Back in my high school robotics days, I did use a Toughbook and it was actually very good. The ergonomics are not compromised on too much, and I suspect there are tools that are less durable than Toughbooks.
However, in my current incarnation as a dainty EECS major, the closest I get to a machine shop is the CS building beside it, so a Toughbook--while indubitably awesome--would be a bit of overkill.
Also, the tacit assumption that macs are the best laptop is, I think, flawed--there's no question that they're good, but there are plenty of cases where there are better options...
I don't doubt there are better laptops than the Air I just can't remember them. Most OEMs are tripping over themselves to pump out SKUs that you really have a hard time remembering which is which. You could get the model X32-GS724X or the X32-GS725T. The higher spec'd one is the one reviewed but the lower spec'd version is what is in stores and may be missing the features the reviewers raved about.
I've been burned like this before, ordering a laptop that was reviewed with bluetooth and receiving one without. My mistake was I ordered version B and not version C.
> However, in my current incarnation as a dainty EECS major, the closest I get to a machine shop is the CS building beside it, so a Toughbook--while indubitably awesome--would be a bit of overkill.
Beware, Panasonic has a bunch of different toughbooks series. I'd expect what you used for robotics was a "fully rugged" series: looks like a small case and can be rolled over by trucks (basically what they use in combat fields, truck shops and whatnot).
Those are pretty much indestructible short of using explosives (and even then), but they're big and heavy. Panasonic also has lines of wimpier "business-rugged" laptops built merely to withstand being dropped from tables, thrown against walls in fits of fury and having mugs of tea dropped on them.
They're also much more lightweight, and somewhat better looking. The one I was talking about is the C1: http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/business-rugged-... which sports pretty standard laptop look (apart from the trackpad) and while pretty solid (certified for 30" drops, 6 ounce of liquid and 225 pounds of pressure) is nowhere near a fully-rugged MIL-STD-810G-certified Toughbook 19 or Toughbook 31.
The C1 is for carrying your laptop a lot and not really caring if it happens to fall or encounter bad juju.
Ah, you have a good point--the model I used was definitely one of the really tough ones. It definitely had its own charm but was more reminiscent of a tool box than a laptop (not to say that's a bad thing).
I suspect the one you're talking about is one of the few models with that sort of hinge not to fall apart immediately--the others I've seen were very weak.
