[Closed] IT question - £1k budget for a durable laptop - which one?

Macbook?

Thinkpad if you need to be PC based. Otherwise Macbook/Pro

Second for the Mac, but you may struggle to find one in that price range. Maybe a newer 13" dual core job...

Failing that, HPs seem pretty tough. My work laptop (HP something) has taken a lot of abuse, but I hate it now. Only because I bought the 15" Macbook Pro though

It's got to be Windows, I liked the look of the Thinkpads, may go that way.

I've an Acer 4810TZ, about £400 ex vat - and with an 8 hour battery. had it for a year now. That good that I also bought them for my last client - they wanted cheap, portable, reliable and able to cope the average (travelling) recruitment agent.

My last Acer managed 4 years with constant travel including a 90 mile commute in a m/c top-box, and only the HD failed - which beat all the Toshibas and Sonys I've had over the previous 20 years.

Try searching for 'semi-ruggedised' laptops, that should bring up the sort of things you're looking for. The Toughbook is 'fully-ruggedised'.

The fully rugged laptops are impressive, have dropped my works Toughbook CF-18 4 feet onto concrete with the screen open and it didn't even turn off, I've also shut the lid on an errant screw and it just left a tiny blemish in the touch screen protector...I only noticed something was wrong as the lid mechanism was tight to release. Also dropped some pliers onto the screen when its been in tablet mode and they just bounced off 🙂 Personally I reckon it would be cheaper to give us normal laptops and replace them three times as often when we break them 🙂

Personally I reckon it would be cheaper to give us normal laptops and replace them three times as often when we break them

Thats my experience. Ruggedised ones are tougher but never really "tough" by definition they are always fragile.
Ignore the fanbois Macs wont work well unless you work for a graphic designer! and as far as fragility goes they are more so that a thinkpad/Dell/HP model.

MacBook pro and a copy of windows 7 will be less than £1k. New model due in march I hear and they run win 7 really well - didn't PC Pro rate it their favourite windows laptop last year??

Rachel

Toughbook light (Exec series)or any Lenovo

Lenovo or MacBook running windows

Another vote for Acer Timeline series. Thin, light, durable and about £500 each with a long battery life.

I've got a [url= http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-elitebook-8440p---core-i7-620m-2-66-ghz-4gb-320gb-14--windows-7-professional-3-yr-wrty-laptop-6N50.html ]HP Elitebook 8440p[/url] - would come in nicely on budget

Lenovo or MacBook running windows

doesn't a Mac running Windows negate the point of having a Mac? Surely you'd suffer from all the 'problems' associated with Windows, Why not just by a Windows laptop?

(serious question)

Why not just by a Windows laptop?

Aluminium unibody is a lot tougher than plastic bodies you get on most standard windows machines

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FB467B/A?mco=MTA4MzIzMDA

My MacBook Pro is tougher than any Windows laptop I've used - I dented my previous Samsung by picking it up by the corner and the whole case deformed under it's own weight!

macbook, but pay for apple care incase the logic board goes...

Aluminium unibody is a lot tougher than plastic bodies you get on most standard windows machines

Is that a like-for-like comparision? Eg £400 models compared or £1000 models compared?

The Elitebook I linked to above has, to quote, [url= http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/321957-321957-64295-3740645-3955549-4095872.html ]HP[/url]:

A magnesium/aluminum display enclosure and magnesium alloy chassis provides increased durability.

[i]macbook, but pay for apple care incase the logic board goes...[/i]

Wish I did for my Macbook pro 😥 Had an old ibook that I dropped several times and whilst I was dreading the worst it survived both impacts fine.