CF-31 with 8GB RAM Win 7, 2.5GHZ processor and Blueray!

Okay....


I made up that entire header, but I did it for a reason.....one, to get everybody excited, and two to get your attention for this question;

Does anyone have any information about the next generation CF-30/31 Toughbook and what it might be equipped like? '

I am trying to decide whether or not to sell my Mark III in preparation for the new machine if it's worth it, and if it's coming out soon. Dates anyone?

My fantasy machine would be;

Blueray burner
1TB HDD
HD TouchScreen
Emissive Keyboard
Latest WiFi
EarPhone plug/outlet on the FRONT!!!!!
8GB of RAM
Win7 64bit
and a processor that is so fast that you would have to bolt it down to the damn desk to keep it in place.

 

I bump my message and raise you a message

 

From the rumors/whispers/propaganda that we have heard from some VERY informed sources, I would not expect a new model within the next 6-12 months. There may be some upgrades to the current CF-30, but an all new model is probably still a year or two away.

 

Why anybody would want bluray in a laptop at this point is still beyond me. Yes, it would be nice to have a format that will be supported for quite a few more years, but right now it's not very practical (being that bluray discs cost more, and the benefits on a small sized and small resolution screen are lost).

I would rather that the OEM make my laptop $300+ cheaper.

 

Modly

Money is a factor in some of our decisions

I waited for blank recordable cd’s to come down to $5 each before I purchased my first cd writer

I waited for blank recordable dvd’s to come down to $10 each before I purchased my first dvd writer

And I waited for 25GB blank blu ray disks to come down to $10 before I purchased my blu ray multi drive

I am usually one of the first people with new upgrades
It does cost more to be among early adopters of new technology

Examples

My first 60GB Hitachi 7200 rpm hard drive cost me $250
My first Dvd writer was just over $225 for the bare drive
My blu ray writer was $200 for the bare drive

Alex

 

Sounds Great, like $10,000.00 great,

 

this thread is to me as the father is to the son in this dialogue:

Father: "Son: Santa Clause is coming tomorrow, all your dreams will com true"

Son: "OH really?"

Father: "HAHAHA, no son, I was just kidding. Santa Clause is fake. No presents for you!!! HAHAHA"

Son: :cry:

 

Bono
The beauty of the CF-30 and its predecessors is that they are rugged field machines with low power consumption components like the 13.3 inch monitor, smaller slower hard drive etc.
Low power consumptions gives the benefit of long run time on the battery which is what you need in a field machine.

Adding all the stuff you suggest will defeat the strong points of the existing design.
Are you sure you really want a CF-30 model? The semi rugged models have larger screens etc and may be more in line with what you want.

Sincerely

 

Nice dreams, but far from reality.

The technology is not anywhere close to get HD Touch Screens made for durability.

Not too many current Toughbook owners have much time to watch Blue-Ray, and Panasonic knows that.

Headphone jacks are in the rear for the purpose of a docking station, which a very large majority of Toughbook owners have. LEO, Fire, etc in the vehicles.

Emmissive keyboard? Is your CF-30 not?

When the CF-30 MK3 was introduced it did have the latest Intel Card.

8GB's of ram you will get, along with the ability to use W7 64 Bit.

You might have a better chance of getting your dream machine from HP, minus the Toughness

 

We all know that Panasonic Toughbooks are not bleeding edge for a reason, reliability. Panasonic is not going to put the reputation of the Toughbook series on the line to utilize bleeding edge technology. I am all for technology, but think about this, 64 bit systems have been around for a while, as well as 64 bit operating systems, but how many native 64 bit applications are out there? I'll bet they can be listed on one hand. Every thing that needs to be done with a toughbook can be done quiet well in 32 bits and Panasonic knows it and like someone said until a large part of their market demands it, it aint gonna happen.

There is nothing that my Department does with an in car computer that can't be done with a 32 bit machine.

Sorry to ramble on but I was thinking about this as I was playing with the new Motorola 930 that is in my new patrol car.

 

You are incorrect about the headphone jack. The docking station (which I also have) does not connect into the headphone jack. It connects via a large multi pin parallel connector. The headphone jack could be put up front.

My CF-30 did not have the emissive keyboard. I added it from Ebay.

I don't want to watch blue ray, I want the data storage. Watching it would be nice, but not needed by any stretch. And if they "knew" that we didn't have time to watch movies, why is the DVD player pretty much standard on the Mark III?

I'm just sayin'......

 

Your right about the headphone jack, I stand corrected.

 

1. If the headphone jack is in the front you can't put the laptop on your lap. It will break off the jack.

2. We need DVDs to install software, OSs... etc etc. (DVDs are more then for just movies, we can't say the same about blueray)

my 4 cents.
Dominik

 

Put the headphone jack behind the handle, or in a recessed point with a little rubber plug for weather. No breaky on lappy.. Problem solved.

 

I agree with pretty much everyone else... If you want an Alienware laptop... Buy an Alienware laptop. These are made for ruggedness and durability, form and function. A jack up front means yet another port cover to break off.... Then there may be wires sticking out the front AND out the back.... that is an invitation to disaster. Mod yours.... A extra AV jack would be just about the simplest of all mods.

There is a method to their madness

 

Maybe old news, but I did not see it before: the Toughbook Download Center has, among other things, the operating instructions for the upcoming CF-31, including a whole bunch of details about the machine: webcam, HDMI, up to 8GB memory (yay!), and a fan (ugh!).

 

OMG, you are right!

When will they officially announce it?

GOOD FIND.

It does appear to have a fan, and HDMI... ...

if the fan is true I will cry

 

There putting and I5 and a radeon hd 5650 in this guy? This toughbook is going to be quite the machine, i wonder if its going to be any larger than the older models

 

13 pounds, that makes it heavier, I believe.

but still... fans... I might as well get a cf52

 

I would think that modding in a front headphone jack would be a piece of cake!

Speed = Heat = FAN.... Hmmmmm.....


Looks cool though...

 

Yeah fans suck, but if you want speed and graphics what ya gonna do. It will be interesting to see if they use an off the shelf fan or come up with something really cool.

 

i think dual gpus is a good idea. one performance card and a intel 4500 for instance. and a fan isn't an issue if it only runs when the performance card is in use.

 

Was the operation temperature of the older TB also in such a small range from 5 to 30 degree?

 

It looks pretty much the same to me, except they put the internals in different places. I can't decide if I like the slew of flaps on the right side or like how the CF-30 is with 1 door.
I can't wait to see how they designed the fan part. I betcha they are going to make it to when the fan is not running it is somehow seals itself. This way they can still claim waterproof, though only up to a certain temp or you have to manually turn the fans off. This is going to be interesting for sure hoow they play this out.

I say the MK2 will be USB 3.0, which I will wait for before I get a new one. I am kinda suprised they are not waiting or didn't put this in it. I imagine people do alot of transfering with the Toughbook.

How did they keep the wieght the same? Interesting.

I just want to play and get at one. I will have to get up to BuyTough.com as soon as they start selling them.

 

I just noticed something..... They show the fan on the left side/above the where the battery is. However, the fan intake is on the bottom on the right side underneath the power switch. That makes more sense now. I say they designed some special piping system for the air to flow thru. Wouldn't that be the cats if that thing could suck air/moisture and still work!

 

The problem I have found with most rugged gear that is available on the civilian market is that it becomes popular with the wrong people. They want it to impress their friends back at the Insurance Company Home Office just what a tough guy they are while kayaking through the National Park on the weekends.

But the same ruggedness they desire makes the item less capable then other more mainstream items and they complain to the manufacturers, who in turn chase a larger market and make design consessions that compromise the original intent of the gear.

Pretty soon the "new and improved" model is consumer grade junk, but it looks and sounds tough and rugged and image is all this type really care for.

I hope that we do not see this happening in the Toughbook.

 

Nice!

First thoughts:

Core i5 processor
802.11n wireless
11.5 hours battery life from the main battery (using Windows 7)

If you read the fine print, the battery life drops from 11.5 to 7.5 hours when you enable the Radeon HD 5650 discrete graphics chipset.

 

I guarantee that it will have some sort of heat-exchanger.

The main chassis will be sealed and a heat-pipe will carry excess heat out to the ventilation channel.

I believe that's how they do it on the Dell ruggedised systems.

 

I agree 100%. I hope they don't try to keep up to the technology race with everyone else. There is a fine line they must walk, it can't be easy.

I noticed the DVD Drive is made by TEAC, interesting.

They also designed the recovery/installation disc for W7 to load in 20 minutes. They changed the order of when you add your personal info until after it has all been loaded.

The 11.5 hours is tested at 60 CD/M2, meaning almost all the way dim. I was wonering how they claim such a high # of hours on these. I have tried everything to achieve such #s on my CF-30MK3 and can't get close. Now I know why!!!

Look at us, we sound like kids at Xmas.

 

I have to say I am really disappointed with the fan. To me a fan is a point of failure. Especially in dusty or sandy environments, those fans won't hold up.

We have seen the cf30 being submersible... the cf31 probably won't be able to pull this off thanks to the fan.



Power consumption with the i5 alone should not have gone up, it should have gone down, that was the entire design principle. A fan should not be necessary. This deeply saddens me. The lack of fan was something that separated the CF30 from all other notebooks as well as all other tough books.

really sad : (

 

Does the Toughbook really need a discreet graphic card? I mean the display is only 1024 x 768. I don't plan on hooking a toughbook to my plasma thru the hdmi. I got an HTPC for that. or my xbox or my blu ray player. The fan is a weakness in my opinion. If it gets crudded up it will probably limit the cpu and disable the graphic card to prevent overheating I'm sure. But then your left with a CF-30 again (figuratively speaking). plus that channel is another nook for crap to accumulate in. Unless it has filters which will require cleaning....... and you know those fans will give out in dusty conditions. Hell in my shop I have to replace the fans on the PC every year or so they get all dusty and gummed up from coolant mist and dust. And this is with regular cleaning. They just burn up and stop working unless panasonic has some super fan I can probably expect the same, at least in my case.

I am interested in to see it maybe they will prove me wrong and make a kick- design.

 

Only to make use of the BluRay.

 

Max Resolution/External Display : 1280 × 768 dots/1280 × 1024 dots

Not exactly what I call HD quality; unless the secondary graphics are dedicated to the HDMI.

Hmmmmm...

I'm thinking they've designed the fan in there for use when the secondary graphics card is driving HD output to the HDMI port; I strongly suspect it is not necessary under any other circumstances. I bet if it fails or gets jammed up with dust or crud it ONLY disables the HD graphics. I'm not seeing Blu-Ray as standard, but it will probably be an available option.

Building a waterproof (or at least water resistant) fan wouldn't be too hard; as long as it is mounted outside the sealed hull, who cares if it gets water through that cooling duct? Water, air... it's all fluid.

I see they've kept the same 8.55AH battery pack as the CF30Mk3 (Did they actually change the batteries on the CF-30 mid-production, or is it just a higher capacity version on the Mk3?); but they're using the power pack from the CF-52. Is that a slim model compared to our usual bricks on the Full-Rugged models? Or maybe they needed to use it to get that 100W capacity it claims under full load w/charge...

I like the 4 USB & Gigabit Ethernet, plus they DID keep a Cardbus slot along with the ExpressCard slot and even a MODEM is still available...

I see a base RAM of 2GB, but only 1 slot for expansion. I wonder if that's 2GB soldered & 1 empty slot, or 2GB preinstalled and you have to toss it when you upgrade... probably the latter, as they claim up to 8GB & I have yet to see a 6GB module. I am really pleased that they FINALLY stepped into the 21st century & started using a Recovery Partition.

Well... I can see I'll be looking for one of these in a few years when they come off-lease.

mnem
Mmmmmmm... like buttah.

 

Please elaborate on this, I just simply can't see the fan as anything other then a point of failure.

Also the dedicated graphics card is an option. I wonder if not selecting it gets rid of the fan aswell.

 

It says this in the reference manual:

When the mounted memory capacity is 4 GB or less, Available Memory is 2 GB.
When the mounted memory capacity is more than 4 GB, Available Memory is 8 GB (3.25 GB for 32bit OS).

what does that mean?

Also it does seem as though one stick is not removable, looking the pictures.

 

If it's not NECESSARY to the operation of the laptop... if it's ONLY used for a NON-CRITICAL purpose(cooling the auxiliary video) then I see no reason to be worried about it, even if it does fail. A waterproof fan? we call that a PROPELLER. I've made hundreds of them... I'm sure the brains at Panasonic can make one too.

mnem
Free air.

 

sure, but what about dust?

 

OK, I'll bite... what about it?

mnem
Dusted.

 

won't it break the fan?

 

YES I feel the same way. Similar things have happened with many a good SUV and truck. Case in point Landcruiser. Went from super capable off road vehicle to freakin' mall cruiser with independent front suspension.

 

Does dust break the fan in a Dell laptop? Or the half-dozen fans in a modern desktop?

No... it MAY... after YEARS of service... CLOG up a fan... but in this case, if it were made OUTSIDE the sealed hull and made waterproof as I suggested... a quick shot with a garden hose would make short work of that.

Come on... periodic cleaning of your computer IS part of normal maintenance... I mean, sure you can dump a flowerpot out on top of a Toughbook, but you at LEAST have to shake off the dirt to be able to type on it or use the touchpad.

Bottom line is... Panasonic STILL has to be able to sell these to the Military... I have confidence that they can devise a cooling solution that's going to keep working in Afghanistan or Siberia and anyplace in between.

mnem
DeMil

 

mnementh, in my situation at least a fan is going to break. i don't know what it is the combination of coolant fluid and dust makes short work of fans in my pc's at work (2 years max, average 1 year. that includes periodic cleaning). That was the main reason for using my first CF-28 in the shop, no fan.

 

Again... as I said... I'm certain that Panasonic is NOT going to put the typical "Made in China" 29 cents each POS fan on a ToughBook fan like most MFRs use; I know for a FACT that fans exist that are sealed against liquid/corrosive atmosphere cuz I've INSTALLED them.

And if, as I suggested in my earlier post, it never gets used EXCEPT when driving the HD GPU... who gives a d@mn if it does fail? Just shut down that auxiliary video and go on about yer business until you can get it fixed.

Higher heat is the price of more powerful computers, and you can only make a passive heatsink so large before it's too big to put a handle on. Sooner or later fans WILL be necessary in Toughbooks just to stay on the same radar scope as the competition. If Panny doesn't make more powerful Toughbooks, they will get left in the dust.

Remember, the Generals who sign the requisition forms are consumers too, and if they don't get the goodies they want from Panasonic they'll spend our tax dollars with someone who will give it to them.

mnem
Realist.

 

We seem to agree that without the dedicated graphics card we don't need a fan.

so... when does a tough-book need dedicated graphics to run that tiny display? Never!

that makes the dedicated graphics unnecessary and such the fan itself as well. And to top it all off its only going to increase the price, and from what I have seen so far, they seem to be more expensive, at least 500.

 

Yeah but the improved graphics are for driving EXTERNAL graphics, i.e. projectors, large displays/TVs.

 

the internal graphics would do just fine, the only time the internal graphics will fail if you try to decode and/or upscale HD content.

For business there is still no need for dedicated graphics, I can drive a huge display just fine, to display powerpoint and the like.

 

gothed-

You are trying to apply common sense to the wants of the average American consumer; this is an exercise in futility. Just because YOU know you don't need it, doesn't mean THEY know... especially when they're spending someone else's money.

General 5-Stars and the Pointy-haired boss only know that they saw someone else playing a Blu-Ray of Avatar or Gears of War on the plasma screen before the board meeting, and THEY want to be able to do it too.

mnem
dude. Where'd we park the missile carrier?

 

I thought the toughbooks were different.

This is upsetting

 

My proposal for a new generation toughbook:
touchscreen
IP class 66!
Emissive Keyboard
lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4, or LFP) battery.
Solid State/hybrid Drive support.

WiFi with supported protocolls:
# IEEE 802.11-2007: A new release of the standard that includes amendments a, b, d, e, g, h, i & j. (July 2007)
# IEEE 802.11k: Radio resource measurement enhancements (2008)
# IEEE 802.11n: Higher throughput improvements using MIMO (multiple input, multiple output antennas) (September 2009)
#EEE 802.11mb: Maintenance of the standard. Will become 802.11-2011. (Expected publication 8/02/11)
# IEEE 802.11p: WAVE—Wireless Access for the Vehicular Environment (such as ambulances and passenger cars) (working—June 2010)
# IEEE 802.11r: Fast BSS transition (FT) Working "Task Group r" (2008)


EarPhone plug/outlet on the FRONT!!!!!
high speed USB port on the front
8GB of RAM max with intel i7-620LM Processor (4M Cache, 2.00 GHz)
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43559

built in charging/voltage regulator, accepts any voltage form 10 to 30 VDC with automatic polarity correction.

optional external hand-cranked dynamo for charging.
native linux support.

 

mnementh hit it on the nail head. Panny will get left in the dust if they do not produce power. Other devices that will be used in conjunction with the 31 will require that extra power. Power=Heat.

I strongly believe Panny has hit the limit with there current cooling method. They realize they can't push anything else or there is going to be problems. My MK3 runs way hotter than my MK2 just as an example. Again, it has a bigger CPU, etc. More heat, but they didn't change the cooling method at all.

Just my .02 cents.

I would really like to put in a slip for one, but I think I will really try hard and wait for the MK2 to arrive.