Even the best rugged system won't be in a position to overcome a fragile USB device for wireless broadband, a protruding external battery that gets damaged, or something like a USB center that can't take the troublesome conditions as well as the computer. You can go to almost any store that carries PC accessories and purchase a cheap USB hook-up for your home PC without much worry. It'll have anywhere from a couple to several additional USB ports to permit your personal computer to have more devices connected up to it.

A USB port in a mobile office can act as a communications hub, and help ensure that the rugged system stays hooked up to everything it must access. A self-powered port in this type of situation is perfect, as is a rugged USB hub that is built to face up to far more than that $20 port from a discount store.

If you've selected a rugged system designed to handle drops, moisture, dust, temperature, weather extremes, vibrations and shocks, you are practically sabotaging all those fantastic features if you select accessories like a USB hub that aren't tested against any of those things. A top-notch hub can cost 10-20 times more than an inexpensive one, but it's far less likely to fail than a standard one, even under troublesome conditions.

Printers, scanners, hubs and other accessories, at a minimum, should be tested for shock and vibration when they are designed for a mobile office. A vehicle mounted Panasonic rugged laptop, for example, has been tried to make sure that the vibration of the car, any temperature extremes, and bumps from general driving will not affect it at all.

Other accessories like docking stations, printers and attachable devices should also be judged "rugged" and able to resist whatever you may put them thru to make certain your mobile office will work how you need it to, when you want it to.