Bulldrek v3.0

So, I'm going to a hot, sandy place again. I'm thinking about a new geek box to take with me. Must be portable, single unit, rugged enough to survive with just a neoprene sleeve in an assault pack.

(Something I've seen around the office are essentially two piece laptops in a leather case. I haven't had the chance to actually check them out, so they might just be a tablet/keyboard package. They do have real USB ports, I've seen mice plugged in.)

Software: MS Office or equivalent (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint minimum), web browser, Zune (I don't like iPod/iTunes), PDF reader (creator/editor optional), Diablo II and III, NWN2 and possibly WoW.

Stuff: Full keyboard, peripheral number pad is okay. Real mouse, integrated mose pad is okay. Screen protected from rough handling by logo side of case. At least four USB ports. VGA, headphone and mic jacks.

Suggestions? Is it worth building a laptop instead of just finding an HP at the PX and maybe reinforcing the case around the screen?

Should I hold out for a touch compatible OS and spring for a convertible laptop?

paladin2019 wrote:So, I'm going to a hot, sandy place again. I'm thinking about a new geek box to take with me. Must be portable, single unit, rugged enough to survive with just a neoprene sleeve in an assault pack.

Budget?

paladin2019 wrote:(Something I've seen around the office are essentially two piece laptops in a leather case. I haven't had the chance to actually check them out, so they might just be a tablet/keyboard package. They do have real USB ports, I've seen mice plugged in.)

Probably the Asus Transformer Prime or something like it. Absolutely superb in nearly every way, but doesn't fit your system requirements, as it doesn't run Windows.

paladin2019 wrote:Software: MS Office or equivalent (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint minimum), web browser, Zune (I don't like iPod/iTunes), PDF reader (creator/editor optional), Diablo II and III, NWN2 and possibly WoW.

The only thing in that list that requires anything more than a Pentium 233 is WoW, which requires an Intel P4 1.3 or AMD Athlon XP 1500+, 1GB of RAM, and a GeForce FX or ATI Radeon 9500. Meaning basically, anything [not a netbook] made in the last five years will be fine. If you gave up WoW, even a netbook would be sufficient, although complex PP presentations would be a bitch.

Anyway, point being, you're not going to have to sweat system requirements.

paladin2019 wrote:Suggestions? Is it worth building a laptop instead of just finding an HP at the PX and maybe reinforcing the case around the screen?

If you're not going to be smashing it with hammers, most modern laptops will survive fine in a pack if you're careful, but since you probably can't always be careful, it seems to me like what you're looking for is a ruggedized laptop, like the Toughbook 19 or Toughbook 31, but they are both stupid-ass expensive. [edit: But older used versions wouldn't be.] The ThinkPad X1 is also supposed to be pretty tough, though not officially "ruggedized." [The ThinkPad X220 Convertible kicks ass, but probably isn't quite as tough.]

But budget is the most important factor once you get to this point, so I'll pause.

paladin2019 wrote:Should I hold out for a touch compatible OS and spring for a convertible laptop?

Windows 7 is okay with touch, if you want to avoid Android or iOS. They do a lot of nice ruggedized tablets, too, as well as tablets with very tough covers. But you can't do real work with just a tablet, and once you start carrying a bluetooth keyboard around, you may as well have gotten a laptop or convertible.

Too bad this won't run WoW. Nor this delectable convertible.

Very nice with the Toughbooks. Stupid question time. When the specs say 1 GB memory and 30 or 40 GB harddrive, is the memory just RAM? I have the full harddrive to store media and program files?

And losing WoW for a Toughbook, I think I can handle that.

Need to check screen size on these. I think the CF-19 is <10in. I've used a small Toughbook convertible for data transfer on radios in the past.

paladin2019 wrote:When the specs say 1 GB memory and 30 or 40 GB harddrive, is the memory just RAM? I have the full harddrive to store media and program files?

Exactly correct. And remember that, while 40GB isn't much, removable drives are relatively inexpensive, and depending on how new a machine you get, the drive may be replaceable with, say, a 1TB internal drive. I use this 1TB external drive - it's about the size of a deck of playing cards - but it's not ruggedized, either. LaCie makes some big ruggedized drives, like this 2TB one, as well as these other sizes.

paladin2019 wrote:Need to check screen size on these. I think the CF-19 is <10in. I've used a small Toughbook convertible for data transfer on radios in the past.

Yeah, the new 19 is a 10.1, while the new 31 is 13.1 inches. I'm not sure if those sizes are static going back several years or not.

Prices on new Toughbooks are $1000-$2000, depending on which model you want, and depending on how you spec it; many of these will play WoW [as well as other games]. Old ones run $500+, and will do most of what you want, but probably not the gaming. If you get closer to purchase time, I can tell you what a given machine will and will not do, so if you decide you want a specific machine at a specific price point, I can help you narrow down what it's capable of.

3278 wrote:

paladin2019 wrote:So, I'm going to a hot, sandy place again. I'm thinking about a new geek box to take with me. Must be portable, single unit, rugged enough to survive with just a neoprene sleeve in an assault pack.

Budget?

paladin2019 wrote:(Something I've seen around the office are essentially two piece laptops in a leather case. I haven't had the chance to actually check them out, so they might just be a tablet/keyboard package. They do have real USB ports, I've seen mice plugged in.)

Probably the Asus Transformer Prime or something like it. Absolutely superb in nearly every way, but doesn't fit your system requirements, as it doesn't run Windows.

paladin2019 wrote:Software: MS Office or equivalent (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint minimum), web browser, Zune (I don't like iPod/iTunes), PDF reader (creator/editor optional), Diablo II and III, NWN2 and possibly WoW.

The only thing in that list that requires anything more than a Pentium 233 is WoW, which requires an Intel P4 1.3 or AMD Athlon XP 1500+, 1GB of RAM, and a GeForce FX or ATI Radeon 9500. Meaning basically, anything [not a netbook] made in the last five years will be fine. If you gave up WoW, even a netbook would be sufficient, although complex PP presentations would be a bitch.

Err. Diablo III requirements:

Windows® XP/Vista/7 (latest service packs) with DX 9.0c
Intel Pentium® D 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4400+
NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT or ATI Radeon™ X1950 Pro or better
1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB (Vista/7)
12 GB available HD space
DVD-ROM (required for retail disc versions only)
Broadband** Internet connection
1024x768 minimum resolution

Recommended specs:

Windows® Vista/7 (latest service packs)
Intel® Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® 260 or ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 or better

So, probably not really going to have to sweat system requirements too much, but they're probably still a thing to consider.

Worth noting, Paladin, is that Diablo III will require a constant internet connection even if you're playing single-player (because they want you to buy things on their real-currency auction house and make them money,) so it may not really be playable out in the field.

Thanks. What I really need is what ports are on the -19. With a VGA port, a small screen isn't such a big deal. I can have an external monitor and keyboard and have the box for travel. I notice the -29 has port replicator and serial port, but no VGA.

Thoughts?

Wow, I totally missed Diablo III in there. You're not going to get a rugged laptop that can run Diablo III, if I'm not mistaken: the video requirement is too steep.

At least some CF-19s have VGA ports, and there are other options as well, but port replicators are nice if you want it to do double duty as a real desktop.

$1000 budget for this thing.

I'm strongly tempted to go with the CF-19 and port replicator. It's basically a beefy version of my TouchPad and I don't have problems with the screen size. And with the replicator and a keyboard, I shouldn't really have any restrictions on screen size when I'm "home." And they are, IIRC, built to hot-swap hard drives, so as long as Panasonic kees them compatible, I should be able to contiune to upgrade.

As for Diablo III, c'est la vie. It'll still do Army Builder and everything for my various character sheets and game e-books.

Fuck yeah. If you want rugged, and that's your budget, you're exactly on the right track. Do us a favor and let us know how it works out, yeah? I don't have anything like $1000, but if a Toughbook should happen to find its way to me, I'd like to know how it'll do. I really wouldn't mind having something I could take in the field that's a step above my Droid.

ioSafe does a nice ruggedized drive, too.

I use AD&D's Core Rules 2.0 and it, NWN2, and Diablo II require the disk in the drive to run. Any way to get around that without a CD/DVD drive, as it appears the CF19 lack one? Besides getting a USB drive, of course.

Well, there's the obvious "downloading a crack." I'm certain I had D2 cracks, and NWN2 would be trivial. Presumably Core Rules isn't impossible.

Other than that, sometimes you can take an image of the drive and mount it with a virtual CD-ROM program like PowerISO or Daemon Tools, but a lot of programs have detectors build-in to prevent doing exactly this, hence the need for cracks.

I can't imagine you'll have a problem getting DII to mount from an ISO. NWN2 might have issues, but Atari wasn't known for especially egregious DRM, so who knows; you should defintely be able to find a crack, if nothing else, since I assume it's not streaming content from the disc.

I just got te CF19. Updating Windows, now to figure out how to load Office without a CD drive.

EDIT: 110 updates

Oh, and it's still running IE6, Lovely. At least IE8 is one of the updates.

paladin2019 wrote:I just got te CF19. Updating Windows, now to figure out how to load Office without a CD drive.

What I usually do is put the CD in a desktop and share it over the network.

paladin2019 wrote:EDIT: 110 updates

Yeah, I just did a raw install of XP SP3 and had 115, not counting the ones that depended on those being installed. Seems like there ought to be a better way.

The only "network" I have is all my machines sharing my wireless router. AFAIK, they're not set up to talk to each other.

I'm probably headed off to Best Buy in a bit to just get a USB drive. It's probably my best bet given the expected use of this box.

BTW, I'm posting from it now. XP and IE8 work.

paladin2019 wrote:The only "network" I have is all my machines sharing my wireless router. AFAIK, they're not set up to talk to each other.

Yep, that's a perfectly valid network. You'd just have to right-click on the CD-ROM drive of whatever machine has one, and [on an XP machine, anyway] choose Sharing and Security, and choose the radio box for Share this Folder. Press Okay, and you should be good to go. Then you can map the drive from across the network and have a CD-ROM on your CD-ROM-less machine, so long as you're within range of wifi.

paladin2019 wrote:I'm probably headed off to Best Buy in a bit to just get a USB drive. It's probably my best bet given the expected use of this box.

Office will probably let you do this without problem. [I just installed Office XP off the hard disk, so clearly it's not picky.] Games will be more challenging.