Picked up a CF-74 today....

Hey all I went out on a limb today and decided to try a non-full rugged again. I used to have a CF-72 a while back and I switched to all rugged and 28s/29s. I was temped by the specs 1.83ghz Core Duo, DVD-CD-RW, SATA, 2 Ram slots, etc. Its still touch screen, its a CF-74CCBAXBM I picked up for $900 from the local college while they were upgrading. Im waiting on a restore DVD before I use but its in almost new shape, 2 light scratches on the LCD film and no scratches on the case. 6680 hours. Anyone have much experience with the 74? Did I get ripped on the price? I looked on ebay and most are selling for $1300+ and there was only like 4-5 on there for sale, they seem more rare? I figued id try it out and if I don't like I can always throw up for sale on here or the bay.

 

The cf-74 is a nice solid semi-rugged model
It feels a lot more solid than the cf-73 , and a vast improvement over the cf-72 in durability
The hardware specs are great , and it has a bright touchscreen

As for hours I saw a cf-29 mk-5 for sale the other day with about 17,000 hours in the bios, and still working great, so I think your OK for a while

Alex

 

Yeah the 72 I had pratically fell apart and it didn't get abused very much, thats why I had switched to the 28s and 29s. So far I like it, I wonder why I dont see many for sale tho?

 

They are a current model so you don't find used cf-74's for sale very often

I have sold dozens of cf-71’s , although the hardware specs were not up to the cf-72’s they were a solid well built model

The cf-72’s were built with component sections , and the rough treatment of moving them around caused bad connections between the sections and some unreliability
The hinges were a problem as they would wear out quickly, especially on the heavier touchscreen lids , and the touchscreen models brightness was not as good as the non-touchscreen models, and the old style power jacks would ware and fail

The cf-73’s were a great improvement over the previous semi-rugged models and as I said the cf-74 is even better

The cf-74 is comparable to the cf-30 non touchscreen for brightness and hardware, and it feels like it would outlast any normal brand laptop other than Toughbook fully rugged or Toughbook copycats for durability

Alex

 

I definately see what you mean about the screen being pretty bright. I do like that, still not sure if I'm too crazy about the "lightweight" feel to it, I'm so used to lugging around my 29. I dunno if I wanna keep it yet

 

That's the reason I sold my T5... I'm used to lugging around my 30 so the T5 just felt so chintzy lol

 

Well the cf-74 feels solid enough for me
The best semi-rugged Panasonic yet

Not indestructible but more durable than my new Cf-f8 or the lightweight models Rob mentioned

Alex

 

I agree it does feel more solid than the F and T series, seeing as I use mine for fire department stuff though I might still be a little too hard on the 74, its pratically in new condition too I would feel bad scratching it lol

 

Heck... I leave my CF-30 on all day. The only time I turn it off is when I sleep. Sounds like this guy did the same thing... Except for a few years... Either that or he left it on all the time.

 

Alright so I got the restore CD and truly fired this thing up and I must admit its pretty darn fast. Everything seems to be in great working order too! Ill give it a week or so and see If I can actually live without my 29, if not Im sure ill throw it up in BST, if anyone is interested let me know. Otherwise I might just keep this thing, its kinda cool!

 

Connor,

Are you still happy with the 74 now that you have had a chance to play with it a bit? I have a chance to buy one pretty much identical to yours for $600 and I was interested in your opinion. I have a 72 and was happy with it, except for the sensitivity to breakage it has on some of the parts. Let me know as it does look like the seller has agreed to take my offer of $600 (asking price is $700). I was trying to get back in touch with a seller who has a 52 for $600, but he will not reply. I think he believes me to be a scammer....if he only new what he was passing on.

 

Silver, I too had previously owned a 72 and was disappointed by the wear and tear factor. Now thatI played with the 74 I feel it is much better built than the 72s. IMO though its for someone just like they show in their ad pictures for the 74. Its more of a business grade laptop that may take "light" abuse better than a normal dell etc. The nice thing for sure is the upgraded specs, SATA, 1.83Ghz dual ram slots etc. Other than the handle, it doesn't really feel anything like a CF-2x series. I am currently having trouble with mine, I cant seem to get the touchscreen to work. I posted a seperate thread about it and I intend to fix it, most are suggesting a hardware failure but the weird thing is the laptop recognizes that its there, its just non-responsive.

 

I'll have to disagree with you folks about the "chintzy" feel of semi-rugged Toughbooks. In terms of ruggedness, they're nothing like most "business" laptops (Dell Latitude, IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad, HP nc-series, to give some examples). The CF-7x series are substantially heavier, made of thicker material (metal structure instead of plastic), use shock-mounted hard drive trays, and keep out dust by orders of magnitude better than most business laptops. That's why they're so much more expensive.

Pick up a non-ruggedized laptop with both hands on one edge only - you'll notice that a "business" laptop will creak, due to the plastic construction. The semi-rugged Toughbooks won't do anything of the sort.

I'd say that comparing the durability of the CF-27/28/29/30, the CF-71/72/73/74, and your average large-business laptop, is analogous to an up-armored Humvee, a '91 Jeep Cherokee, and a Honda Accord. It's not much of a comparison, and we're talking about three markets almost completely divergent from each other.

Getting off my soapbox, however... I am kind of disappointed in the hinges on my touchscreen 72s (there goes my ruggedness argument, right?). I'd replace them if they weren't so expensive - around $35/pair on eBay, and I'm hoping to get rid of them all within six months in order to move up to the 73.

I work at a university surplus department, and we saw a 74 come in - the only thing wrong with it was a missing key! Those keyboards seem to be hard to find, but even so, we're talking about a computer that otherwise looked like it just came out of the box. We sold it for $250 with a new 80GB/5400rpm hard drive, and now that I think about it, it might have been worth twice that. Sad. At least I scored a cheap CF-73. shortly afterward.

I'd love to own one, however... maybe even more so than a CF-30, because I'd be more willing to carry it around a lot. By the way, if you want to look at *somewhat* rugged consumer laptops, take a look at tablets from the eras of the Pentium M and the Core/Core 2. At the very least, they have a tough cover on the LCD to allow stylus use. Toshiba (whose laptops I usually hate) made a fairly tough lower case, too, on the Portege M200/205 series. It's no CF-18, but it's a worthy step up from the crappy Dell Inspiron, HP Pavilion, Toshiba Satellite, and Gateway Solo laptops that you'll see college students using.

The best hardware for those who appreciate it, I say.

 

ODO
I replaced the cf-74 keyboard with a standard cf-29 or cf-30 keyboard
You are correct on the cf-72 hinges , they are a weak point


Alex