I saw this machine in person 2 days ago. The opponent was a car:
http://www.citi.umich.edu/u/rees/macosx/img_0661.jpg

Apparently the disk survived. Nothing else did.

Yeowch. I've run over a pair of hundred dollar sunglasses before, but a laptop... that's gotta hoyt.

It still strikes me as strange. How does a laptop wind up on the ground in a spot it can be run over? Dropped? Case placed down near a tire?

Either way, that is one sad Mac. I am surprised that the disk survived. Perhaps the owner will absorb the cost for a new mac and transplant the old hard drive. I agree - a bit more than a pair of sunglasses!!!

I wasn't able to get the exact details, but it sounds like It was placed there deliberately when brand new as a test of durability.

Awful expensive test if it's true.

Well, if it was a prototype or a durability test, I would guess it would be written off as a business expense. Still, it did not survive well - I hope it failed that durability test...

Well, if it was a prototype or a durability test, I would guess it would be written off as a business expense. Still, it did not survive well - I hope it failed that durability test...

Other people working there have one now, so if it failed the test, that didn't stop them from getting any, it just told them to keep the laptops away from cars

I ran over a $150 transducer that my acoustic guitar pickup requires. It is kind of squashed but has been working for over a year in spite of my effots, which is very impressive. I know I'll need to get another, but $150 is the kind of money I wait to spend until I must. Still not a laptop though.

Bit of a odd test to considering it's not designed to be a toughened device! I think the old Toughbooks may have just about survived being run over with a small car.

Someone I know who owns a toughbook says there was a film at comdex shown where they did run over a toughbook cf-27 with a hummer.

I vaguely remember some UK computing magazine tested a toughbook. They did the usual this is the machine, this is what it looks like and this is the specs but they also did a test on how robust it was.
Can't remember all of the tests and and when exactly it failed but they did dropping it, throwing it and running over it with a car. The final test they did was to have a Challenger tank run over it. Unsurprisingly it came out completely destroyed.

I heard a testimonial of a professional amplifier for concerts falling off a truck, being run over by an eighteen wheeler, left in the mud, found, cleaned up a little and plugged back in and still working. Mind you, this is equipment that gets bolted into a rack and thown around by roadies for a living.