Laptops with robust casings

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The reliability of the electronics in my Toshiba Tecra laptop is 100% but the plastic casing is dropping to pieces, so the time has come to buy a new one. There is only a limit to what duct tape and epoxy resin will repair. This time I want one with a build quality comparable to the Brooklyn Bridge that won't crack every time I touch the power button. Can anybody recommend which makes I should consider and which I should avoid? Is Toshiba any better than it was a few years ago or does it still use flimsy brittle casings?

I almost bought a Toshiba but found it had more driver issues than the Dell I ended up with. I'll put a word in for the Dell Vostro/Latitude lineups, they're a nice deal if you still want Windows 7 and they don't charge a ton for a metal housing (mine's half plastic, more or less). When I upgrade, however, I'm pretty sure I'm going to Samsung, especially now that they're building Windows/Android machines.

Top scorers:
Samsung: Series 7 notebooks, Ativ Q convertible tablets
Dell: Vostro 31XX series, Latitude business division

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

ThinkPads are way sturdier than the current MacBooks - ScrewyWabbit's machine was a particularly good case - my friend has an aluminum unibody 13.3" MBP and it's bent along the edge of one of the ports. ThinkPads (or the nice ones at least) have magnesium honeycomb underneath their rubberized plastic. If you need more, there's always the Panasonic Toughbooks, those are all TPU rubber & various metals

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I have a Toshiba and I only picked the model I got because of the sturdy design and Memory and storage capacity. No flimsy paper thin netbooks for me. Too many times when my manual dexterity bottoms out and I keep dropping stuff. My last computer was a Toughbook, but it's really expensive to get a lot of memory/Hard Drive space. I wish they'd make those foam cases for notebooks like they do for Nintendo DS.
Butter fingers.

Things are made cheaper and cheaper. I have an old Pentium laptop I save in case I need to mess with a control module on a vehicle. Made in Canada...tough as nails.

All the new laptops are made in China and really can't take much abuse.

You probably need to look for a "ruggedized" laptop (comes in a case designed to take abuse) if you want it to have a strong case. Otherwise, go to stores and check them out in person. Some are made better than others.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-31 (Current Model with up to an I-7 CPU, Lots of $$$ though)
Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 (Usually a Core Two Duo, for less used) --often used by Police Departments as the computers in in Police Cruisers.

Here's an older Toughbook that saved the life of the operator when it ate bullet in Iraq.



Here's the article

Here's another one that was in an emergency/rescue vehicle that burned, it still functions, but an outboard keyboard/mouse will have to be used.

Anything by GETAC, but you pay a LOT for one of these, used by both NATO and Russian Federation armed forces as field computers.

Dell Latitude XFR, ( search on Dell's website for one of these, as they are usually not listed in the store)

General Dynamics Itronix, GD-8200 is the current model, but you can get by with the GD-8000 for a bit cheaper.

All of the above come with Daylight readable flatpanels, and usually, (but not always) have built in capacitve resistace touchscreens as well. They can also be upgraded to sealed waterproof keyboards as well.

Sadly, you can't run out to your nearest Best Buy or OfficeMax to buy one, but you can still order them online, or buy surplus/old ones on eBay.

Another thing that you will notice should you choose to get a rugged notebook, is that even though the CPU power may not be a robust as with a new consumer grade notebook system with a current CPU and GPU, you will have increased battery life as they are typically fanless designs.

I'm posting this from a 2008 Panasonic Toughbook CF-T5 Mk2, which has a 1.06 Ghz Centrino Duo, and AFAIK using the original battery. The battery only holds a 63% charge, but I still get about 4 hours from it. The current version of the Panasonic Toughbook ultra portable can get over 12 hours of battery life from a full charge.