i just dropped my inspiron 4000; it needs repair

[benjamit]

im thinking that this thing is real fragile, it was in a computer bag and the bag droped 5 inches off the ground

so whats a tougher notebook? something that can handle a force?

 

[spanky]

i heard ibm's are pretty rugged.

 

[AtomicDude512]

As much of a PC person that I am the iBooks and Powerbooks are supposed to be good. But those reviews were for the older models thogh...

 

[techfuzz]

We've always bought the Dell Latitude series here at work. It's quite amazing what some of our people do to their laptops. Consider this, we had a Latitude come back to us recently that 1/2 the LCD was being held to the laptop with Duct Tape. The laptop still worked without any issues. Our users are construction and program management people who are often in the field on jobsites. We've worked on laptops that will be covered in dust and dirt and still work. We've seen people step on them and crack the LCD, but the rest of the computer still worked just fine. We even had a guy miss a step getting off a bus and let go of his laptop to catch himself. The LCD was history, but everything else was ok with the exception of some nice scratches/dents on the outside casing.

On the bad side of things, we have had a few incidents of spilled water or other beverages on the keyboard area which eventually killed the entire laptop.

techfuzz

 

[benjamit]

yea mine still works fine but the casing around the primary battery housing and the lcd screen when its closed is cracked, the machine just needs new plastics

 

[techfuzz]

Better the plastic than the LCD which costs over $750 to replace in most cases. If it's just cracked you might consider using some super glue if the cracks aren't real bad.

techfuzz

 

[everman]

A while back I remember seeing a company whos laptops were designed for extreme abuse. They could withstand being run over by a car or used in the rain. Shock (droppage) was dealt with by a special hd containment unit inside to absorb any shock. They were very expensive, but of course not many notebooks can withstand that abuse.

 

[benjamit]

i know of panasonics toughbooks thats used by the military but i think they are slow

 

[lorlabnew]

Man, sorry to hear that... I own I4000 for over 2 years, but quickly realized that the build quality is really poor, almost flimsy. I always carry it with both hands when out of case, and handle it as if it was made of glass, so it's in like-new shape still, but think I've been lucky.

Anyway, I'd suggest an IBM, noticed they are much sturdier. Used to have Toshiba SatellitePro before Inspiron, and it's sturdiness was excellent too, not sure how are new Toshiba models though. I also saw new larger Dell laptops (I8100-8200's), and the "seem" to have better built chassis, but not sure since don't own one. When I'll be replacing my Inspiron sometime next year, I'll definitely get and IBM notebook.... pricier but think it's worth.

cheers
dave

 

[fr]

It's a notebook. Be careful!

 

[benjamit]

yea i know but the bag slipped out of my hands as i was putting it down

this was my first and probably my last dell

 

[OdiN]

Get new plastic pieces and replace them.

You can email me or PM me if you need help with working on it. I've taken apart and repaired laptops from Acer, Apple, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Micron, Sager, Sony, Toshiba, and WinBook.

 

[Jeriko]

Originally posted by: everman
A while back I remember seeing a company whos laptops were designed for extreme abuse. They could withstand being run over by a car or used in the rain. Shock (droppage) was dealt with by a special hd containment unit inside to absorb any shock. They were very expensive, but of course not many notebooks can withstand that abuse.

That would be the Rocky.

Link.

-J