In addition to his write-up, Brian did basic tests, showing the 30 met all of the drop and spill claims you would expect of a truly rugged device. Then, he took the Toughbook 30 tests to the extreme, taking the device to Six Flag Discovery Kingdom, in Vallejo, CA and introducing it to a few friends from the animal kingdom.  First he introduced the 30 to Nalin, a tiger cub, who proceeded to pounce, drop, chew and lick the laptop.  If that wasn’t enough, he gave the 30 to Liz, a 10,000-pound elephant who stepped on the device and threw it on the concrete multiple times.

Since the animals weren’t able to break the notebook, he took it to Jackson Arms – a shooting range in South San Francisco – and shot it with a .22 caliber pistol.  Much to Brian’s surprise the notebook survived. Granted, the screen was cracked, but it booted up, and logged on to Windows. The next round, a .45 caliber, ended the Toughbook 30’s life.

Brian filmed his experience and also posted a slide show from both locations.

Not surprisingly, the competition was unable to provide Brian with its rugged unit for testing. Brian notes, “Dell declined to loan us a rugged laptop to shoot, saying they didn’t have the ‘inventory excess to participate this time around.’”

There are other examples of competitors being hesitant to have their rugged claims put to the test; one of my favorite examples comes from Ed Moltzen of CRN.

It’s our understanding that our competitors are only comfortable having their rugged claims tested in controlled environments.  Although laboratory testing of products is important, it’s the real-world experience that is critical, and we are confident in how our products perform in the real world.

Forbes Video:

KGO TV of San Francisco aired a story about the Forbes.com article on Thursday (6.25). Click the image below to go to their video: