Panasonic <span class="highlight">toughbook</span> laptop
Submitted: Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:23
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Austravel
Hi,
Does anyone have any experience with the panasonic
toughbook laptop's?? I'm told they are the best for our sort of travel with dust and lots of vibrations etc. Or is it just hype and there are others out there just as good. I'm told these are what the defense forces use.
Reply By: Member - Karl - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:28
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:28
I am in the Defence Force and I have never used Panasonic brand laptops or desktops. We use mainly Compaq, and Acer brand laptops etc. Beware of people saying that Defence use something - it's usually because it's the cheapest, not necassary the best!!! Sorry I can't help with the reliablity issues.
AnswerID:
87477
Reply By: cj - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:52
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:52
I don't know how tough or dust resistant you need but I dropped my Twinhead notebook out of an overhead locker on a plane with no problems and it has a 2 year worldwide accidental damage cover as part of its standard warranty.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: cj - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:55
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:55
Make that my Higrade Notino with the warranty.
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346269
Follow Up By: cj - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:55
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 16:55
Make that my Hi-grade Notino with the warranty.
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346270
Reply By: Jards - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 17:22
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 17:22
The ADF use numerous brands of laptops of which the Panasonic
Toughbook is one. We have been using them for a while in the field and they are not too bad. They are not fully sealed units and as far as I can tell are simply a normal laptop mounted in a ruggedised case. I do not know if the internals are ruggedised, and due to the price I doubt they are... But i could be wrong.
Cheers
AnswerID:
87490
Reply By: Member - Ivan (ACT) - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 19:18
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 19:18
These are used by a number of defence forces (including ours and the U.S) - whilst they are more robust, they are a damn site heavier and the power supply is almost the size of a brick..
I think they go for about $12,000?? (at least that's what Defence pays for them!)
I have a Toshiba Satellite and it's copped everything from three kids in the back
seat, to the
Simpson desert - still going strong..
No matter a
Toughbook or other commercial laptop, they can fail - I would spend the additional dollars on a standard laptop (believe it or not, but some of the Acers are coming out quite robust) - and get a warranty..
AnswerID:
87503
Reply By: The Explorer - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 19:54
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 19:54
The mineral exploration company I do work for have just purchased a few base on advice from someone who used them in similar circumstances (water/mud/dust/vibration/general rough treatment next to a
drill rig). Based on very limited exposure to them (dont stand next to drill rigs for long anymore) I would say they appear
well suited for the average 4WDer who wouldnt expose them to any where near this type of treatment. They appear quite robust and wouldnt mind one myself. They are about $5000 I think.
Cheers
Greg
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Reply By: Utemad - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 20:38
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 20:38
I have never heard of Panasonic making computers. It might be like buying a Daewoo television.
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Reply By: David Au - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 22:32
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 22:32
The Panasonic ToughBooks laptops are the best you can get. All the internals and hard drive are in special shock absorbing
suspension systems, the screens are trans-reflective and can be viewed in
bright sunlight.
Check out the specs of the different models on their website. They are true industrial computers.
Sure Panasonic laptops are brilliant, but do you have the need to pay twice the price compared to a standard quality brand like Toshiba.
Stay
well clear of HP and Compaq now, warranty service and anything to do with them is all in India. Impossible to get basic intelligent answer on anything.
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 23:04
Monday, Dec 06, 2004 at 23:04
Extremely good point - you could actually buy several (3?) laptops of lesser quality for the same price as one
Toughbook and be no worse off. Not good philosophy for some uses if reliability under extreme conditions became an issue but ok for recreational 4wders I would suspect.
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Follow Up By: Utemad - Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 00:38
Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 00:38
I have a HP laptop and you're right about them having moved over to India. I have had 3 problems with this computer. Two were easy fixes yet the other dragged on for months. The biggest problem was the communication barrier. You had to explain the problem 15 times just so they got a rough idea of what you mean and then they just try and diagnose the problem by reading something off their screen. On numerous phone calls I got answers that were the same word for word! I wouldn't touch one of these again EVER. Compaq and HP computers are the same company nowadays too.
Dell also has Indian service centres and they are also awful to deal with although they are better to deal with than HP/Compaq once you get to talk to the actual Dell service guys in Australia.
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Reply By: TonyH - Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 02:01
Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 02:01
Seem they (toughbooks) get about in every industry, including agriculture. I have the older M33
toughbook as onboard guidance on my spray tractor and have only replaced the hard drive once. I'm a rough bugger on gear and I can't kill the little blighter.The ADF may use them but they are cockie proof and that's saying something :-)
The newer ones are absolutely awesome.
Tony Harding
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Reply By: howie - Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 02:28
Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 02:28
1 thing i cannot prove but i will stand corrected is that, after carrying laptops for many years in a 4wd with heavyduty
suspension, is that since i stopped putting the bag between rear
seat and drivers
seat ie on the floor, with the pc in the vertical position, i dont seem to wear thru them as quickly. i now lay the bag flat on the back
seat.
one of my buggered laptops had the motherboard retaining screws worn thru the circuit board causing shorts. the damage seemed to have been caused by vibrations.
just a thought.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: lindsay - Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 08:41
Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 08:41
I have a
Toughbook CF 18 it is the one that the screen
swings around and you can use it in tablet mode and is fully sealed as it has a membrane under the keypad.. We have it on a fertiliser spreader truck as a guidance system with differential signal (omnistar) We also take it bush with the oziexplorer system and found it very good , it sits in a replicator that has a swivel mount cops a lot of dust and knocks belting around paddocks and has given no trouble. I think the laptop costs $5,900 or abouts. Top unit,top $.
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Reply By: Austravel - Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 09:42
Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004 at 09:42
Thanks everyone for your comments, I thought they'd be dear depending on the model but it's always good to find out if the $$ mean quality. At around $6 I'd have to be good when I've seen standard laptops for approx $1200. I know there would be no comparison but that's 4 cheaper models I can destroy first. I'll be looking over the next 6mths so may even pose the question again next year as technology is advancing so quickly.
Thanks again.
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