Quote Originally Posted by badkuk View Post
is it really that critical for everyday use, or are "typical" laptops ok? i'm intending it to replace my home pc, and i really don't expect to lug it around too much, except around the house and the occassional meetings.
The alloy frame is not really that important for typical use which includes daily transport to/from home/office.

Where the alloy frame would come in useful is when you would be using the laptop in the field like construction site, site survey or where-ever a rugged version of a laptop would be required by the job.

IF you are concerned about your laptop during transport, i would suggest a good padded laptop bag to protect your laptop.

I have a netbook which obviously have a plastic chassis. My bag is a moderately padded messenger bag. When I put it in the car, I occasionally just toss the bag into the back seat. My netbook comes out none the worst. Generally laptops, notebooks and netbooks are pretty rugged and would survive small drops and bumps with no problem as long as the PC is OFF or in hibernate or sleep mode (hard disk is parked).