Looking for a notebook that will survive the wilderness? Find the best notebook for your mobile needs on the road.
Ever drive your car over your laptop? We actually know someone who has. Not surprisingly, the mishap resulted in some unsightly banding in the LCD, and the tire-tread imprints weren't too pretty, either.
Though no notebook can endure really extreme treatment with a smile, many are engineered to withstand trauma of a more gentle nature. That's the type of notebook that Michael Trelor, a self-described "reluctant truck driver," is looking for. "The trouble with laptops and trucks," Trelor says, "is the relentless vibration of the engine, and some of the less-than-perfect road conditions in the interstate system."
Hoping to find a fairly hardy system for no more than US$1,800, Trelor needs at least a 400MHz processor, 64MB of RAM, and a 12.1-inch screen. "The main use for this laptop will be for e-mail," he says. "I'd also like to use it for routing and accessing state Web sites for road information."
In terms of power and features, Trelor's squarely in budget-laptop country. But can we find one in his price range that's tough enough to handle the stress of the highway?
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