We describe our preliminary studies of the use of neodymium-doped slab-shaped ceramic YAG media in the construction of compact, rugged, high-power diode-pumped solid-state lasers. A maximum extraction of more than 160 W at a 20% slope efficiency level, with a narrow transverse direction beam-parameter product of the order of 4 mm mrad(-1) is experimentally obtained from an extremely simple and compact (overall dimensions 160 mm x 100 mm x 60 mm) laser head in a quasi-continuous-wave regime. Experimental data together with finite-elements method simulations indicate that power extraction can be scaled up at least to 900 W cw with this laser head geometry.