Or are those wheeled laptop computer cases really just meant for the smooth floors of airport concourses?
Here’s the story. I have a big, roomy backpack which can easily hold my computer and cooling pad, plus a couple of books, pens, and whatever other odds and ends I decide I might need to have with me. It’s also got enough room left over for any small items I might decide to buy along the way. It’s nicely padded, and it’s nice to have my hands free as I walk. The problem is, I like to walk places and I have time now to do it. But I can’t help but face the fact that this is hard on my back, and it’s often a little sore after I do this… I’m well past the age where many people begin to have back problems; it was over ten years ago that my older brother had a slipped disc.
So I also happen to have another computer bag, of the type which has wheels and is designed to be pulled along as you walk. There are two wheels and a telescoping pull handle. The wheels are some kind of hard rubber, plastic, or other unyielding substance. As I pull this along behind me, I can certainly feel the jolts caused by passing over uneven spots in the sidewalk (pavement). Worse is the noisy, shuddering vibration every time I cross the rough asphalt of a street.
Over time, are these jolts and vibrations hazardous to the continued life and function of my computer? Does anyone know? I don’t see anyone else walking a mile or two with their computer, so I don’t suppose many people have reported on this issue. I will say that the computer sits in the topmost compartment, away from the point of contact with the ground, so there ought to be some shock absorption there, and just as an added measure I put in a padded Velcro strip from another bag by way of additional padding. I suspect that the vibrations to which the computer is being subjected are far less intense than what I feel in the handle.
You might start by looking at the manufacturer’s specifications. Most will give you two acceleration numbers: in operation and powered off. Many laptops can survive jolts that would seriously injure you (50+ Gs), especially when they are off. Sleep mode should be as safe as the off mode, but that could vary by manufacturer. The hard drive is probably the most sensitive part of a typical laptop. Some newer laptops have special hard drives with shock-resistant mechanisms, and there’s always models like the Mac Air with a solid-state hard drive.
That’s about as far as I can go with actual facts. My guess is that you’re probably fine carting your laptop all over town.
I believe there are cases available with better (more forgiving) wheels – pneumatic inflated ones similar to a miniature auto tire. Think something like a tire for a wheelbarrow or garden cart.
Though I suppose then you could face the problem of being halfway somewhere and getting ‘a flat’ in your computer cart!
The biggest risk shock and vibration would pose is from a head crash. Where the read/write head of a hard drive touches it’s platter rendering the whole platter unreadable. The distance between the head an the platter is thinner then a human hair so it truly amazes me this doesn’t happen all the time.
If you don’t mind spending a couple hundred dollars you could swap out your magnetic hard disk drive for a Solid State Drive. Then your computer should be greatly hardened against vibration and you’ll get improved battery life.
I did damage the screen of a laptop doing this. I don’t think it was cumulative vibration as much as it was one big miscalculation where I wheeled it off a curb incorrectly and the whole pack made a hard landing.
A) The hard drive is off, either because the computer is asleep or powered down. If the hard disk isn’t on, the read/write head is tucked safely away and won’t destroy the platter. That’s the big one.
B) Not as big of a deal, but try not to transport it with a CD or DVD in the drive. It won’t hurt the computer, but it could scratch the disc, again, especially if the computer is on.
I would get a netbook and backpack it. You can get one that weighs a bit over 2lb, although recently they are pushing 3 (with larger screens and keyboards).
I manage the IT PC support department of a company with about 800 laptops. We caution our folks against rolling cases for this very reason. If padded properly and the HD head is locked, careful use will probably be fine. But I have witnessed people seriously abusing their cases getting them up and down curbs. We use Lenovo laptops which are designed much stronger than other brands too (steel “roll cages” under the skin, rubber hard drive bumpers, etc.) We still see alot more damage from liquid spills than anything else.
I did once drop a laptop on a hard stone floor, from a height of about four and a half feet. It did work fine after that, but some of the responses here are making me consider going back to the backpack.