Tough Laptop - Suggestions?

L1011

I'm looking for a VERY resiliant notebook - my current one is the complete opposite of that.

I don't mean a "Look, I can drop it EIGHT STORIES!" notebook, but one that can handle 12-14 power on/off cycles a day for two years and that can handle being lugged in and out of a bag. And if its cheap, well thats a benifit too :-) I'm fairly flexible on specs.

Specs I sorta want:
Graphics - Anything. Really, anything. If it can do 1024x768 in 24 colours I'm happy. BeOS compatibilty would be nice but its not a must (meaning ATi or nVidia, but its not a must-have, I can always use VESA2).
Sound - A sound chip and at least a headphone port. If its an Intel ICH chip, all the better (BeOS compatible, but its not a must either).
CPU - 700Mhz or more. Or less if its VERY cheap. Cannot be AMD.
RAM - 128 is fine, but more would be nice
HDD - 10 GB. 20GB is all I can ever see myself using on my desktop, so more is overkill.
Input - UK/Irish keyboard prefered, US can be lived with. Trackpoint or touchpad, I can use both.
Battery - 2.5 to 3 hours, or more. This is important.
Ports - a PS/2 port and a USB port. COM and Parellel nice but not a nessescity
NIC - Onboard 3COM or Intel or Realtek. Or someone else. Not PCMCIA
Modem - This is a nice feature but I won't need it soon, I hope.
Screen - 13'. Thats also a must. Anything smaller is too small. Preferably a normal shape and not a 16:9 like the Sony Vaio Transmeta Crusoe one.
Optical Drive - DVD reader, 4x or more. CD burning is not a nessescity. Can be external or removable.
Floppy - can be left out.
Warranty - 2 years min, although 1 year that can be extended is fine also. Especially nice would be a multi-year warranty on the Battery, as this takes a battering.

Anyone any suggestions based on these criteria? I don't have any brand preferences.

L1011

oh yeah, refurbs/second hand is fine too, as long as the battery is in good condition. VERY good condition.

Kali

I've always found IBM Thickpads to be quite happy with being knocked around.

logistic

If your looking for something that can be droped form eight stories!!!! then this is the one for you
Panasonic toughbooks. All the eircon technicians have them. Some come with built in wireless with its own pop up arial and a touch screen.
If only i had the money


http://www.panasonic.com/computer/notebook/default.asp

SouperComputer

yea, either an IBM thinkpad or the new toughbooks. Although the toughbooks aint cheap

whats your budget?

L1011

Actually, I said I didn't need an "eight stories" notebook. I've got vertigo, I can't go near the windows between the 3rd and 10th story of a building...

A thousand or 1,500 is the kind of money I'd like to spend at the top, but I might be able to stretch a little.

I've a 1996 vintage IBM Thinkpad here (not in use) and its fine, but of late they've had harddisk issues I hear... maybe I'll look for a second hand one.

Altough the ToughBook looks tempting...

SouperComputer

www.backfromthefuture.ie sell refurbed IBM's with a 1yr warranty.

Can do the toughbook also, but its big money!

PrecariousNuts

Try making your own with a titanium/steel alloy case

SouperComputer

hey myob, just downloaded BEOS, must say its a class piece of work. Im posting with it now. what do you use it for yourself?

the functionality for a 45mb download is shocking! Sound and all, some 600mb distos of linux dont even offer that!

L1011

I use it virtually 100% of the time, I feel guilty posting this in Windows ATM..

BTW, thats not the best version to use, the 45MB one. I can send you a CD of the latest version (5.03) with some patches (made by OpenBeOS) that enhance the UI and the mail subsystem. Also some drivers for recent hardware, the 45MB version is somewhat lacking in drivers.

I use it for all my media stuff (I can send you newer codecs and a DVD player app too), productivity (I can also slam the office suite on the CD) and internet (Mozilla 1.3 anyone?).

I also love the way the entire system is modular. Want to support JPEG2000 in all image editors? 1 file, and ALL of them support read/write of it (and thats not a hypothesis, their is actually JPEG2000 support in the version I knocked together). Want to support reading on new QuickTimes in the MediaPlayer? Three files in this case, but those three support QuickTime, DivX, XVid and more between them.

If you want a "personalised" distro just link me to a specs list for your PC so I can get the right drivers. The CD install versions actually install on a real partition with a real and very good (linux, windows, whatever) compatible boot loader.