Tom Peters, the management guru, knows more about laptop reliability that most people. He takes 70-100 trips a year to give speeches. Like many business people, he uses his laptop to run PowerPoint presentations, stay in touch, write his blog and stay on top of business. Quite simply, if his laptop broke down, so would his business. (He is notorious for spilling coffee on laptops on a regular basis.) This is why he his personal assistant always has a replacement computer ready to go at all times.
Laptops enable a new way of working, even if you don't make two business trips a week like Tom Peters. They let people work wherever and whenever they want. It's not just business travel. Think of people working from home, the architect checking plans on site or an accountant visiting a client. They allow companies to respond positively to requests for flexible working. They let companies switch from traditional offices to hot desking. (HP does this and it helps to reduce costs and makes teams more flexible.)
Modern laptops can store all the files most people ever need. They have enough power to run the most demanding applications. With add-on batteries, they can run all day without recharging. Thanks to wireless networks and new technology like 3G Mobile Broadband, people can stay connected to company networks, email and the internet wherever they are.
More people are using laptops. More people are working away from traditional offices with traditional IT support. This puts a huge premium on reliable design and solid construction. Gartner, another research firm, calculates 
that one laptop in ten is damaged each year. Dropping laptops is by far the most common cause of disaster but spilled drinks and poor packing are major contributors.
Accidents aren't the only problem. Computers break down and wear out. Hinges break, latches fail, power supplies short out, motherboards fuse. Gartner reports that 15-20 percent of notebooks break down every year. Including lost opportunity costs, they calculate that the average incident costs a business much more than the original price of the notebook.
There is a big difference between low-cost notebooks designed for consumer use and more robust notebooks designed especially for business applications. Typically, manufacturers will swap plastic cases for metal ones and beef up the substructure. There is also a difference between manufacturers. The only way to produce a more reliable laptop is to combine the right materials, heavy-duty engineering and rigorous testing.
With so much at stake, it is important to choose a manufacturer who can deliver laptops that are less likely to breakdown and which are as resilient as possible. Although they look similar on the surface, there is a big difference between makes once you get under the skin. Here are a few of the things you should look for:
Although one laptop may look much like another, differences in design, construction and testing can make a big difference on the day you have an accident. It could make the difference between continuing productivity and a complete shutdown. When you're away from the office and away from help, this could be a critical difference. It makes sense, to look beneath the skin and make sure that the laptops you buy for your business are as reliable and robust as possible.
HP Business Notebooks protect against common accidents:
