Buying choices.

I am a Wireless ISP, and am looking at replacing my current CF-72 with something that boots up in a little less than 5 minutes! I'm looking at two laptops right now.

I'm hoping to squeeze an Ubiquity XR9 900MHz wireless mini-pci card in there. It is the standard width, but is 2.55" long. So please keep this in mind. I don't mind cutting the case/plastic parts to make it fit, or even removing CD/floppy, but if it runs into the HDD or ram... This is the single most important item to me, followed by ram, cpu.

CF-48 for $329
1.5Ghz PENTIUM M CENTRINO
768MB Ram
I like the speed of this processor, and the battery run time, and the screen size. I think I'll miss the carry handle a lot though.

CF-29 for $499
Pentium M at 1.2GHz
768MB Ram
As I understand, this is the same cpu arch with the intel wireless missing? So maybe I'll get the same cool running and battery life? I love the ruggedness, 1.5 vs 1.2 GHz does not bother me too much, but what is it upgradeable too?

So what are your thoughts? Can I mod the XR9 in there?

 

I just found another interesting machine.

CF-72 for 175
P4 at 1.8GHz
512 Ram
No HD
Can't tell about CDRom
Battery life will prob be fairly short with a P4 running at that speed.

I should say that the XR9 does not fit my current CF-72. It runs into the CPU cooler. So this machine is kinda out.

Also, What was the rim card used for? I'm guessing the existing rim antenna will be perfect for my 912 Mhz mini-pci card.

Thanks!

Lawrence

 

P4 at 1.8GHz ---- Upgradable to 2.6Ghz pentium M
512 Ram ----- 256 on board upgradeable ddr ram to 1.24 total
No HD------ caddy w/o hard drive used about $90
Can't tell about CDRom---- Cheap about $30 used
Battery life will prob be fairly short with a P4 running at that speed.---- Very short life small capacity battery ,hard to find a good used replacement
I should say that the XR9 does not fit my current CF-72. It runs into the CPU cooler. So this machine is kinda out. --- yes same issue cooler is slightly higher
Also, What was the rim card used for? I'm guessing the existing rim antenna will be perfect for my 912 Mhz mini-pci card. ----- Don't know for sure what the frequency was on rim
Your current cf-72 shares the ac adapter,battery,optical drive, hard drive caddy with this mk-5 model
Last point on the later models, most are a touch screen and the screen is not as bright as the non-touchscreen

The cf-29 has a nice bright screen its the best choice , the cf-48 had a high rate of screen backlight failures
Alex

 

Wow thanks!

I just spent an hour hacking and DID get the XR9 to fit on the bottom of the mobo with the mmcx connectors showing thru 2 small holes underneath. Is this same hack going to work on the 29?

Would you go with the 72 and upgrade the CPU for a total of $325 (I have caddy and everything already) Or the 29 for $500?

I'm assuming that the 2.6Ghz pentium M would get me decent battery life?

And what is the 1.2GHz Pentium M upgradable to?

Thanks for all you help. This is a great place!

 

Lawrence


I had a longer than standard wi-fi card in my cf-29 but I am not up to date on the 900mhz card , there are quite a few members here that have used upgraded cards, so someone might speak up on clearance issues

The standard built-in wi-fi antenna's on the cf-29 have great reception ,but that is at 2.4Ghz I don't know on the 900mhz that the xr9 is running at

I stated the battery life will be poor on the cf-72 because of the original capacity and age of the battery

The cf-29's processer is not upgradable

And yes this is a great place


Alex

 

THe 2.5" card will probably not fit in the CF-29... I just measured... There is EXACTLY 2.5" betweeen the connector and the back of the laptop. The card slot is too close to the edge to make it work I would think. But it is so close you probably won't know until/unless you buy it.

When you say you drilled holes in the bottom to make it fit... Do you mean the bottom of the laptop?

 

OK, Here is what I did to fit the Ubiquity XtremeRange 900MHz card in. I am using the RIM antenna plus I have the external mmcx connectors on the back. The next one I do will have smaller, neater holes! I also installed a Ubiquity XtremeRange 2.4GHz card on the top of the mobo.

For anyone looking at a long range wifi card, the XR2 is THE card. I have several links in my network that are 15 -16 miles with 3 MB/s throughput, and tower to tower I have one link 37 miles with 30 MB/s throughput. That is with 24DBi antennas of course. The XR9 is better yet as it is truly non line of sight, but it is not compatible with Wifi.

Now, I am wanting an internal linux compatible GPS. I have the rim card board, as I heard somewhere that that would help with installing GPS? How does this work? Do I pull serial off this board somewhere? Or should I hack into the USB and use a USB GPS mouse or similar?

 

I don't think CF72's aren fully-rugged systems so you also need to decide if you want (or need) to go fully-rugged (ie. CF28/29/30 or CF 18/19 style) or stick with a semi-rugged system.

I'd say that CF29 you mentioned is a good starting point for the fully-rugged variety. I have a CF28 and like it a lot, so CF29 (or even CF30) models are going to be better again than 28's and if you like Windows for an OS and would like to run Vista, a 28 is probably not a good choice so a 29 or 30 are better.

The major advantage with CF18 and 19 systems compared to CF28/29/30's is smaller size as they are tablet-style systems, though the 10" display limits usability if the graphics side of things is important to you. The easier portability and lower weight are also things to consider.

In the CF28's the RIM card supports a Sierra cellular data modem which for most people is useless (especially here outside the USA), though I'm sure it has a lot of military-style uses. Dunno about RIM cards for other models, but in the CF28's the RIM card itself is used to mount aftermarket GPS modules.

Craig.

 

Thanks sunrk, I run Linux, and you can make take the latest hardware to run decently, or, you can have a responsive computer on 700 MHz, I tend to get caught up in the higher end distros that need some horsepower to run nicely though!

You guys don't know how badly I want to be able to hose off my muddy laptop, kick it under the seat, and dangle it from a rope under me while I climb 1200 feet up a tower, but beggars can't be choosers! I reality, I just need a machine to run a specific application to configure my routers, and house a special mini-pci wireless card. It needs to have a carry handle, be slightly drop and bang resistant, and not one of those machines you carry in a padded bag, set it carefully on a cooler pad on a table.... Water resistance and running it over with my truck is not a need at this point! A larger than 10" LCD is important because the config software I use has a LOT of options on each page, and dragging windows around just to see the other end is no fun!

I think I made the right decision in buying a mark5 7200 and upgrading the CPU to 2.6GHz , 1G Mem, using a 16GB SSD, and adding LED backlighting. All in all I'll have about 400 in it. Well, I guess the XR9 wireless adds 129, but I won't count it in the laptop price!

Could you point me to a howto on using the rim card PCB to add GPS? I've searched but can't find anything about it.

 

Lawrence,
There is a little information here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=189644
You should plan a little time for reading.
CAP