Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 User Review Discussion

Panasonic has been making fully rugged U.S. military notebooks for a number of years, catering to those that need to take their computer into some of the most extreme environments in the world. Recently, Panasonic introduced the fully rugged Toughbook CF-30. It features an incredibly bright 13.3" XGA screen, a low voltage Intel Core Duo processor and enough durability to survive anything a consumer can throw at it.

Read the full content of this Article: Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 User Review

 

Wow, that's 8.2lbs of manly laptop. Having a 500-nit screen is just so nice, I experienced that with the Dell Latitude ATG D620.

Say, you don't actually work for the CIA do you?

 

Nice to see a review of a ToughBook!

 

Nice Review! My mom almost needs one of those based on the way she treats or rather, trashes her notebooks. Maybe a Toughbook Y5 or Y7?

My old 486 Toshiba Satellite T2400CS has no vents or fans either, but it wasn't a "rugged" model (Even though it survived being dropped by me after I was shot with an Airsoft gun, lol). It did not get hot, although the HD was rather loud.

LMAO!!

 

Thanks all.

As the boys at Langley would say, I can neither confirm nor deny

 

Interesting -- and I thought the most rugged laptop is the one you got from work .

 

nice laptop. (but i prefer the tablet version).

nice wallpaper + theme. (any link to download it?)

 

Interesting, but why buy something which is so expensive and will cause an injury if you drop it on your foot?

John

 

you wouldnt even have a foot after that

 

*chuckles* now you just need to convince them to let you do the 50 cal sniper rifle test on it...

...

No, I'm not kidding...


Welcome to the wonders of panasonics "Fully rugged" line... It terrifies me, and yet delights me.

Now if I could only afford one...

 

I believe the fully rugged notebooks cater to an extremely small nich market, so very few people are going to be ineterested in this type. If you just want a rugged notebook for everyday use, the CF-30 isn't the most practicle, instead, I would highly recommend the CF-74 which is considered semi rugged. Its lighter than the 30, is based on Santa Rosa, touchscreen, DVD drive both come standard as well as a "cheaper" price point.

If you're like me who spends a good amount of time at construction sites, going out to the wilderness like camping, skiing, general outdoors, than there is none out there better suited to the tasks than the CF-30.

 

I believe you can get it at deviantart. look in the technical category. its been a while so I don't remember the specifics.

 

i wonder why panasonic don't us SSD drive instead? surely SSD drive is more suited for this type of laptop. although drive space may become a problem.

 

I'm really surprised to see all of the dedication and quality that goes into making a Toughbook after reading this article. Kind of makes me think that Hummer should give up its slogan, "Like No Other" and hand it over to Panasonic on a totally unrelated note, the professors here (most of the Science & Engineering ones) now use the smaller sibling (I think its a 12.1", the one with the flip up CD-cover like the old discmans). Granted they're not as extreme as the CF30, they still are solid. (I really think some companies should use Roundpads more often )

I"m a little surprised at the mono speaker too and its quality

 

ik don't understand the appeal. it's an insanely expensive laptop with ****ty specs. im not buying the sales pitch either; besides a "construction site" (although you would think it would cater to a small office).. the general outdoors is not a place for laptops period.

 

It's amazing to hear that they break 1000 of these notebooks during testing.

 

Many of them are used for non civil services. Therefore they have this special design - rugged, not the latest technology, look does not matter and the reliability - that's what matters to these people, nothing else.
This is one of the reasons why the ancient serial port has a separate door. Serial port is still used a lot for professional equipment - therefore it can be the only needed cable connection to the notebook, while it is running on battery power.

 

Yea, this laptops aren't really consumer products, that is for sure.

There are several of them floating around where I work so I see them pretty regularly. Pretty interesting notebooks to see in person.

Anyway, nice review.

 

I'm also curious why they used a standard HDD rather then SSD. With all the trouble with the gel that they put into it I would think its easier to just toss in a SSD. SSDs are obviously made for industrial type of work so it would of fit in nicely in one of these.

Seems like its the step next if Thinkpads aren't tough enough for you Not to mention if you need to work outside.

Good review btw.

 

I agree with all those who pointed out the obvious, replace the standard hard drive with an SSD, and you can get rid of a whole bunch of those contraptions that serve to protect the mechanical hard drive. That way you can also make the notebook thinner and lighter. Sure a 64GB SSD costs an arm and a leg and your first born right now. But for the clientele targeted by this industrial grade Toughbook, I don't think cost is going to be an issue for them.

In fact, if we replaced all the mechanical hard drives with SSD's, I think all our consumer grade notebooks would be shock resistant. Although resistance against water immerse is an entirely different story. Cool!

 

Nice review.
I'm wondering, where did you get the wallpaper that is shown in your review?
Thx

 

you're all right. SSD would be a logical choice for a notebook such as this. Obvious problem is price point and storage. SSD is just not mainstream enough right now, but Panasonic has informed me that they have plans to offer SSDs down the road for its obvious benefits.

Even without the HDD cage, this model is not likely to get slimmer as that is not the selling point. The size of the battery and the use of multiple daughter cards on top of the motherboard will have the Toughbook maintain its weight and heft. Again, Panasonic DOES have slimmer models for those seeking ruggedness and more svelte design.

 

my jaw dropped after seeing that crazy hard drive contraption

i can't believe there's even a heating coil.....

that screen is mad

 

I guess for the unique rugged design and features Panasonic is able to charge hefty prices for this laptop. But the price is in the same neighborhood as top gaming notebooks with a lot more power...

 

nice review.. and interesting laptop.

 

Nice to see a tough book reviewed, built like a tank.

Don’t you get the sudden urge to just smash it against the floor or beat it with a hammer ? I certainly do after looking at those photos (that thing is really asking for it) .

 

Wow, now THAT is really some notebook . . . .

Nice review! Enjoyed it . . .

 

don't see this type of reviews often here, thanx.

 

The comments suggesting what spec one could get for a similar price are amusing me. Sure maybe a gaming laptop has better specs for the same money, but can it last 7 hours on battery and survive being dropped and trodden on in a sand storm?

Just like saying "why buy a military Jeep when you can get a nice Bentley for the same money?"

 

I agree with the above sentiment and here's an analogy I like to use. A Hummer H1 costs over $100k, its big, its slow, its noisey, it has a crude interior that looks like its from the 1980's, its cramp and only seats 4, it has an insatiable appetite for gas. For the same amount of money, you could get a top of the line porsche that will run circles around it or get 2 luxury SUVs. But it can do things none of the the others can, so for those that are looking to do those said things, they will pay top dollars for it. Some think its worth it and some don't. But for those that want to do those things, only an H1 can provide it.

Another note on the battery life:

I went to bed last night at 12 while downloading a movie via WiFi and running battery only. Download shows it would take about 2 hours to finish. I set the screen to turn off after 2 hours of inactivity but not to go into sleep mode. I woke up at 7:30 this morning, moved the mouse to turn the screen back on and it had 30% charge left. That's one helluva battery!

 

That is amazing battery life, is that with the modular bay battery or just with its single battery?

 

That is with the default battery. I don't have the bay battery.

 

WOW, thats a reall laptop ))

 

And you might play some old games on it without any problem.

 

Outrigger,

I'm interested in purchasing this laptop. Where did you buy your unit with your particular specs? Did you buy the base unit and configured it later or did you have the seller do the configuration?

I looked at 3 online retailers and their configuration options don't necessarily match yours. Any insight you can provide would be most helpful.

Thanks in advance

 

He bought his own RAM & HDD I believe.
Portable One sells Toughbooks. Same goes for Euclid Computers.

 

Hey folks,
I own one and have dealt with many law enforcement and government agencies that buy them. All I can say is that I can throw it from a moving car at 35mph and it still works. It always boots, never bluescreens and was a prime replacement for my last Panasonic CF-73. BTW it also comes in handy to heat your lap in a cold New England morning and as body armor in a pinch.........

And to Pinkwabbit and Outrigger, I completely agree with the battery life remarks. Just use the battery recalibration utility occasionally.

CV

 

Has anyone purchased or dealt with Rapid Access, a Panasonic reseller? I can't find anything on them via Google. Their price for the Toughbook 30 is on par with Euclid but they allow customization, which is what I want.

Any insight would be great. Thanks.

 

I purchased mine from comparemaster.com, but I urge you not to buy from them because of horrible customer service experience.

I purchased a base model with 80GB 5400rpm HDD, 512MB RAM and no optical drive.

I purchased the RAM, HDD and an optical drive seperately from other vendors.

Upgrading these components myself was extremely easy and without hassel. However, if you want things like fingerprint reader, you would have to go to a place where they would customize it for you.

 

For those who still doubt its usefulness, I can say they are doing a great job for those of us in the Army.

I've had one of these and some of their older siblings too. I still have my old CF-48 (semi-rugged, P III). I've taken one with me to Iraq twice and several other 3rd world countries too. I've never seen one die. The first time my unit deployed we had a mix of just about every brand laptop available. Over the course of a year, over 75% of the non-toughbooks failed somehow. None of the toughbooks ever did. The 2nd time around we only took toughbooks and didn't have any problems.

Panasonic used to have a picture on their website that showed one that had taken a bullet for a soldier and an accompanying memo. The story was that he had it stowed between his leg and the door of the Humvee (non-armor plated type). Someone shot at him through the door and the toughbook stopped it. The picture showed an AK round that had penetrated the motherboard compartment, but stopped before coming out the keyboard. The screen was still intact. This was for a for an old semi-rugged style that they don't carry anymore (CF-48), but I would have thought that they would have kept the picture up.

They are definitely not for everyone, but for those of us that need something that can operate at 150+ degrees and in the middle of a sandstorm, these are a God send. I could probably buy 10 cheap $500 specials, but I'd rather have 1 toughbook - it will outlast them all.

 

Does anyone know if these are compatible with the the CF-29 docking stations?

I have 8 CF-29's currently in service for my fire department as MDT's, and I'm looking to replace/upgrade a couple as well as buy a couple new ones this year. If these ( CF-30's ) won't mate with the CF-29 docking stations... well... I'm screwed...

The 950 graphics would be very much apreciated over the CF-29's graphics. We run ArcGIS software for mapping and GPS, and it's a graphics HOG!

BTW, great review and thanks in advance.

 

The docking stations will only work if you have the same antenna configurations as far as from the old units to the new ones you might get.. You just have to be careful, because they have the dual antenna RF pass-through and the single, or maybe you don't have any on your current ones.. You just have to match the PC to the dock, if you want to eliminate the extra cost of new docks.. I know from my own experience that my 28, 29, and 30 will fit in the same dock.. Just my personal experience...