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    CF-27 questions

    Discussion in 'Panasonic' started by phider, Nov 18, 2008.

  1. phider

    phider Newbie

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    I'm getting a CF-27. I found one on craigslist for $50, including all parts (battery, HDD, power cord). Anyway, there's a good chance that the battery is bad (~1 hr), so I'll probably get one on (why does nobody ever say this word? is it cursed or something?). What's the chance that I'd get a good, working like new battery? Also, I want to install a wireless card, but I want to be able to keep the cover closed over the PCMCIA card. Is there such thing as a card that will let me do this? (and for that matter, will it kill the reception?) Also, it has XP installed on it. If the touchscreen doesn't work, is it easy to find/install drivers? Oh, and is it possible to install a 2nd battery in the CD/floppy bay? If it is I'd really like to do this.

    edit: Oh, I forgot... if I want to upgrade the HDD, will there be any negative effect on durability/ruggedness? And also, this goes back to the question about drivers, as I'd have to re-install windows on the new HDD...
     
    phider, Nov 18, 2008
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  2. gravitar

    gravitar Notebook Deity

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    people sell CF27 batts on ebay all the time. I've got a stack of them that charge, but i haven't evaluated exactly how long they last. maybe someday i'll get around to doing that. If you want one "like new", you should probably focus on the rebuilt ones.

    I've never tried internal wifi on the 27.. a small number of them had a third (internal) pcmcia slot, and the palmrest lid is plastic, so it might not be very hard to mount internal antennas. You could do something similar using the external pcmcia slots.
     
    gravitar, Nov 18, 2008
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  3. phider

    phider Newbie

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    So, about the battery, how hard would it be to just rebuild one myself? I'm guessing it would be a lot cheaper than buying an already-rebuilt one.

    edit: Also, I still want to know about the 2nd-battery-in-the-media-bay thing... and, when I decided to get this, I didn't even know they made non-touchscreen models. So, just by statistics, what's the chance mine's a touchscreen? (yes, I realize I could just wait 2 days to find out, but I'm impatient :p)
     
    phider, Nov 18, 2008
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  4. Rob

    Rob Toughbook Aficionado

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    Gravitar may give you one for free :p : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=317613
     
    Rob, Nov 18, 2008
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  5. Alex

    Alex Super Moderator

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    I rebuilt a cf-25 battery pack once.
    The run time was not what I expected

    The problems with the older toughbook batteries are

    Even new batteries that have not been used will deteriorate with time

    The cf-29 cf-74 cf-18 and cf-19 and newer model toughbook batteries are still Ok

    If needed I would take a chance and have a battery rebuilder change the cells
    There are other posts on this forum about the mixed results of the battery rebuilders.

    Or take a chance on used batteries , if they only last an hour , get 3 of them :)


    Alex
     
    Alex, Nov 19, 2008
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