The CF-73

Howdy-
I recently acquired a CF-73 to add the the herd-

1.4 Centrino Win 2000

I hoped to find some other CF-73 users who may have wrenched on these-

It came bare bones less a gel pack but with a caddy- it seems to recognize a USB Hardrive so i'll try my first install there-

I'm chomping at the bit to pick up a 2kmhz model with internal Wifi (mine isn't equiped with one) & that & a hardrive & gel is all it needs-

But by looking around this forum I see it may not be all that popular a model-

I have very little in this one- is this a worthy model to be investing in ?

It seems all the big bucks come in at the additions/ parts

Thanks for your help!

 

I still use my 73 every day as a programming rig mounted in a Pelican case I rigged up.
What exactly are you wondering?

The only thing I am not crazy about is the battery life but then I have an issue with battery life in general.
I use the standard and media bay battery both in mine and I have a tiny dock,cd and different dvd burner for the bay and an interesting Fieldmate case that can sty on the machine when in use.

Ed

 

Hey Ed thanks for the reply-
Just general info I guess-

I have the other CF-73 I mentioned on the way-

I'm now in search of the "gel-packs"- 2-now- or the best suited material to substitute it for after all It seems I could make it in my shop but I may get corrected-

Are hard drives particularly proprietary for any reason or will a variety of notebook applications work?

Thanks-

Low

 

Standard 2.5" ide interface hard drives
Samsung HM 160 HG 160GB is what I recommend
And yes Panasonic parts are not cheap


Alex

 

Well as it goes with newbies & good deals- a hard drive caddy & foam turn out to be a bad HD, a fair shape caddy & some double sided padded adhesive stripes in-place of the gel pack- I'm kinda ticked-

I think I'm guilty of not getting more advice from here before I purchased-

Correct me if I wrong, a gel pack for a cf-73 is a complete surround piece not some little strips of doubled sided padded strips-?


Though maybe not a bad idea - I have been had-? _)(&^()^&

Help!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

They don't use gel on the CF-73 just some thin foam strips like you have, in fact Panasonic no longer uses gel even on the fully rugged laptops they use a sponge material and mylar.

 

t2g-

Thanks I had followed an auction that had a surround- for a 73 can't find the link now-

The strips didn't actually firmly secure the drive in the caddy-

Thank you-

 

I have one in my hand right now and it is essentially a lower flimsy plastic frame and flimsy aluminum top cover and the part that surrounds the drive is a thin black plastic sheet with thin foam strips glued along the top, sides and bottom. the last toughbooks that used actual gel were the CF-28 in the fully rugged line and the CF-72 in the semi rugged line.

 

Ok - I'm am new to this line so I may be easily misled- I don't question your knowledge-

This showed up on "that" auction site again-

Also had a 2nd caddy for a hard drive- in another of their listing- $185 I think-

 

The generic caddy looks fine
It will secure the hard drive firmly


Alex

 

The one in the picture looks just like my OEM one, the part on the left in the picture is the thin plastic sheet with strategically placed strips of rubber, looks like stuff you can get at the hardware store weather stripping section. If the one you got looks anything like I described then you got the right one.