Help pick cf-28 1ghz GPS or cf-29 1.2 ghz or cf-18???

Hello Everybody, just got into the whole toughbook thing, got 2 toughbooks on ebay as a lot, and trying to decide, which one to keep. One is cf-28 13.3" touchscreen mk-3 with PIII 1Ghz, 512MB Memory, GPS, no wifi, one usb, prerry sure USB1.1, in very nice condition, other is CF-29 with P4 1.2ghs 256, 1 usb port, 12" touchscreen, the shape is ok, but not is good, as cf-28, some port covers are missing, not sure if it has wifi or , not as I think accourding to model number doesn't, but it does have an option in bios as WLAN??? so i'm pozled, I've bought the internal battery and media packet batery for cf-29, but don't have a charger for it yet, my main priorities, is good battery life and USB ports...

so here is my questions:


1.Is there a big difference in perfomance between two, as I understand P4 might offer better battery life, but not sure if .2 ghz, plays a big role.
2.What is the average battery life on CF-28 with one, and 2 batteries?
3. How Hard is it to add USB 2.0 ports to either one, and is it expensive, and what is the best way to do it.


Thank you for your help,

p.s. about CF-18, I think cf-18 might be an option as well as it has usb ports, its rugged, and smaller and lighter than the other two, but I'm not realy sure what is the battery life on it.

 

you might wanna install the driver for it to see if it has the WLAN on it because I have about 50 CF-29s where the model number indicated that there was no WLAN on it but it was just disabled in the BIOS and upon enabling it they all worked just fine. as for the .2 GHz making a difference performance wise, I wouldn't think so unless you plan on rendering video or something like that and even then it wouldn't be much.

BTW this may be my only chance to do this so here it goes....
Welcome to the forum noob. ....yeah i'm a noob too so what

 

Your CF-29 is almost certainly a Pentium M system, not a Pentium 4. This CPU is two generations newer than the Pentium 3, and additionally has been demonstrated to perform as well as a Pentium 4 of at least 600MHz faster (in this case, about 1.8 GHz). I'll try to find the performance benchmarks that I'm referring to, but regardless, the 1.2 GHz Pentium M is faster than a 1.0 GHz P3 by leaps and bounds.

The CF-29 uses DDR, which far less expensive per megabyte than the PC100/133 that the CF-28 uses. It's available in larger-sized DIMMs (1024MB at least, as opposed to 512MB), and is substantially faster performance-wise.

I believe that the CF-29 has built-in 802.11 antennas (someone correct me if I'm mistaken), whereas you generally need to modify your CF-28 to give it that capability.

I'm told that the CF-29 has a brighter screen, and is more rugged than the 28.

To the 28's credit, though, replacement parts are cheaper (for the 28) and more abundant.

For me, the choice between any 29 and any 28 is a no-contest in favor of the 29. Assuming they both work, of course.

 

Ditto I agree 100%. Theres a huge difference between the two processors. The only thing that kinda sucks is the 12inch screen compared to a 13.3. The GPS on the other hand is nice, but as most will tell you here the CF-28 stock GPS is not really anything special and pretty much only works really well about 60% of the time. The RAM being DDR in the 29 will help performance and it most likely has WLAN built in if it shows up in the BIOS you just need to install the proper ProWireless driver from intel. Overall newer system, also a better chance at finding a good battery as well.

 

Well OperationDinnerOut and Connor922 have explained the main points well

I will add that the cf-29 has usb 2 which is a very large improvement over the usb 1 that the cf-28 has

Post the full model number of your cf-29 and we can see what the factory option were on your model

Alex

 

Totally forgot about 2.0 USB good call

 

The CF-29 will last MUCH longer on battery than the CF-28... It sounds like battery life is very important to you. The CF-18 is good as well as long as you get a good battery!

Battery life on the CF-28 is marginal at best... Even if you have a good/brand new battery. I've seen anywhere from 0 minutes to 2.5 hours on the CF-28 doing real-world stuff. I've had 6+ hours on a few CF-29s with newish extended batteries. I am currently running a CF-18 with almost new ext. batts and am seeing 5+ hours. But then you have no internal DVD either... It's all a trade off for what you want.

As far as beefiness... They are all about the same. Though the CF-28 is the only one in the group that doesn't latch its LCD securely. The 29 & the 18 both pin the LCDs to prevent lateral movement... The CF-28 doesn't... Plus the CF-28 is the dimmest screen of the bunch...

So let's review... If you are on the thinnest of showstrings... Buy the CF-28.

If you have a little more money... Go for either the 29 or 18. Just remember... the keyboard on the CF-18 is small!

 

Thank you for your help, I guess I'll keep the cf-29, and maybe will figure out the way to add GPS later to it, I've seen big and extensive posts about it on your forum, I think it just to early for me to get into it now, I need to upgrade drives, hardrives, maybe add wireless in case the onboard is not there, I'll post the model number tonight, as I don't have with me now ...

Thanks again for all the help.

Vitaliy