Toughbook - worth it?

End of Fiscal and its time to replace the laptop - looking at Toughbook 40 vs 55. Anyone have comments about them?

I need the ruggedness, I'm on towers, in rain, bright sun, moving vehicles. I also wear out the external connectors on the Precisions I usually get. Especially the Ethernet port.

Is the screen bright enough for use outdoors, 1000 nits vs 1100 nits. I know a nit is a unit of brightness but without something to compare it to...

Is the 14inch screen big enough for programming PLC ladders? I prefer 17in laps but can't get them in that size.
I have heard of Getacs but haven't heard much positive about them.

Any quick thoughts.

Our last laptop was an older model Toughbook (around the time of Windows 7). I can say I had no real issues during that time. They've moved us into Dell Latitude Rugged Extreme laptops which I like the armoring around the side of the laptop. All ports are heavily covered by metal access doors. Programming with it with a smaller screen is a bit annoying but works on the plant floor for troubleshooting. I dock and use a larger monitor if I'm programming for longer lengths of time.

We have a couple of Dell XFR 6430's since 2012. Very Dependable. We only use them on the plant floor, to slow for development work.

We will be replacing them with Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme Laptops.

We started out with Toughbook's. The dell works better for us.
An I Phone 13 is 1000 nits for reference.

We still have some older Toughbook around, our techs tend not to use them as they are bulky and slow.

If you must have that "toughness" then I would probably look at Dell Latitude 5430 Rugged.

Have you looked at availability of the 55’s or any of them? Just recently went with a Dell that was 1/2 the cost and double the hardware and wasn’t 3 months on backorder. It’s definitely not as rugged but still fits the bill.

I run higher end personal/office grade laptops. I dint know if i coukd ever go back to the slow and bulky laptops like rugged or tough books. Every 2 years i replace them. It way more efficient for us just to stack the old ones up snd move on. We run vurtual machines.

We did a LOT of work in Explosion-proof classified areas. Toughbooks or any other book may have been rated until you plug a cable into them. The lost all lost their rating as you opened the connector door. So we carry LEL gas meters.