February 23, 2007

The Durability of Hardware: Novatel Wireless PC Card, Lenovo, Panasonic Toughbook

Panasonic has been advertising heavily on television and print, it's Toughbook notebook computers. I was thinking recently why is it using the mass media to advertise Toughbook, as opposed to only niche media catering to the construction industry, hospitals, the military and other professions as it I'm sure it already does.

Why? Business need durable products that can last for at lest 2 years or more in day to day use.

Recently, my August 2006 purchased Lenovo notebook, has been having some problems.

The keyboard gets stuck (I have to bang it to get it to work). The left mouse key (built into the keyboard like all notebooks) gets stuck. So instead of deleting one email, I find myself deleting 3 at times. Also the screen appears to be quite delicate. If I put pressure on it, it gets red lines streaking through it.

On the other hand, I put my notebook computer under my car seat during a trip and inadvertently rested my Verizon Wireless PC Card on a bar under the seat resulting in much of the weight of the keyboard resting only on the card. This would normally have been fine, but after 4 hours of driving (keeping in mind the bumps of the car at 65mph) the PC Card was bent.

I figured it was broken.

However, when I reached my destination (Ohio from the NY area) 5 hours later, the Verizon Wireless PC Card, made by Novatel, worked just fine.

Lesson learned: The durability of the hardware you purchase is important.

If you are on a trip to present to a crucial client and your notebook is dropped. Wouldn't it be nice to know that it is still working. Even if the cover is scratched a bit, knowing that the expensive screen is not cracked would be a big comfort.

Going back to my Lenovo notebook: I assume and hope this is simply a fluke with the notebook I have. I called Lenovo support some weeks ago and they sent me a box to return it back to them for a full repair. The problem - I need my notebook on a daily basis!

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