New CF-30 Question

I have just purchased a new CF-30 model # CF30CAQAZBM. I realize this is a pretty basic machine but I believe I got a pretty good deal on it. I have read there is no WAAN slot or rim antenna on it. Can this be added? This is my first toughbook so please bare with me. Any help would be appreciated.

Mike G.

 

Absolutely can be added! Search our threads for this very topic and you will find a trove of information. Happy Modding!!

 

Thank you for your response. I will do some searching now and hopefully find a good online dealer where I can order these parts.

 

Mike... Welcome to the forum! This is the BEST place to be is you just bought a Toughbook... Especially if you want to do the work yourself!

As Paul said... You can ad just about anything you want. You can get the parts on ebay or through Heartland Services. ( www.heartlandsi.com) If you are a handy person who is not afraid to split open a $3,000 laptop... This can be done fairly easily.... It just depends on your skill level...

 

Thank you very much again, No, I am not afraid to split apart the computer, (maybe a little bit!) But you have to learn somehow. I went to the Heartland website and it says "store opening soon" I take it you guys order your parts over the telephone at this point? I wish I had found this website before purchasing but no big deal. If you scroll to my first post maybe you guys could tell me what a fair market value for a new CF-30 with this model would roughly be. I am not sure if it is ok to talk about prices in this particular area of the forum. Once again, thank you all of your help is greatly appreciated. I own a small tree service and am constantly in very dusty enviornments. Had a few other notebooks mounted in the truck on the Ram mount, never seemed to live too long. I believe this toughbook may be a better choice!

 

Although its possible to do this yourself the parts might not readily available
This model is so new there is not a good supply of used parts available yet
To my thinking it’s actually not an easy upgrade, as you have to
Install the antenna
Interface to the docking station connecter
Install the modem

There might be a problem obtaining new parts as well, as Panasonic is limiting sales of the wwan modems to end users

If it was mine I would check with either Panasonic in Kent, WA or if you are not on the west coast
Heartland services and have them quote on doing this for you

A used cf-30 with the wwan provider you need might be a better option
And sell your cf-30 to cover some of the costs


I expect to get feedback on this from the regulars here saying that I’m wrong, and its not that hard to do
But I personally would not want to tear apart my $3000 cf-30 yet


Alex

 

O.K. I will hold out for a while and not start unscrewing yet. Without ordering from a dealer, it is hard to find the configuration you want. I bought this one on Ebay and probably should have learned all of this first, but no harm done. I have a Sprint usb modem now and hate that little thing. Would love to get it inside the toughbook, however I have to do it. thank you again.
Mike G.

 

Welcome to the forums Mike... You will find anything you need here for your cf-30!!

 

Thank you very much, Looking foreward to learning stuff from you guys.

 

Mike,

Heartland is no longer selling WWAN components or parts to the end customer. (Or anyone else for that matter!) You MUST send your laptop into them to have it fitted. They still will sell the odd part or two... Screws, port covers, etc. As a guesstimate I would estimate the following as a price... $250 check-in fee, $500 parts and probably $300 in labor... Plus their shipping charges. You may be better off using a card in the side slot. But you should call them for an estimate to make sure.

This would be a pretty involved procedure as a do-it-yourself thing. You may be better off either using the card... Or selling your CF-30 and buying one that comes equipped the way you want.

 

I got a quote from heartland a few weeks back for a bunch of WWAN parts for a CF-18. They gave me all the prices and said they are good for 30 days. And shipping would have been 30 bucks.

They seemed to not have a problem give me the prices and said nothing about me not being able to buy them.

As far as i know they will NOT sell you modems anymore but my list did not include a modem just some PCB's and other parts.

It might be worth a shot to try. Even though i would honestly just say if you really want WWAN just sell your cf-30 and pick one up that already is wireless ready or has the WWAN you want as adding it will get very pricey and is a lot of work if you have never done it before. And as far as i know no one on here has added WWAN to a cf-30 before. Maybe a CF-29 but even then it was only a very few members that have succeeded.

Good luck with your decisions,

-James

 

Heartland told me that you can order individual parts... But not whole kits. This supposedly started on September 1st, 2008.

(Jeez... Unless they meant they weren't going to sell ME parts!)

 

Well i emailed a lady there that was a administrator (so i guess she was a little important) and she gave me all the part numbers and prices.

It was pretty much every part needed to add EVDO to a CF-18 besides the modem itself.

I never placed the order but by the emails back and forth it was not going to be a problem at all.

Maybe they just know you Rick lol

-James

 

Thank you for all the responses. I did list mine on Ebay to sell and purchased a new one. The new one seems to have just about everything I wanted except it comes with a Verison card rather than a Sprint card. I have a Sprint service now and like it a lot. But I would imagine that will not be too hard to change compared to the project the last computer would have been. I really appreciate the help from all of you guys, and I am looking foreward to learning more about this machine!

One more question: I somewhat understand the dual pass through feature but not entirely, maybe you could explain it to me.

 

The pass through is a way of hooking up an external antenna to the toughbook by way of the docking station
The docking station needs the corresponding connectors to work

It is usually used to extend the wwan , but depending on the toughbook configuration it can extend the wwan antenna or the wi-fi or the gps

I’m glad you took my advice on buying a cf-30 with the features that you want
It was the easy way

Whats the full model # on the new cf-30?



Alex

 

This is what I also find kind of funny. I enter this part # at Panasonic and most of it is correct. Here is thPanasonic Toughbook 30 - Core 2 Duo L7500 1.6 GHz - 13.3" TFT

Manufacturer: Panasonic Part number: CF-30FCU80JM

 

What do you mean by most of it is correct?
Has the seller changed the configuration?
Have you recieved it to confim options?




Alex

 

The seller says he has not changed the configuration. All of the letters and numbers are correct for Panasonic, however when you try to build this particular one on the Toughbook website the Verizon card is not a option, only the Sprint card. I do not know why this is. According to the seller the unit is factory built and sealed

 

Well that cf-30 has just about everything included
Must of cost a lot




Alex

 

I got it for 2300. I am not sure if that is a good deal or not. Hopefully not too bad of a deal anyways

 

You can't always "build" your Toughbook on the configurator.... But try telling it to build itself... (Click on the regular CF-29 logo at the start) and it will come up with a "generic" version... Then you can play with the switches and make it what you want. It will tell you if there is a conflict...

If the bottom label AND the BIOS are the same.... It probably is not messed with. But it depends on who had it and who did the work. My CF-29s never match the model numbers when I am finished....

 

OK. I am going to give that a try right now. I am not sure if I mentioned my CF 30 is still being shipped to me. I sure hope it is a new one like stated and not messed with!

 

Hi! may I know the ebay item no. coz I have one with the same model no. that I am monitoring.


ohlip

 

Do you mean the EBay item no. frome the one that I won, or the one I have listed?

 

Both please
Gives you cheap advertizing
+ Teo is looking at one like you bought with same options and wondering if the same seller



Alex

 

I am talking about this: I quess this is an scam ebay item no. 250346385338. I bought it but never pay. I wanna see what will gonna happen.

I just reported it to the security dep't


teo

 

Take some friends with guns over and pick it up in person
It’s near where you live

Alex

 

He refused of letting me pick it up and when I asked an invoice via ebay system. He didn't reply instead he sent me an invoice via paypal system on which I have a doubt that there is something wrong.


teo

 

That is the same specs as the one I just bought. This is the one I am selling... 190275612583 and this is the one I won....... 220331082216. At least it is not the same seller as the item number you listed above. Now I am very nervous!

 

Get a ups tracking #
And keep us informed


Alex

 

I quess your safe with that seller.

ohlip

 

Well maybe, but you have to remember the saying

If it seems to good to be true …….

I would expect that a mk-2 with all those options would sell for over $3000

Buying it for $2350 is a great deal

But for $500 Teo (What were you thinking )



Alex

 

I hope everything will be alright. The funny thing is when I bought it on the 23rd I emailed the seller to ask if he offered overnight shipping for a addtl. cost. (I am one of those people that hate waiting for stuff). At least with the holiday would have had it by today. But no reponse from him regarding my email. When the one that I won was listed he only had 1 more just like mine. Now there is like 5 of them exactly the same. When you google search "Prosysinformation" his ebay name in Georgia, there is a company there with that name but they seem more like a consulting group or something. Well, worse case I take a road trip!

 

Stolen or scam. LOL



teo

 

One more thing, if you look at the sellers previous transactions he did sell another one of these back in November for $3500.00 However that one has 2 Gig ram. but still...

 

E-mail the guy who bought one to make sure your on the right track. I've done that to make sure it is a legititmate seller on ebay.



teo

 

That is a good idea. I am going to do that right now.

 

You need a tracking #

The selling price seems too low for the options

Here is the item # for the $3000 cf-30 I bought in Oct 220289071908

Alex

 

I should have bought that one Arlington Heights is 20 minutes from my house!! LOL

It does not state if this was a new one or not?

 

Mine was brand new 0 hrs

Your seller has sold 2 cf-30's on the 19th
And 2 more cf-30's on the 23rd

Ebay's policy of not showing buyers id's stops you from contacting the buyers that purchased on the 19th
That info would be helpful


Alex

 

One more good thing I just looked into is this item is protected with the Paypal buyer protection for 100% of the purchase and according to their website I qualify if something goes wrong. We know how this stuff works too but it is better than nothing.

 

g

Yes, that is true but I somehow was able to email someone that bought one in November, I do not remember the date though. I am hoping they email me back so I can sleep tonight!! LOL

 

I found out a little bit more about the seller. The seller is a large company based out of Georgia. According to a Google search, they purchase thousands of Toughbooks every year and sell to municipalities, companys, etc. For instance 2 years ago they set up 22000 CF-29's for SBC (the phone company). I am hoping these CF-30's are leftovers or something like that and they are cleaning house over there. I also talked to a Ebay buyer that purchased the CF-30 back in November, he contacted me and said everything was good but for some reason he thought the battery had been swapped out and perhaps they came from the "Gray Market". I dont believe this is the case, well I hope not anyways. I will keep all of you up to date and let you know what happens. One more thing, When I purchased mine, there were only 2 listed, now that those 2 sold, there are a bunch more, exactly the same. Seeing the seller only has 28 Ebay transactions, I am guessing they were feeling out Ebay to perhaps see if they would sell on there. Sold 2, then listed the rest. There, im done now! lol

 

I am not sure if this will help you out at all??? I live in Atlanta, and researched alot of companies that sell ToughBooks. I ended up getting the best price and service from a company in Atlanta by the name of Buytough. I even went and picked it up there myself. I was searching on Ebay 1 day and came across a company selling these and it sure did seem like it was Buytough, or a division of them. If you would like I can email or call the owner and ask him if they sale on Ebay? I have gotten to know him pretty well and they are a straight up company. When I was there picking mine up, they had about 30 of them waiting to get on the brown truck......There website is www.buytough.com

 

Toyo

I can say that Buytough is a reputable company
I have talked to Warren there in the past and Zippyman purchased his cf-30 from them

I’m concerned a bit on this seller, mostly as the cf-30 seems too too low of a price for the options



Alex

 

All,
This is a huge IT company who have offices all over the country! They do things like supply Southern Bell with 22000 custom configured Toughbooks at once. Google them! I suspect they are on the up and up. Those machines are a GOOD deal.
CAP
Edit: Grif hasn't posted back, but I'd guess from the feedback he left that he got what they advertised! I kind of wish I didn't already have one.

 

Did I miss the name of the seller?

 

"prosysinformationsystem"
Google: Prosys Information Systems Inc, Norcross, GA. They look for real to me, and as I said, Grif seems to be happy.
CAP

 

Sorry I have not checked back everyone. Just got my CF-30 on New Years eve and I love it! I could not stand waiting anymore so I called them to have it overnight shipped. It is in fact new in the box and everything as described. I talked to one of the sales reps and he said they sometimes purchase them by the 10000's and that is what allows them to sell at this price if they happen to have any leftovers. I was watching Ebay and saw 4 or 5 more of the same ones and about 3 of them sold. If anyone is interesed I can post a direct # to speak to them directly. 15 minutes after shipment I recieved a phone call from them just to make sure I am happy. I thougt that was pretty nice.

 

Always glad to hear a happy ending!