TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP CALCULATOR FOR BUSINESS-RUGGED DEVICES
How do you work out the real cost of bringing rugged devices into your business?

Conker has helped hundreds of companies build sound business cases by outlining the return they can deliver and assessing the true cost of owning rugged tablets and phones.
The assumption that a product that breaks infrequently has a lower TCO is not always correct. To help you calculate and compare the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for your own business, we’ve built this handy calculator. Use it to determine the direct and indirect costs of a product over the duration of its serviceable lifetime. Here’s what it factors in:
- Direct costs: Initial capital outlay, number of repairs and replacements, total repair cost
- Indirect costs: lost time while devices are repaired, replacement device cover, supplier bias to replace devices early, speed of service
- 3-year expected life service (the most common expected timeframe for a business computer
- Independent industry data: failure rates for rugged and non-rugged devices over 3-years
Expected service life: | 3 | ||
Number of devices: | 100 | Based on 3 years expected service life: | |
There are a multitude of factors which contribute to TCO, many of which can be highly variable. Our calculator aims to give you a clear start using some sound, research-based rational. | |||
We have pre-populated some figures here. Update the calculator with your own figures and the TCO sums will update automatically. | |||
CONKER by Tablet Technologies | Rugged Competitor, e.g. Panasonic | Consumer grade device, e.g. iPad | |
Unit purchase price | 700 | 1400 | 350 |
Initial capital outlay | 70000 | 140000 | 35000 |
Number of repairs | 16 | 13 | 40 |
Total repair cost | 2268 | 5670 | 5600 |
Number of replacements | 2 | 5 | 40 |
Replacement costs | 1400 | 7000 | 14000 |
Lost working days | 18 | 18 | 80 |
Lost working day downtime costs | 9000 | 9000 | 40000 |
Total device out-of-service days | 36 | 252 | 1120 |
Cost to cover with spare devices | 700 | 10000 | 43100 |
Total Cost of Ownership | 83368 | 171670 | 137700 |
Running cost as % of HW cost | 0.1910 | 0.2262 | 2.9343 |
Spares devices | 1 | 7.1429 | 123.1429 |
Spare devices as %age | 0.01 | 0.0714 | 1.2314 |
Number of devices | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Expected service life | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Year 1 failure rate | 3.5 | 3.5 | 18 |
Annual failure rate multiplier | 2.25 | 2.25 | 2.1 |
Service life failure rate 2 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.8 |
% of faults repaired 1 | 0.9 | 0.75 | 0.5 |
% of faults resulting in replacement | 0.1000 | 0.25 | 0.5 |
Average repair cost 1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
Days w/out device per service 3 | 2 | 14 | 14 |
Downtime cost per day 1 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
% service life days without dev. | 1.0568 | 0.8806 | 0.1142 |
1 - Assumed values | |||
2 - Based on independent industry data | |||
3 - Based on our service record and reported service record of other parties |
Expected service life: | 3 | ||
Number of devices: | 100 | Based on 3 years expected service life: | |
There are a multitude of factors which contribute to TCO, many of which can be highly variable. Our calculator aims to give you a clear start using some sound, research-based rational. | |||
We have pre-populated some figures here. Update the calculator with your own figures and the TCO sums will update automatically. | |||
CONKER | Rugged Competitor | Consumer product | |
Unit purchase price | 700 | 1400 | 350 |
Initial capital outlay | 70000 | 140000 | 35000 |
Number of repairs | 16 | 13 | 40 |
Total repair cost | 2268 | 5670 | 5600 |
Number of replacements | 2 | 5 | 40 |
Replacement costs | 1400 | 7000 | 14000 |
Lost working days | 18 | 18 | 80 |
Lost working day downtime costs | 9000 | 9000 | 40000 |
Total device out-of-service days | 36 | 252 | 1120 |
Cost to cover with spare devices | 700 | 10000 | 43100 |
Total Cost of Ownership | 83368 | 171670 | 137700 |
Running cost as % of HW cost | 0.1910 | 0.2262 | 2.9343 |
Spares devices | 1 | 7.1429 | 123.1429 |
Spare devices as %age | 0.01 | 0.0714 | 1.2314 |
Number of devices | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Expected service life | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Year 1 failure rate | 3.5 | 3.5 | 18 |
Annual failure rate multiplier | 2.25 | 2.25 | 2.1 |
Service life failure rate 2 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.8 |
% of faults repaired 1 | 0.9 | 0.75 | 0.5 |
% of faults resulting in replacement | 0.1000 | 0.25 | 0.5 |
Average repair cost 1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
Days w/out device per service 3 | 2 | 14 | 14 |
Downtime cost per day 1 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
% service life days without dev. | 1.0568 | 0.8806 | 0.1142 |
1 - Assumed values | |||
2 - Based on independent industry data | |||
3 - Based on our service record and reported service record of other parties |
More about this Total Cost of Ownership calculator and comparison tool
There are a multitude of factors which contribute to TCO, many of which can be highly variable. Our calculator aims to give you a clear start using some sound, research-based rationale.
We have pre populated some figures here. Update the calculator with your own figures and the TCO sums will update automatically.
This page is best viewed on desktops due to the amount of information it contains (but it does work on a mobile with some scrolling).
Conker’s approach to Total Cost of Ownership
There are many hidden costs to consider as part of the total cost of ownership so naturally our calculations carry many assumptions. We are very confident when it comes to:
- Our recommendation to repair rather than write-off
- Our 2-day turnaround time
- Our low-cost parts.
How else can I mitigate unforeseen costs?
One of the safest ways to mitigate unforeseen costs which we recommend is to extend your warranty to include accidental damage cover.