Panasonic <span class="highlight">Toughbook</span> Laptop - any good?

Funny. I was looking at these today too. Even the slow Pentium II versions would be great to run mapping and GPS software on. They look tough-as!! They are cheap too... US$240-ish.

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I don't have one personally, but there are of a couple of them in use in UG heavy equipment workshop where I work. Imagine the average mechanics workshop, with a whole heap of dump trucks and front end loaders, loads of dirt, grease and crud, temperature range of 0-47, and a bunch of rough mechanics and fitters. So far they are holding up pretty well in what is a very harsh environment for electronics. I think they would do fine in the average 4WD.

Are they USA made? Possible word of caution from my experience.

I purchased from eBay a magnificent Toshiba Satellite laptop 17" widescreen, mainly for photos when travelling. It was sold as a fully refurbished and repacked by Toshiba, ex demo model with 3 months Toshiba Warranty. Through the same seller, i purcahsed a 2 year commercial warranty. I did not know until i got the laptop that it was a US model. When i had problems writing to cd, i sent it to an authorised Toshiba warranty repairer, who told me he'd ascertained that being a US model, it would need to go back to USA (at my expense) for any warranty repairs. It turned out that it was just fussy about brand of cd so that problem easily solved.

After i lost my home computer (motherboard, hard drive and all my data) i set up my laptop to continue - then the motherboard (still don't know about hard drive and my data) went on the Toshiba. I have called on the Australian Warranty Co - but will have to wait for ages for the repairer to get a replacement motherboard from the US. Hope it all gets sorted before we go away. i think the failure in the laptop is a rare event, as the eBay seller sells lots of these computers and the warranties with this Co, as the warranty Co said when finding it is a US model "where did this computer come from?" Still waiting and hoping to get it fixed, as it is a beaut computer for what i want, and it cost a lot of $$$s even though a considerable saving on buying the local equivalent new. And i still love shopping on eBay.

Motherhen

Guys,

They look the bee's knees BUT when they break down...parts are an issue. The defence forces used these units and have recently updated them all hence probably why they are on ebay. i work for the company that serviced these units. Not the best treated of units going around. They are a ruggedised (sp?) unit and would be great for the 4wd. All I am saying is be cautious!!! There are better units than these around somewhere!

Scott

We have the latest one ( cf 18) running in a fertiliser spreader truck that operates in the dust and over rough ground. As well as 240 volts , it will run on 12 volts via a replicator that has a ball type mount and all the connections to it. When you want to pull it out you unscrew 2 thumb screws and pull it out. After 2 years of constrant work we have had no problems with it. We also run oziexplorer on it as well