An Asus laptop that I got as a gift a few years ago took a beating a few days ago when I accidentally dropped it from my desk. It was closed and landed on its edge and I expected that I had ruined it.
However, once it was opened it seemed to be normal and there was no visible damage to it. I have also accidentally dropped my smartphone and other things and they seem to survive with no damage as well. That is a nice feeling that some ruggedness has been built into the design.

Now I won’t be buying an Asus in the future. They had some legal trouble where they have stolen some of the design and I don’t support unethical companies. I tend to not buy things again that I have problems with. However, I have made an exception with Mac because although I have problems with it, it is so beautiful and easy to use that it is a pleasure to use.
To be fair, Windows can also be easy to use but it tends to require its share of my blood and effort. Last year I had to reformat it twice and send it back to the vendor. The Mac as I said is still broken, but at least it is keeping the date/time ok. The Asus is working well even though I dropped it. No, I didn’t drop the other two computers that had problems. Normally I am very careful with laptops.
It’s okay to not be perfect with laptops. We are human and make mistakes. I have helped plenty of people who accidentally spilled liquid on their laptops and generally, this is a fatal event. I spilled liquid once and since then I don’t have liquids anywhere near a laptop. You have to learn from your mistakes in life, and sometimes they are expensive ones.
At times when I have helped fix a laptop I have felt that the damage could have been avoided. For example, some laptops failed. After all, they overheated because they were dirty. In factories/offices, this is unavoidable. However, when they use them at home, it is a little surprising. I would guess that most people’s homes are cleaner than an office, but apparently I am wrong.
Other times laptops have come back to me completely covered with food particles, sticky, and generally gross. I have gloves that I put on and wipe down and see if there is any way to be saved. Generally, at that point, the labor to recondition it is more than the cost of getting a new laptop. Sometimes you have to throw in the towel depending on how companies want you to spend your time. No one answer fits all companies. I don’t make any moral judgments on my coworkers. It isn’t my money just my responsibility to see if any data needs to be saved.
At times executives ask if the company would be ahead by buying rugged laptops that are specially designed to withstand abuse. Generally, the cost of those is much higher and the speed and other tradeoffs aren’t worth it. I haven’t worked in a company yet that felt those made financial sense. I am not against it. Whatever makes sense for the workflow, but it is probably only specific industries that use those. I have not worked in any of those yet.
Cheap and light is what almost everyone wants with a laptop. Thank goodness they have some strength when you accidentally drop them.