After breaking my second laptop in 5 years - motherboard damage both times - I'm determined that the new replacement won't go the same way. I travel a lot for work so plenty of airports and planes and overhead lockers to contend with, and I reckon it's all the bashing about in those lockers that's done for the previous two. I've been using one of those neoprene softshell casess but it's clearly not up to the job.
Is there anything better than those aluminium flight cases or should I just stump up for one of them?
Fashion a piece of plywood that is slightly bigger than your shiny new laptop but smaller than a soft laptop bag? Add in a few vents, and rout it out so the laptop can sort snugly inset into the plywood. Place by your feet rather than in the overhead storage bins.
If you weren't already, then a business laptop would probably be the biggest upgrade for durability. They tend to be more expensive (and chunkier) for the same specs, but should be built to survive abuse from people who don't have to pay if they break them.
That said, two and a half years for a laptop that has taken a lot of abuse isn't great, but it doesn't sound disastrous.
I have a padded sleve (zipped) off amazon with a semi hardshell casing. It goes in my panniers every day and has survived a number of bike crashes over the last few years.
I had business grade hp for years that were terrible for this even minor bumps in case would kill it. -- mine didn't even last it's first trip.....I. A neoprene case in a laptop pocket in a Broke the ribbon for the monitor off and damaged the case
We went back to dell and travel related destruction pretty much disappeared over night
Buy a five-year-old Thinkpad X1 Carbon and just use that for travelling? I've dragged the 2019 version around the world and it's caused more damage to concrete floors than the other way around.
Yeah I think starting with a more industrial dell/lenovo will give you the best starting point, then look at sleaves/bags etc as additional protection.
I went with an asus expertbook last time I bought one as it's still thin and sleek, having a metal body and 'military-grade durability' whatever that means. I don't think 'military grade durability' is the flex they think it is! 🤣
It seems fine inside a padded sleeve, inside a backpack on flights etc. I still treat it as if its made of glass though, you can't be throwing it around or it's asking for trouble.
A lot of laptops are built quite flimsy so that's something to watch out for.
Asus, whilst great kit, do have a bit of a rep for being difficult over warranty/repair issues though, so my advice would be get a standard industrial 'office drone' edition lenovo or dell - beware though those brands do also sell trendy/fancy models that may not be as robust.
If you weren't already, then a business laptop would probably be the biggest upgrade for durability.
Not buying consumer-grade shite is a very good shout. I've managed various fleets of laptops over the years and the most durable by a VERY long way were T-series Thinkpads. And if they did break then maintenance was a breeze.
I still have a 2011 vintage T420 which was supposed to be retired in a tech refresh at work, my response was broadly "so you ****ing think so." Turned out that they were demanding a laptop back rather than the laptop and, well, that's wasn't exactly a difficult criterion for me to meet.😁 What the current models are like I have no idea, but I'd be shocked if they were terrible.
The ship has sailed on the actual laptop, that's been replaced already.
The plywood insert sounds like it might be an idea, especially combined with some of that pointy foam padding.