Rugged Portable Workstation?

[BlackSheepAries]

So I'm thinking about the feasibility of creating some kind of ridiculous Frankencompy: A fully rugged mil-spec ingress-proof portable workstation for video editing and light gaming.  Somehow.

It might be a bit insane, but I was thinking of finding a chassis from a Getac x500 Server (somewhere, somehow) and inserting basically the innards of a Sager workstation into it, except with a Xeon instead of an i7.  Maybe.

Thoughts for this hypothetical impossi-system?

[mikat]

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/rugged ?

[BlackSheepAries]

5 minutes ago, mikat said:

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/rugged ?

Definitely not good enough for a workstation.  I was also attracted to the server chassis because of the ridiculous amount of storage for giant-ass raw video files.

 

EDIT: Also, I have a serious longstanding hate on for Dell.

[vanished]

To me, rugged means two things: it has to withstand the environment coming at it (being waterproof, etc.), and it has to withstand it coming at the environment (being thrown, dropped, etc.).  I think you'll have a lot more difficulty with the second one, but if you start a build log, I'll definitely follow

[mikat]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

To me, rugged means two things: it has to withstand the environment coming at it (being waterproof, etc.), and it has to withstand it coming at the environment (being thrown, dropped, etc.).  I think you'll have a lot more difficulty with the second one , but if you start I build log, I'l definitely follow

indeed, more power = more heat

more heat = more heatsinks and fans

more heatsinks and fans = things that break when u drop the thing

[vanished]

Just now, mikat said:

indeed, more power = more heat

more heat = more heatsinks and fans

more heatsinks and fans = things that break when u drop the thing

That's why I like the rugged tablet idea.  Personally, I think it's pretty much impossible to make something really rugged without it being passively cooled.  Doing so lets you have no holes for airflow, no massive heatsinks to break, etc.  It does of course limit your performance, but what can you do?  I'd also like the idea of having 0 ports - wireless charging, wireless everything!  Again, if the case is entirely sealed, that's nice

[mikat]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

That's why I like the rugged tablet idea.  Personally, I think it's pretty much impossible to make something really rugged without it being passively cooled.  Doing so lets you have no holes for airflow, no massive heatsinks to break, etc.  It does of course limit your performance, but what can you do?  I'd also like the idea of having 0 ports - wireless charging, wireless everything!  Again, if the case is entirely sealed, that's nice

passive computers still need airflow tough, take the new macbook.

2.5W cpu and the whole thing is metal (=heatsink)

90c = ez as you can see in this video:

 

 

[BlackSheepAries]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

To me, rugged means two things: it has to withstand the environment coming at it (being waterproof, etc.), and it has to withstand it coming at the environment (being thrown, dropped, etc.).  I think you'll have a lot more difficulty with the second one, but if you start a build log, I'll definitely follow

Agreed!  Quite frankly, the rugged laptops available that would (in theory) be more suitable simply aren't rugged enough.  If it's not overbuilt, it's not going to withstand that bastard Murphy who keeps following me around.  If there's a leaky seal, one tiny dribble of rain will find it.  It needs to be basically (maybe literally) bulletproof for me to feel comfortable going on extended trips with it without being terrified that I'm going to end up with a very expensive brick.

 

 

Just now, mikat said:

indeed, more power = more heat

more heat = more heatsinks and fans

more heatsinks and fans = things that break when u drop the thing

 

Possibly, but the Getac has most of the components I would need...just not the right flavours.  Swapping them out while still retaining an acceptable level of something like shock protection should be manageable.

[cluelessgenius]

9 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

That's why I like the rugged tablet idea.  Personally, I think it's pretty much impossible to make something really rugged without it being passively cooled.  Doing so lets you have no holes for airflow, no massive heatsinks to break, etc.  It does of course limit your performance, but what can you do?  I'd also like the idea of having 0 ports - wireless charging, wireless everything!  Again, if the case is entirely sealed, that's nice

or you could make the case sealabe for transport and open up some kind of airflow when in use.

[BlackSheepAries]

1 minute ago, cluelessgenius said:

or you could make the case sealabe for transport and open up some kind of airflow when in use.

You could, but it (in theory) shouldn't be necessary unless the Getac runs hot to begin with.  I'm actually having a bit of a hard time finding a teardown or proper review that isn't in Italian.

[cluelessgenius]

13 minutes ago, Lexipants said:

You could, but it (in theory) shouldn't be necessary unless the Getac runs hot to begin with.  I'm actually having a bit of a hard time finding a teardown or proper review that isn't in Italian.

well thats always the case with specific non-mainstream stuff. no info out there. or at least not the info one is looking for. what if you were to take a bigger case like this or initially when i read your post i thought you wanted just the system like this 

[cluelessgenius]

this would also adress your storage needs i think. either way if you cant find a case like it you could just get a box like that and mod it into a case yourself.

[BlackSheepAries]

1 minute ago, cluelessgenius said:

well thats always the case with specific non-mainstream stuff. no info out there. or at least not the info one is looking for. what if you were to take a bigger case like this or initially when i read your post i thought you wanted just the system like this 

That first one would be cool, but I won't have a base station that I could leave it in.  The laptop form factor is a must.

 

Dang.  That second one is certainly robust.  It's a bit chunky, though.  It wouldn't fit in a pack.

[cluelessgenius]

3 minutes ago, Lexipants said:

That first one would be cool, but I won't have a base station that I could leave it in.  The laptop form factor is a must.

 

Dang.  That second one is certainly robust.  It's a bit chunky, though.  It wouldn't fit in a pack.

oh ok didnt know size was that much of a criteria. anyway as log as it has a screen attached theres is always a limit to how robust you can get. 

[BlackSheepAries]

2 minutes ago, cluelessgenius said:

oh ok didnt know size was that much of a criteria. anyway as log as it has a screen attached theres is always a limit to how robust you can get. 

2 minutes ago, cluelessgenius said:

 

 

Unfortunately, it is, otherwise this would be a whole lot easier.

 

Yep!  I fully understand that.  Screens are pretty easily replaceable.

[cluelessgenius]

2 minutes ago, Lexipants said:

 

Unfortunately, it is, otherwise this would be a whole lot easier.

 

Yep!  I fully understand that.  Screens are pretty easily replaceable.

then go look at some military class stuff. maybe you know a guy who knows a guys or you could just get older stuff. that shit is truly tuf to break. i have friend who build a system in an old military case like the first one i linked during his time in the military. that thing ratles is loud and by today again pretty outdated and slow but back then it was impossible to break. we used to throw that case around and even submerged it one time by accident and it was fine so i definitly understand your fascination

[cluelessgenius]

26 minutes ago, Lexipants said:

 

Unfortunately, it is, otherwise this would be a whole lot easier.

 

Yep!  I fully understand that.  Screens are pretty easily replaceable.

but thinking about it i would probably go for a tough notebook and then get/make an indestructable mass storage/ nas maybe with a wifi hotspot build in so you could turn the nas on, toss it somewhere and then in a somewhat reasonable radius have access wirelessly from your therefore slimer though notebook.

[vanished]

11 hours ago, mikat said:

passive computers still need airflow tough, take the new macbook.

2.5W cpu and the whole thing is metal (=heatsink)

90c = ez as you can see in this video:

 

They need airflow sure, but it doesn't have to be to inside the case.  My tablet is passively cooled, as is every phone, etc.  Certainly some devices are too hot for it to work effectively, but it can be done.  It just, as I said, really limits your performance options

[vanished]

Actually that macbook just gave me an idea... Linus had to be careful with it because it was not designed to be waterproof, but we're talking rugged PCs here - being waterproof is kind of requirement #1.  What if the machine was designed (passively cooled, no ports for connectivity or cooling at all) to run at one performance level during "normal" use (ie, heavily thermal throttled, but usable for basic tasks), but could switch to a high performance mode when plunged into a puddle or thick mud?  That direct contact with the cool ground would certainly improve cooling significantly and could make higher performance tasks possible. hm... 

[BlackSheepAries]

That's unorthodox, but interesting...which is the entire point of this thread!  Huzzah!