Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
I recently picked up a CF-30 on ebay at an amazing deal ($1,750.00 shipped). It's a CF-30CTQAZBM with touch screen and came with the DVD CDRW drive. First thing I did was upgrade the 512 ram to 4 gigs, then I did a little research on SSD solid state drives. I soon found out that the single layer drives are a hell of a lot faster than the multi layer drives. I picked up a kind of small 32GB Super Talent SSD SATA drive with metal case at a good deal as well ($240 on ebay) and a 32GB Express PCMCIA card to store files. The 32GB drive is plenty big for XP, needed software, drivers and basic stuff. I keep important files that I'm working on the main drive and keep duplicate back up copies and regular files, pics and other things on the Express card.
My CF-30 boots Windows XP Prof in about 17 seconds and shuts down in about 10 seconds. The SSD drive has given me better battery life since the CF-30 already great on battery life.
The sling case made for the CF laptops are awesome and look like SWAT gear for your laptop. They're also set up for just enough space to bring all the stuff you need without wasted space and extra weight.
As a side note, I've tested out CF-29 and CF-28 batteries on my CF-30, and they work, but CF-30 batteries will not work on the 28 or 29 because of the little square part sticking out of the side.
I have to say that the Toughbook computers are by far the best computers for a mobile professional ever made. I've owned about 15 various Dell laptops that I've killed or sold off over the years, quite a few giant laptops made by HP and Toshiba that both failed after a year of use due to not being durable enough to hold up to the abuse of everyday use. My last laptop was backed over by my Ford F700 freight truck and I didn't find out about it until I pulled the laptop out at the trade show I was brining it to...needless to say, the Dell was turned into a U shape.
Since then, I have had 4 CF-28, 2 CF-29 and now a CF-30 toughbook. Panasonic knows how to make a computer that I no longer have to fear losing my valuable files and information due to lack of protection...I also back up all my stuff on several drives just in case
While I'm not an expert on these things by a long shot, I've done some testing over the years and would be happy to share what's worked and failed for me over the years. (kind of like the Billionton bluetooth adapter for CF books that lack built in bluetooth and let the PCMCIA door close).
It looks like you all have a pretty good forum here and I'm glad to be a member.
Joe
CF-30 Project with cool SSD Idea
Discussion in 'Panasonic' started by joecox2, May 8, 2008.
