Laptops, computer tablets, and cell phones are fine examples of mobile computer devices, many of which can connect to the Internet and be plugged into other computers or machines for work. They can be found at many job sites, and professionals today make widely varied use of them. Brands such as a Panasonic toughpad and others are thin and lightweight, and may prove popular for work. A fully rugged tablet may endure extremes of temperature and physical trauma, for example, even when being thin and lightweight. In other applications, such though laptops aren’t even needed, such as an indoor sales associate using these tablets to look up information for a customer and even swipe credit cards. Those thin and lightweight are not especially durable, and would suffer in some worn environments. Instead, forest loggers, military personnel, factory workers, and other outdoor professionals may make use of tough but thin and lightweight laptops and tablets. These computers may be semi-rugged or completely rugged, depending on need.

Using Computers at Work

Many professionals today are using mobile computers for a variety of reasons, from swiping credit cards on the go to looking up information for customers to controlling other machines or networks at any location. This results in a large market for such devices, and it’s only growing. Laptops date as far back as the 1970s, and those early models were one fifth the weight of any contemporary computer. Laptops have become more thin and lightweight, and much more powerful, since then. This also includes tablets, and now, some 1.43 billion tablet users can be found around the entire world. Many are bought and used by private consumers, but others are quite useful at work. But this also means that such mobile computers must be ready to stand up to workplace rigors, or they may suffer damage.

What might happen? A laptop or tablet might be knocked off a table or ledge and fall onto the ground or floor, and blunt trauma may ruin a computer that’s not designed to handle it. What is more, some computers may get liquids spilled on them, or they may be exposed to extremes of heat or cold either indoors or outdoors. A damaged or broken computer is an expensive ordeal to take care of, and it may cost as much as $47,000 or more to handle. This comes from not only the cost of repairing or replacing that computer but also the downtime, hiring support, and using management time to fix or replace the computer and get another one to take its place. This is not unlike how expensive it is to have an employee quit, since so much productivity is lost.

This expensive problem can be neatly avoided when a suitably durable computer such as a laptop or tablet is used instead. They may be semi-rugged and designed to handle being dropped or exposed to heat, or completely rugged and able to handle nearly anything that they’re exposed to. Such mobile computers may have internal construction methods that allow for shock absorbance when they fall or are struck by something, ensuring that inner components are not so easily rattled or damaged by trauma. These computers may also have rubber of foam padding sleeves fitted over them to further protect them from trauma, and these coats will have openings to display the screen as well as keep speakers and plug-in ports exposed for use. Such computers may also have extra-tough display screens that resist liquids, heat and cold, and objects striking them so they don’t crack or leak so easily.

Who is using these extra-tough computers? Workers at a factory or construction site may use them, where there’s heat and hard surfaces all around. Park rangers might also use them while out in the field, as may military personnel. Soldiers, officers, and other personnel are using computers more than ever for a tactical advantage, such as controlling flying drones or ground-based combat robots. Such computers may sometimes be dropped or struck by debris, and may be thrown around by a nearby explosion or shock wave. It’s vital that those computers can endure such trauma and keep functioning on the field.