As someone who has to purchase rugged laptops for users at my job... Dell has nailed away with the Toughbook market for us. When I first started Panasonic was the only game in town but Dell saw the market size and has done a great job. Now I can just deal with one vendor.

They have 2 levels of "ruggedness" and the one that works for most field work can be purchased for less than $2,000 new through the Dell Business Outlet.