CF-29 refurb deal

Tigerdirect and others have the CF-29 for a great deal, starting at 329.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...=17&sel=Detail;98_266_10031_11029,Mfr;Mfr_649

i have been considering the deal but after checking it out found that the battery would probably need replacing, and there was no provision for recovery ie disks or partition.

Has anyone bought the tigerdirect deal and is my research correct on this? The one for 369 looks the best as it has 1 gig of ram and DVD.

thanks

 

You really ought to consider one with a touch screen. That is a very handy feature for many applications. Lack of a touchscreen lowers the value significantly.

 

Unless you are like me and HATE fingerprints all over your screen. I purposely looked for a Toughboo without the feature. I had a CF-M34 with it and never used it. I can see where it would be handy in a vehicle for a program like GPS, but it was not worth it to me.

Everyone is different.

 

i can take it or leave it, touch is not important but tough is for me. Initially was hoping for a good battery and good recovery. Tech said no partition recovery on the refurb.

i do have generic XP pro disks, but have read that drivers are a special concern with toughbook; is this true? Do they need to be loaded different than a normal pc?

 

There must of been a boatload of CF-29s just released off-lease, because those same deals are available all over the internet. You can find the same models / features available at circuitcity.com, on E-Bay and other electronics resellers.

I don't know about the CF-29 screen, but on the CF-30s, the touchscreen has a higher NIT value than the non-touch model (it's brighter for daylight readability) - so even if you don't use the touchscreen, you might like the additional brightness.

 

The CF-29 has the same NIT value either way.... The CF-30 Touch moves up to 1000 NIT with Touch over the 500 NIT of the CF-29 and CF-30 non-touch. Personally... The 1000 NIT is overkill... The only time I use it is at high noon outside.... And even then t really isn't needed... But it is a nice feature.

Personally... I think you can do better with a little homework and a studous eye on ebay or even our B/S/T forum here. There are occasional deals here that whump ebay.

Don't worry about the recovery disks... They are easily obtained.... Worry about the stuff you can't replace! The CPU, Touchscreen, etc. I'd go for as much as you can afford from a REPUTABLE seller! Check their feedback and make sure they have either sold Toughbooks or other PCs or high dollar items. We get a lot of people on here AFTER they have bought their Toughbooks and they report how the seller ripped them off or it wasn't as described. Take your time and buy right.

You found the right "Toughbook Family" to help you no matter what problems you come up against or mods you'd like to do to it.

Just please don't buy a painted one.....

 

thanks for the replies, this still seems like a good deal for an experienced user

 

Plus one on this! In less then a month mine is well on it way to being ready for serious duty! Thanks in large part to the folks of this forum!

Now to get back to work on my camo paint job...

 

FYI...circuitcity.com, compusa.com, and tigerdirect.com are all the same company now. Systemax owns them all...

 

I recently purchased a CF-29 MK3 for $170 shipped. The only things not included were battery and power supply. I had a new battery in the box and several power supplies. I did take out the 4200 rpm HDD and replaced it with a 7200 rpm and also got a stick of 512 ram for $35 (new!) It is a 1.4, but with the 768 ram and that 7200 rpm HDD (thanks again Rob), it is a screamer! I agree with Rick, keep your eyes open and you will find a deal better than the one you have discussed.

 

That explains the amazing similarities in their offerings...

 

Yep mystery solved on that one. The ads for toughbooks were identical which got me wondering. Tiger told me that they shipped the stuff from their warehouse to fill the other company's orders.

The battery for me is key, as the toughbook has everything i need in a notebook computer. i may try calling Tiger and ask if they may offer them with new batts in the future; dream on perhaps.

The other thing is drivers, how big of a hassle is it to get drivers for these things, and is there some special way that drivers are loaded onto the toughbook?

thanks

 

Not a bad price for mk3's.

 

Update:

compusa.com is offering CF-29H3 models (Pentium M 1.4GHZ, 13.3 Touchscreen & a/b/g WiFi) starting at $319.99 with free shipping.

Not the best price to us cheapskates; but for a guy looking for a starter unit with major chain warranty, not bad.

mnem<~~~ skint ~~~<<<

 

Yah if you add the Microsoft bing cash back to that this item becomes more enticing. You also get 3 months warranty, or more if you so choose...

 

Yea I got mine from Tiger. Came with one battery and the power supply. No recovery or driver disk. Still have not been able to get the touch screen to work. It would respond to touch but do strange things, updated the driver (or thought I did) now it does nothing. All else has been fine.

 

Did not know that, thanks for the heads up.

 

If you read the stickies at the top you will find links to all the drivers and how best to install them.

 

Just an FYI, these machines are comming from PlanITROI... Look at the warranty info on these...

Their is a guy on here (Toughbook Exchange) that works for this company... I've PM'ed him about this deal and in the past and he NEVER responds or calls me back... (He's lost business from me because of it)...

Also in July/August of 2007, this company bought HUNDREDS of CF-50's & 51's from my company to re-sell (Proton Computers Inc.)

 

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/laptopdeals4lesss/

his laptops are all from Planitroi, properly referbished with all port covers, the 3 months warranty, restore partition, new COA's all setup and all working! The batteries are warrantied for 1 hour, mine was a standard bluetab and runs for over 3 hours, which was a nice surprise!

Jay is very friendly and I cant reccomend his service enough! if anyone goes get one of his machines, say Matt from the UK reccomended him!

 

I used to work with Scott and he was great... he doesn't work for the company any more... As of now I've called them and left messages and they never return my calls so I don't know what's going on