Ah. I abused a toughbook once. Didn't matter what happened, it kept going. Slow as molasses in winter, but virtually unbreakable.
Apparently also good fire starters, but mine never got quite that hot.
Panasonic's the latest company to fall foul of dodgy batteries, finding that the rechargeables shipped with its CF-S10 laptop "may overheat, cause smoke, or may ignite" causing "a risk of a fire or a burn hazard to consumers" and the computer. The CF-VZSU61U rechargeable battery pack is the culprit and appears to have come to …
It sort of says a lot that it has taken until now to identify a potential problem and have to issue a recall for batteries made 4-5 years ago! Most notebooks (and their batteries) would have given up long before now. My sister-in-law is still using her CF9 (model before this, bought in Jan 2011). You can't deny that they are tough!
A few years back I was asked to configure something on a 17" MBP which was a bit bashed (though working perfectly)... on enquiring what had happened to it the owner confessed to having driven over it.
I am not an Apple fan but have to admit I was impressed at how little it had suffered... I would still rather a Toughbook if faced with an attacker though!