Twinhead Durabook notebooks: Good?

[Joerg]

Hello Friends,

Does anyone use a Twinhead Durabook notebook? There is a special on the
D14RA, about $800 at CircuitCity (only via mail order AFAIK). It's
probably not Vista capable but I don't care about that. The tough metal
enclosure looks enticing, especially after I had an otherwise great
Compaq notebook slowly crumble from too much flying.

The downside is that it's those dreaded mail-in rebates. I hate those.

 

[Grant Edwards]

Hello Friends,

Does anyone use a Twinhead Durabook notebook? There is a special on the
D14RA, about $800 at CircuitCity (only via mail order AFAIK). It's
probably not Vista capable but I don't care about that. The tough metal
enclosure looks enticing, especially after I had an otherwise great
Compaq notebook slowly crumble from too much flying.

Somebody recently reviewed on (including doing drop-tests).
There's a link on Slashdot.

 

[Joerg]

Somebody recently reviewed on (including doing drop-tests).
There's a link on Slashdot.

Thanks, Grant, I just read that test and the forum responses. Seems
those notebooks are pretty good for someone who needs toughness more
than CPU horsepower. Ok, it doesn't live up to the umpteen drops but
considering that one single drop off a table is death for most other
laptops it looks good. It almost happened to me recently before a
presentation at a client. Someone moved a chair and snagged a cable to
my laptop. Most conference rooms are poorly wired without an outlet
under the table.

If anyone else is interested I found that review here:
http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI0OCwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI=

 

[JeffM]

Does anyone use a Twinhead Durabook notebook?
[...]There is a special on the D14RA, about $800 at CircuitCity
The tough metal enclosure looks enticing[...]

As Grant notes, on Christmas Day Slashdot had an article
which pointed to a disappointing review on that brand's ruggedness:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/25/1518226&threshold=5&mode=nested#17361780

If you go to the referenced (original) article,
I hope you have AdBlock well tweaked and in full force:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/25/1518226&threshold=5&mode=nested#17361036
..
..

The downside is that it's those dreaded mail-in rebates. I hate those.

Don't gp feeling like you're the Lone Ranger on that one.

 

[Joerg]

Does anyone use a Twinhead Durabook notebook?
[...]There is a special on the D14RA, about $800 at CircuitCity
The tough metal enclosure looks enticing[...]

As Grant notes, on Christmas Day Slashdot had an article
which pointed to a disappointing review on that brand's ruggedness:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/25/1518226&threshold=5&mode=nested#17361780

Well, I wouldn't call that disappointing. Probably any normal laptop
would have croaked after the first drop.

If you go to the referenced (original) article,
I hope you have AdBlock well tweaked and in full force:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/25/1518226&threshold=5&mode=nested#17361036
.
.


Don't gp feeling like you're the Lone Ranger on that one.

Mail-ins just don't make any sense to me.

 

[Buddy Smith]

laptops it looks good. It almost happened to me recently before a
presentation at a client. Someone moved a chair and snagged a cable to
my laptop. Most conference rooms are poorly wired without an outlet
under the table.

Sounds like someone needs to invent breakaway ethernet cables / power
supplies! (Patent not pending)

I'm sure someone has come up with and patented it already...

ttyl,

--buddy

 

[JeffM]

Don't [go] feeling like you're the Lone Ranger on that one.

Mail-ins just don't make any sense to me.

You obviously aren't in the direct-mail business.
Suckers lists are valuable.[1]
If you're gullible enough to SEND someone your name/stats on a rebate,
that makes you a PRIME target.
..
..
[1] Note how many idiots buy email addy lists to spew their spam.

 

[Joerg]

Sounds like someone needs to invent breakaway ethernet cables / power
supplies! (Patent not pending)

It won't help much. Look at the typical conference table: 5-10 laptops
with cables everywhere. A speaker-phone gizmo in the middle that has
umpteen satellite mikes, all connected via some more cable. All this has
the appearance and adhesiveness of spaghetti after a rolling boil. When
someone bumps into a chair usually a whole slew of gear goes sailing.

I'm sure someone has come up with and patented it already...

If there was something that worked it would be in production ;-)

 

[Joerg]

The downside is that it's those dreaded mail-in rebates. I hate those.

Don't [go] feeling like you're the Lone Ranger on that one.

Mail-ins just don't make any sense to me.

You obviously aren't in the direct-mail business.
Suckers lists are valuable.[1]
If you're gullible enough to SEND someone your name/stats on a rebate,
that makes you a PRIME target.

Yabbut, I usually do not mention my email address on there. If it's
mandatory all they get is a disposable one. Then there is the
do-not-call list and I doubt this would qualify as "prior contact" for
the one who bought that list. Actually we never got any calls or junk
mail after mail-in rebates.

Secondly, they've already got all that info via the warranty
registration anyhow.

The mail-in gives them a very tiny interest advantage but I doubt that
it offsets all the minutes some clerk has to spend on each filing.

 

[David M. Palmer]

If there was something that worked it would be in production ;-)

It is in production. Apple laptops have magnetic breakaway power
connectors and use 802.11whatever so the ethernet cables are ethereal.

 

[Grant Edwards]

Sounds like someone needs to invent breakaway ethernet cables / power
supplies! (Patent not pending)

Isn't the breakaway power cord connection for laptops one of
Apple's claims to fame?

 

[Joerg]

It is in production. Apple laptops have magnetic breakaway power
connectors and use 802.11whatever so the ethernet cables are ethereal.

Cool. I didn't know that, never used an Apple.

 

[larwe]

Sounds like someone needs to invent breakaway ethernet cables / power
supplies! (Patent not pending)

Someone already did, at least for power, and started shipping it to the
masses: go to <http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/design.html> and search
for "MagSafe". My wife has the MacBook; this feature works extremely
well.

 

[Nico Coesel]

Hello Friends,

Does anyone use a Twinhead Durabook notebook? There is a special on the
D14RA, about $800 at CircuitCity (only via mail order AFAIK). It's
probably not Vista capable but I don't care about that. The tough metal
enclosure looks enticing, especially after I had an otherwise great
Compaq notebook slowly crumble from too much flying.

Whatever you do: get a notebook build for professional use. There is a
reason notebook vendors have sections for business notebooks and
consumer crap. The cheap ones just won't work fine (lots of weird
behavior, crappy drivers, often need a re-install of the OS).

 

[Joerg]

Whatever you do: get a notebook build for professional use. There is a
reason notebook vendors have sections for business notebooks and
consumer crap. The cheap ones just won't work fine (lots of weird
behavior, crappy drivers, often need a re-install of the OS).

This one actually is. Not very powerful in terms of CPU or VGA speed but
for heavy duty usage with lots of banging around in trucks and cargo
holds. Supposedly you can even use it in the rain. That's what really
counts in my biz. The two notebooks in use so far over here are actually
rather low end, selected from Dell's home & home office section. They do
everything I want and fast. Haven't noticed any shortcomings except for
their enclosures which are a bit wimpy. But I have seen the expensive
business editions and IMHO their enclosures were not better.

My best notebook (early 90's) was a Compaq Contura. Great machine but
because it had that dreaded plastics enclosure it developed a
progressing crack line all around the perimeter after few 100k miles of
flying. Then one day a wee turbulence happened and the battery just fell
out of it :-(

 

[Nico Coesel]

This one actually is. Not very powerful in terms of CPU or VGA speed but
for heavy duty usage with lots of banging around in trucks and cargo

Some guy suggested the Panasonic Toughbook. That looks a lot more
promising.

My best notebook (early 90's) was a Compaq Contura. Great machine but
because it had that dreaded plastics enclosure it developed a
progressing crack line all around the perimeter after few 100k miles of
flying. Then one day a wee turbulence happened and the battery just fell
out of it :-(

I used to work with a Dell 8100 (with a magnesium casing) and it never
broke down despite some drops, rides in trunks of taxis with no shock
absorbers and about 120k km of flying.

 

[Joerg]

Some guy suggested the Panasonic Toughbook. That looks a lot more
promising.

Yes, but 3-6dB higher in price. Usually around $3k-$4k. Also, these
things are easier targets for "growing legs".

I used to work with a Dell 8100 (with a magnesium casing) and it never
broke down despite some drops, rides in trunks of taxis with no shock
absorbers and about 120k km of flying.

Well, with a mag case that had to be an expensive one in the first
place. Those are good laptops. But also very desired by the more shady
figures of society :-(

Some of it depends on where you fly. In the northern parts of North
America some pilots are pretty tough guys. They'll get you there but
they may occasionally have to nail it to the runway.

 

[Zak]

Sounds like someone needs to invent breakaway ethernet cables / power
supplies! (Patent not pending)

For ethernet you could use a very short extension cable, and break the
lip off the connector that you inser. The extension cable makes sure the
pull always pulls in the right direction, and an RJ45 withhout clip
easily pops out.

Power is done by Apple.


Thomas

 

[Joerg]

Hello Friends,

Does anyone use a Twinhead Durabook notebook? There is a special on the
D14RA, about $800 at CircuitCity (only via mail order AFAIK). It's
probably not Vista capable but I don't care about that. The tough metal
enclosure looks enticing, especially after I had an otherwise great
Compaq notebook slowly crumble from too much flying.

The downside is that it's those dreaded mail-in rebates. I hate those.

Ok, guys, I've got it. A Durabook D14RA. Quite impressive. The CPU fan
is rather loud and the touchpad buttons are way too small for large
fingers. But: It has a serial port which wasn't even listed as a
feature. Now that is nice.