occasional failures, and even though I pay for next-business-day on-site
support, it doesn't always work out that way. So when I get a new one, the
old one becomes a backup.
Lots of people we know use netbooks on their boats. The theory being
they're cheap and easily replaceable. We have one, but the only use we've
found for it is teaching the kids to type. It's cute, but it isn't a
serious computer, and neither of us can bring ourselves to use it
seriously. I've considered switching us to Macs. I think the Macs
have reached a level of maturity and market acceptance to make them viable for
me. Simultaneously, as my usage skill trends more toward the median I've
realized the overall suckage of Windows. But Macs are too expensive for
what we subject our computers to. The ports on the laptop I've used for
the last year and a half are actually starting to corrode.
I've also had trouble with heat. Modern machines are designed to run
in air conditioned offices and they just can't cope with tropical climes.
During the summer my laptop's fan would be running full tilt boogie 24/7, and
in direct sunlight it would just roll over and die.
I considered ruggedized computers like the Panasonic Toughbook, but they are
ridiculously expensive and the specs aren't even that great. We're
long-time Dell customers and Dell does have a rugged laptop called the XFR, but
it has a starting price of $3800. The specs are better, but it is still
ridiculously expensive and looks like it belongs to Robocop.
In between is their "semi-rugged" laptop called the ATG. Tanya
has dubbed it the All-Terrain Gadget. She
also thinks the term “semi-rugged” is somehow fitting for me. It is essentially just a business-class
Latitude, which I have been using exclusively for the last 10+ years, but it
can tolerate higher temperatures, humidity, dust, vibration, and has a
sunlight-viewable display. I decided that was the way to go and one
arrived today.
While I'm moving into the new computer, I have the old E6400 and the new
E6410ATG side-by-side on my desk. For the most part the ATG looks and
feels just like the regular Latitude. I don't know what might be
different under the covers, but the chassis is only slightly different.
The back part of the base is wrapped in a rubber sleeve that includes port
covers. These covers should prevent the corrosion the old one has. But
the sleeve also covers the E-Port on the bottom for Dell's port replicators and
docking stations. I can see the E-Port is there, but I don't see how it
could be used. The ATG's lid is more substantial and has a slightly more
rugged look. It weighs a little bit more and the screen is indeed
brighter. Everything else appears to be the same.
We’ll see how it looks in a year.
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