Touchscreen or not to Touchscreen...

That is the question.

The 13" non-touch that I have up and running is so much easier to look at that the washed out 12" touchscreen.

I think I am gonna kinda miss the touchscreen tho'...

One thing that I wonder... I had gotten kind of used to the Scroll mouse on the touchpad of the touchscreen unit. Is that feature proprietary to the touchscreen models?

 

If you mean when you scroll on the side of the touchpad, it's becoming pretty much a standard now on all touchpad laptops. I don't know any laptops among my friends that don't have a nonscrolling touchpad.

 

Okay, found it!

Did not realize you had to install the touchscreen drivers to get the scroll touchpad working...

Perpetually the NoOb...

 

I don't think I could deal with a non-touchscreen laptop anymore. I keep trying to poke my CRT attached to my desktop!

 

I don't use my touchscreen because I can't stand the tap-to-click feature when using the regular touchpad, and in order to turn it off you have to turn it off for the touchscreen as well.. making it pretty much useless!

 

It's a double edge sword on the one hand your re-sale value will be much higher if it has a touchscreen. However the value will go down drastically if the Touchscreen has heavy wear. I recommend a touchscreen but if you have one that is pristine keep it that way by adding a screen protector and then just peel it off or replace it if you ever resell it.

 

I know this has been hit on before, but I've never seen an answer. Anyone running XP with touchscreen use? I sure would love to have my touchscreen working, but I'm not interested in downgrading to Win 2K.
Thanks, Adam.

 

Yup, check out the FAQ, and it'll tell you how to get it workin'.

 

Ive used both non touch and touch. Those 13.3" non touch sure do look good but even after going to a washed out 12.1" touchscreen I could not go back.

I have same issue as modly...keep slammin a stylus or my finger into my Non touchscreen computer. Surprised I have not put the stylus straight through that beautiful and soft 15.5" lcd

Now Im using a 13.3" touch...the image is better that the 12.1" but still not as clean as the nontouch.

In deciding, one should consider the use. For graphics manipulation where colors are important...the nontouch will be best...definitely not the 12.1"...too washed out looking.

I use my TB in archeology...cant imaging not having the touchscreen in the field.

 

How's that going, btw Kusa. Did you get them all on toughbooks yet??

 

Having same issue - I took a damaged touch panel off a 13" and I could not believe how bright the LCD behind was - just for giggle I got a piece of Lexan over it to protect it and a screen protector to cut down on the glare - it is like a mirror without the touch panel on it - I just got the screen protector and have not had a sunny day to see how it performs in the truck - sunlight is the killer - main reason I would consider dumping the touch - I love the feature but really a shame it kills the brightness - Also breaths life into trashed touch panel displays - just remove it and rock on -

 

Worse, I've a digitiser from another company, my wife is forever digging me for repeatedly poking the screen with my fingers ... "it's not TOUCHSCREEN!" :confused2: :laugh:

 

Good actually! The firm I just got on with eyed mine and decided then and there they needed one. Im just about done building one for them. Just waiting for the 512 ram from Newegg and a floppy drive to come in the mail...yes they want a floppy drive. This will actually be their fasted machine next to the GIS computer.

There are a great deal of archaeological firms up here in New Mexico and I hope to see my supplementary income from TBs increase. Got a few more machines waiting for me in Seattle and may have few more archaeologists interested. Cross fingers.

 

I do that All the time!

 

I'm just happy I haven't switched to an LCD yet... I might have broken it by now.

As it is for now, I just have to deal with a few dozen finger prints on the glass.

 

That is where going to the CF-29 is better... The screen is like twice as bright. I actually have to tone mine down a bit it is so bright. (Plus I want to save the backlight and batteries when I'm unplugged.) With the 2nd battery pack I get almost 10 hours upstairs surfing the web and working on different apps.

 

More reason for me to save up and get one then eh?!

10 hours of battery life is nothing to sneeze at, and a brighter screen that can be seen in daylight, well that'd be great too!

 

10 hours? That's WITH the Time Warp Controller running, right? :laugh:

mnem
It's just a jump to the left...

 

I am shocked at the difference between the CF-28 & 29. My 28s keep up pretty well speed wise but the scren is like 100% better. And while it is not rated as a transflective screen... In sunlight with the monitor set at its brightest setting... You can see the screen.

 

Hmm. The 29 is sounding better and better for field use. Ive been searching the web for 29s most of the evening.

 

Me too!

 

I think the 29 is my favorite Toughbook. I like the 30's for the most part but there are a few things that really irk me about them. The 29 has (or can have added) everything I want & would need from a ruggedized laptop and a good looking screen. They're also pretty simple once you figure 'em out.

 

Out of curiousity... What don't you like about the CF-30?

I've heard others say the same thing about the CF-29 and, based on that, I almost didn't buy one. But I'm glad I did...

 

the price

 

I'll second that one. For the price of a new CF-30, I could have done so much to that hearse of mine. I'd have a nice transmission with overdrive in it right now for sure.

 

c'mon, crawl up under that thing with a couple floor jacks and swap that tranny out already.. we've been hearing about that for months

 

It's soooo cold

Other problem is, I gotta figure out a scheme to support the car because one of my airbags has a small leak that'll empty itself in a few days.

 

Ever hear of cinder blocks?

 

The 30 design is so far different from the 29 it's almost shocking to a tech. The mainboard was mounted on a removable tray this time (same idea as most new PCs) which is a pain to remove. I could deal with that if some of the components that break frequently weren't under that tray. The biggest problem I have is the 7H's to 7L's (and there are a lot of 'em) have a big problem with the BIOS chips going bad which wrecks a bunch of stuff not to mention having to remove the mainboard again. There are some design changes I love, like all of the wireless modules (aside from EVDO) being right under the keyboard and easy to get to. Ditto on the USBs, they have their own board which sits just under the bottom cabinet so they're easy to change out. I guess it's the mainboard setup that really bothers me about them.

 

So.. With money out of the equation... You would still choose the CF-29?

I would say the same thing about the CF-28 going to the CF-29. After having deconstructed the CF-28 so many times... it was a shock to look into the guts of the CF-29. The CF-28 has tons of room to pretty much do whatever you want. The CF-29 is a lot more cramped.

 

Yeah, I had the same thought moving to 29s from 28s but after I got used to the 29, I like it a lot more than the 28. With money out of the equation, I'd probably pick the 30 but not by much. Maybe they'll have the issues ironed out with the mark 2-4 but not enough have been produced (if any of the 3 & 4) to really get a feel for trends yet.