Reply #32: Yeah, beware $ figures in studies done by those who profit

[Spike89]

They are clear that the dollar figures are calculated (wildly guessed) from the value of the data/intellectual property rather than just the hardware costs. The obvious error (other than an overinflated estimate of each laptop's data value) is the inverse likelihood of the most valuable data being at risk. In other words, the laptops most likely to be "lost" are the least valuable and the critical data on the more valuable laptops is much more likely to be backed up on a network, tape, etc.
I'd be surprised if the average value of the laptops "lost" was even a magnitude lower ($2,400). I've had a hard drive fail (more than once) on my work computers and I've never lost more than a few hours work. I just wish my hours were worth thousands of dollars!