Maybe it is luck, I have never spilt a cup of coffee over my laptop keyboard, trodden on it or dropped it down a flight of stairs. But I know people who have, and the results were not pretty.

Recognising this, some laptop makers, led by Japan’s Panasonic (www.panasonic.com/business/Toughbook), pioneered the concept of “ruggedised” portable PCs suitable for use by the military, on-site engineers and anyone working in physically challenging environments.