Best powerful laptop for me?

ghostarcher12

Honorable
Dec 25, 2013
9
0
10,510
I'm pretty experienced with desktop computers because I've had a lot of time to work with mine. It's been over a year since then, and I don't follow mobile processing anyway so I'm not sure what would be best for me.

I work during the day and use computers for most of what I do. I have a desktop that I use for work, but would like a powerful mobile system so I don't have to jump between 10 devices just to get one thing done. I also go to school at night and would need to be able to do everything on the fly (not as much power required for that part). I wouldn't be using this for gaming because I have a great pc and I usually just play on my console because it's faster.

What I do/need to be able to do:
I run the companies website from Microsoft Front page
I'm in the process of building a new website
I run tests on various engines, mainly outboard motors (for boats) and that seems to eat up a fair amount of ram and processing power.
I manage the entire inventory from a few Microsoft access documents (working on changing that too)
Because I run the tests on outboard motors, it's around water pretty often and would need a case or something to help protect from splashes or being dropped on concrete.
I take a lot of pictures for stock and for emailing picture requests to customers (I might get an eyefi card to send the pictures to the device I get)
I sell and ship a lot of things with ebay
I'm a student by night so I'd need to be able to do word documents and research (not a big deal really) on the fly.
It'd need at least 2 usb ports.
I'd prefer if it was pretty small. I like the 2 in 1's but they are pretty expensive for what you get. A thin laptop could work as well.

-If it's possible to find something with a good processor that has a hard drive and ram that I could swap out that would be great. I have a 500gb ssd that I could swap from my desktop or just purchase another and I could just purchase laptop ram.

My price can vary but I don't want to drop $1,500.

I know it's asking a lot but I don't have the time to research everything working 10 hours then going to school for 4.

Thanks a lot for the help!
Ghost.


 
For water and other environmental things you would either need to get a system like a Panasonic Toughbook or a case for a regular laptop. The T models are great but are not made for being around water really even though they do meet some high grade durability standards. Most of the issue with electronics and water is corrosion after exposure.

I'll tell you right now what you want won't exist in one system, you can't have rugged and small together, the Toughbooks are large, even the small screen models. And for a system that can handle being around water pretty well, your budget will get you a used durable system, I think the new Toughbooks are about $2,000 or more.

This site seems to be a good collection of products you can look at http://toughruggedlaptops.com/?gclid=CICv1_2QzMcCFYU6aQodRoQNVA keep in mind that the cheaper stuff is really semi-rugged, the real stuff that is designed for heavier duty use is more than the $800 you see for some of the systems.