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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Finally! A real "Tough" notebook. Army guy's experience."
Pros: Battery life, durability, performance, fit and finish, touchscreen.
Cons: Slow touchpad, Integrated graphics, external cooling required.
Summary: I am in the Army and have finally found a laptop that can take the heat. And dust and moisture and everything else! I have had a Dell, a Gateway and a Compaq. I replaced drives in all three for vibration damage from being used in a Blackhawk helicopter. Helicopters leak too. You fly through rain, and you're in the back, everything gets wet or oily. My Gateway LCD died from oil. The Compaq from a 2-foot drop and the Dell's build quality sucked. During my tour in Iraq, this Toughbook went through dust storms, rain, temps in excess of 130F and always worked. Even a cup of coffee on the keyboard didn't phase it. Durability and build quality are second to none.
Graphics aren't all that great. If you like to play games, you will be using the lowest settings. Games will also heat this thing up as all cooling is passive. Fixed that with a cooling pad though. The touchpad can't be accelerated enough for my liking, but I now use a USB wireless mouse.
Battery life is simply outstanding. Doing wireless internet, spread sheets and custom software, I get over 4 hours on a charge. Watching DVD's is ok on the smal screen, but there again, I can watch two of them on a single battery.
If you live life roughly, this is the product for you. Although it only has one USB port, I use a USB adapter to give me four more. Make sure any memory stick or hub you buy has a thin plug for the first 1/2 inch, the opening for the USB port is small.
Integrated Intel wireless is awsome. Great range and works with every router I've tried it with.
I use a different Laptop for gaming. But other than that, this thing is awsome! Oh, the only other con is the speaker. Yes, I meant for it to be singular. The speaker is on the bottom, so if you have this thing in your lap or on something soft, like a couch, you can't hear it.
