ZDNet Netherlands trashes a Dell ATG laptop
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 13th 2007 4:32PM
posted April 13th 2007 4:32PM
While we don't think Dell ever intended for its ruggedized ATG Latitude laptop to be taken for an indestructible laptop, the smash-happy folks at ZDNet Netherlands nonetheless decided to see just how far that supposed ruggedness would take it when pushed to the limits. As you can see for yourself in the video linked below, the battery of tests they put the laptop through are definitely not for the faint of heart, with it facing coffee spills, drops onto a concrete floor, and the wrong end of a hammer -- not to mention the grand finale seen above. While the laptop managed to stay in one piece it certainly didn't come out unscathed, so the ATG users among you out there will probably still want to take it easy on it -- and if you don't, be sure to send us the video.
dirty rotten spammer!!!! Go advertise somewhere else!!
I dunno... looked like the key scratched it pretty badly.
Who else winced when they saw the hammer?
I did. And damn, that reporter has the best job in the world!
The Dell ATG is still no where near Panasonic's Toughbook.
I doubt that it's people from the netherlands who did that since the license plate on the car is a Belgian plate.
Haha! That was great. I understood "und laptop" and I think he said "crashtest" or something like that. I fully support the destruction of Dell laptops.
@ powac: He is indeed from the Netherlands, he has a Dutch and not a Flemish accent. However, your right, he is driving a car with a Belgian license plate... which scares me actually.
I would be happy to have such a laptop. But he seems to glad to destroy it. WTF?
- Unomi -
ITS A DELL!
Exactly. Considering it's a Dell laptop, I don't blame that reporter one bit for wanting to do all of those horriffic things to it. I'd want to do the same if I'd somehow been duped into buying a Dell and couldn't get my money back!
QUICK! BACKUP!
impressive. after all that, the laptop still lits. there is just one more test i like to try: the battery explosion test.
Yeah.... but will it blend?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/14/will-it-return-best-buy-refuses-to-exchange-blended-camcorder/
- Unomi -
@Unomi: Well, I guess it will blow up before it blends. They'll have to chop the Dell into four bits to fit the whole thing in anyway.
OK, I'm a Dell employee and certainly biased, but here's the bottom line: the notebook survived almost everything. Basically the only thing breaking was the CD tray and the inner display bezel where the logo affixed. At the end of the review, the journalist says, “Overall, a very good notebook."
@JohnP:
Yep, I agree. That notebook took a pretty hard beating and just kept working.
And I'm not a Dell employee, but a Mac fanboy.
I used to work for ZDNet Netherlands, until late 2006. They recently relocated the newsdesk for The Netherlands to Belgium (..) and he's driving the boss's car, hence the Belgian plates. The guy in the video stated that bossman's car made a more impressive noise than his own measly-journalist-salary-car.
That said, it's one pretty tough Dell laptop. I too noticed my former colleague take a bit too much pleasure in trashing it, though. :)