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

ToughBooks ARE Different.

But you can't just keep making yesterday's hardware and expect to sell it; ESPECIALLY at $3,000-$5,000 a copy. ANY manufacturer HAS to produce what THE CUSTOMER asks for EVENTUALLY; even Intel and Micro$oft have been forced to stop TELLING the customer what they were going to get and start producing SOME of what they've been asking for.

Apple has made a niche for themselves doing EXACTLY that; too bad we can't get GM to do it... the American Taxpayer might not be part owner of the worst managed company to ever not be allowed to die.

I know; you say YOU are a customer too; but they can't afford to produce for the one guy in 1000 who knows what they DON'T NEED; they'll go broke.

mnem
Skint.

 

mnem
un-wasted.

 

Pssst, he's talking about the ingress protection rating.

I don't know much about batteries, but going by the Wikipedia page these LFP batteries actually sound safer than the things we have now. Still, less power at the same size, that's a drawback for compact computers.

I don't think WiFi will be going away in the time it takes for the CF-31 to become utterly obsolete. However, some of these additional protocols listed seem rather specialized. It's probably better to stick with a/b/g/n as it is now and then let the users customize the machine with a different card if they really need the extras.

Would this really be that difficult? The power adapters already accept 100 to 240 V, and they don't appear to get all that hot.(?)

 

The lithium iron phosphate batteries are a lot safer than normal batteries.
Lithium iron phosphate battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IP Code:
IP Code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the magnesium parts will not have any problems dissipating the wattage a charge controller produces.
magnesium has a Thermal Conductivity of 95.19-114.2 W/m*°C.
Aluminum has a Thermal conductivity of 155 to 233.6 W/m*°C

Aluminium is more safe, and can be repaired a lot easier than magnesium.

Do not under any circumstances try to use high speed grinding tools on magnesium!
And do no try to weld it!

this is interesting:
Nanotechnology Boosts Efficiency of Lithium Ion Batteries


And, linux is free, and runs happily on intel i7-620LM Processor.
no reason hiring any programmers.

The Second Extended File System (ext2, a native linux file system) was released in January, 1993. It was a rewrite of ext which features

*
improved algorithms that greatly improved its speed
*
additional date stamps (such as date of last access, date of last inode modification and date of last data modification)
*
the ability to track the state of the filesystem. Ext2 maintains a special field in the superblock that indicates the status of the filesystem as either clean or dirty. A dirty filesystem will trigger a utility to scan the filesystem for errors. Ext2 also features support for a maximum file size of 4TB! (1 terabyte is 1024 gigabytes). Consequently, it has completely superseded ext, support for which has been removed from the Linux kernel.

Ext2 is the most portable of the native Linux filesystems because drivers and other tools exist that allow accessing ext2 data from a number of other operating systems. However, as useful as these tools are, most of them have limitations, such as being access utilities rather than true drivers, not working with the most recent versions of ext2, not being able to write to ext2 or posing a risk of causing filesystem corruption when writing to ext2.

also, panasonic should considering making sure that all the hardware is 100% compatible with linux.
That was what i intended with native linux.

 

I'd like to see Panasonic provide better support for Linux.

But let's face it. They already struggle to provide proper support for Windows. So I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

And while we are making suggestions, a new type of Touchscreen that does not show fingerprints!!!!

 

These guys supposedly provide fully functional Linux Toughbooks. I don't know how well it works, and how they do it, maybe they write their own drivers. As for Panasonic doing it themselves, I would not count on it. Toughbooks mostly sell to large organizations and corporations, and Linux never really seems to catch on in these markets, at least not on client computers - servers, sure. Lenovo has dabbled in selling Linux Thinkpads a few times, I think they never sold well. Microsoft has been catering to the business market for years, even decades. They are experienced at it, and businesses are used to dealing with them, so I don't see this changing anytime soon, unfortunate as it is.

 

Well the French Government has made a decision to move to Ubuntu Linux. If others follow suit, Panasonic will be forced to provide support if they want a shot at those markets.

 

I've been using high speed grinders/dremels on Toughbooks for years.... What You DO NOT want to do is to take a spark to those grindings.... They burn WAY hot.

I have never tried welding it though I hear it can be done... Alas... I have no welder.

 

A Touchscreen that shows no fingerprints?????

Is that kinda like a mirror that does not show a reflection? Come on guys, let's be realistic in regards to the Toughbook. Dell or HP can come out with thsat fragile touchscreen. The protevtive cover, which is part of the whole Toughbook thing is there for a reason. Hence the higher finger prints.

 

I know you jest, but the touchscreen cover on my TB has a sort of a matte finish and does not readily show fingerprints, very nice.
But I feel you. My non touchscreen glossy HP monitor for my desktop DOES take fingerprints. My wife just loves to "point" to things on the display, and of course pointing in her case is pressing on the screen! Man it drives me NUTS!

 

EXACTLY!!!

Why do people assume that my brain does not possess sufficient intelligence to mathematically extrapolate a correlation between the end of their @#*?$ finger and a point a half an inch away on the screen?

 

i have heard about a person that took a piece of magnesium to the grinder..
Disaster, it blew up in his face and caused severe burns. He was lucky, did not lose the eyes and it healed up pretty nice.

 

Toyo, please notice the little in my posting above as a guide to your interpretation of my suggestion.

I have made a big deal here about my personal aversion to fingerprints on my computer screen and that was my lame attempt at humor.

 

I am sorry about that! I didn't even realize it was you that wrote that thread....

I was looking for something on the drivers page at Panny a few minutes ago. They have the 31 drivers up. I downloaded the new Power Management program it has and WOW does it have some nice features. After you install it, right click on the Icon in your taskbar. It gives you all kinds of stuff to play with! My battery time went from 7:23 to 10:47. I am going to see how true that is.

 

According to my buddy Ray at RuggedDepot.com... The CF-31 will start to become available next month!

 

Amen! Brother

 

I wonder, does this mean that the prices of the cf-30 will be driven down significantly?

- Dominik

Think I might go with an old and proven model.

 

I bet if the 31 is a big hit, seller, then the 30 will start declining in value. I knew I should have sold my MK2 awhile back

 

I discussed this with Ray... He sells tons of Toughbooks... His take is that they won't for the foreseeable future. And then it would be the MK1s to take the hit first... But the MK2s&3s will hold up for a while.

 

They do exist. The oleophobic touchscreens used on the iPhone 3GS are quite remarkable.

But I doubt they're tough enough for a Toughbook (since they're made from a glass substrate).

 

Hello everyone! I'm new to forum and found this looking for reviews (if any existed) on the CF-31.

My company is getting a Demo unit from Panasonic. We're actually getting a CF-52 and a CF-31. The 31 is just their way of letting us see the new product, and a way to get some reviews from the field.

For those who have questions regarding the discrete graphics choice, I think I can provide somewhat of an answer. MS Excel. If you only use it for math, it's fine without discrete graphics. The first time you have to work with charts with a good bit of data to them, it becomes tedious and slow, because the chart has to rebuild every time the screen is moved.

I'm not sure if Panny has been asked about this by a majority of the customers, but in our case (very small customers), it's the only reason we don't have CF-30's. We have to use Excel with graphs and the 30's just slows down productivity.

Our environment is dusty/windy a lot of the time, but we keep our laptops indoors for the most part. While I can't vouch for the "Toughness", I will be checking out the cooling method in the CF-31. Should be getting them soon and I'll let you guys know what find out. If anyone has any specifics they would like to know, feel free to ask.

 

.. and a ton of hi-res pics please!

and in your spare time, see if the CF-31 holds up to dynamite as well as the CF-30 did in that previous demo. thx.

 

No promises on dynamite testing. It would be fun, but I don't think Panasonic would appreciate it.

I'll be sure to get plenty o' pics though (Hi res).