Why Go Rugged?

Rugged Indoors

You're not the only one who does it tough in the office, your notebook often works as hard as you do and takes the knocks too. What would happen if you spilt your coffee on your notebook or accidentally knocked it off your desk? Most notebooks would come off second best. The warehouse is a hive of activity and dust and dirt somehow find their way about. Most equipment won't take lightly to this kind of intrusion, particularly notebooks. Working from home? Carrying your notebook from office to home can be tough too, bumps and drops are a reality. Toughbook rugged features give you the ability to continue working through conditions that most other notebooks can't. Drops, shocks, dust and spills, it's just another work day in a life of a Toughbook.

Rugged Outdoors

So your workplace isn't indoors? Our most rugged Toughbooks can work wherever you do. Throw your Toughbook in the back of your truck or working out in the rain, its not a problem for Toughbook. Toughbook has even been tested to military standards to withstand dust, water ingress, drops and extreme temperatures. We tested it because we knew you would want to be sure your Toughbook was rugged enough to withstand your work conditions. Toughbook rugged features such as a shock mounted disk drive, an LCD protected with dampeners, internal flex connectors and no hard wiring, add to that a 100% magnesium alloy casing and your Toughbook is rugged on the road.

Toughbook Rugged Features

Magnesium Alloy Case

The Toughbook case is made from 100% magnesium alloy. Magnesium alloy is 20 times stronger than ABS plastic which is common to most other notebooks.

Protected Against Water

Military Certified to Mil-STD-810F, Toughbooks have been tested to withstand water ingress, Method 506.4, Procedure III (Drip) for no less than 15 minutes. The keyboard and touchpad are not the only protected features, slots and terminals are protected too, with hinged alloy covers and environmental seals. On the Toughbook CF-18 and CF-29 even the LCD panel has a protective overlay, securely sealed around the edges.

Protected Against Dust

In testing to Mil-STD-810F, method 510.4, Procedure 1 (Dust), our most rugged Toughbooks are tested against dust ingress with silica flour in temperatures of 60°C. During the test, not one moving part malfunctioned and no contact or relay failed.

Protected Against Extreme Temperatures

Temperature testing for Mil-STD-810F, Methods 501.4, 502.4 and 503.4, Procedure I (Storage) and Procedure II (Operation)took place at 60°C with the Toughbook operating, then the Toughbook was switched off and turned up the heat to 71°C. Then the temperature was brought back down the Toughbook worked perfectly when rebooted. The same procedure was carried in ultra-low temperatures, from -29°C to -51° and the Toughbook continued to work when rebooted. The Toughbooks were also subjected to testing from high (96°C) to low (-51°C) temperatures and once more, performance was normal.

Shock Mounted HDD & LCD

Toughbooks are protected against shocks, knocks and drops. The Toughbook HDD are mounted in a high tech shock absorbing dampner, so when the unit is dropped it absorbs up to 70% of shocks and vibration. The LCD Screen is also shock mounted which protects it against breaking or cracking when the unit is dropped.

Internal Flex Connectors

All connectors in the Toughbooks are flex connectors not hard wired. This design works like the crumple zone in your car. When the unit is dropped the weight is spread across the notebook ensuring minimal damage.

TOUGHBOOKS are tested with the following standards

Drip test:

Test Standard: IEC529 IPX4 C0920 (MIL-STD-810F 506.4-III (Drip) level)

Spray water at 300-500mm distance, ± 180degrees from vertical

Water flow rate: 10±0.5 L/min
Water Pressure: 50-150kPa (0.51-1.53 kgf/cm²)
Duration of test: 60 minutes

Gravity-drop test:

Test Standard: MIL-STD-810F 516.5

Drop height: 3 feet (90cm)
Drop surface: Plywood
Number of drops: 1 (drop test conducted on a total of 26 surfaces, edges and corners)

Vibration resistance test:

Test Standard: MIL-STD-810F 514-5 Category 24

Test environment: 20 to 1000Hz 0.04 G²/Hz 100 to 2000Hz -6dB/octave 1 hour/axis (X,Y,Z)
Target: Subjected to vibrations simulating those generated during transportation by a person and in a vehicle.

Dust test:

Test Standard: IEC529 IP5X C0920 JIS (MIL-STD-810F 510.4-I level)

Dust type: Talc dust
Dust quality: 2kg/m³
Test Temperature: 15-30° C
Relative Humidity: 25-75%
Test time: 8 hours

Temperature test:

Test Standard: MIL-STD-810F 501.4 / 502.4

Operation: -10°C to 50°C, 24 hours
Non operation: -35°C to 75°C, 72 hours

Test Standard: MIL-STD-810F 503.4

Five cycles in operation modus
Temperature shock from -10°C to 50°C

Humidity test:

Test Standard: MIL-STD-810F 507.4

Temperature cycled between 20°C and 60°C with relative humidity of 95%

5 cycles of 48 hours
Functional test performed every 24 hours