Toughbook CF-W2

I found a store here in Hong Kong selling a whole bunch of older laptops and found 3 Japanese Toughbook (Let's Note) CF-W2s. One has 1.1GHz, one has a 1GHz and the other a 900MHz Pentium M. All have XP Pro, WiFi b/g, 512mb RAM and a DVD-ROM drive.

Looking to get it to supplement my VAIO Z, just to browse the web and listen to music. I was just wondering whether it has any major issues I should know of and whether $2000 HKD ($260) for any of them is a good buy.

Also are there any upgrades I could do to it like add a 3G modem or GPS module.

(and one more thing, are these older toughbook things actually semi-tough or are the just crappy laptops crammed into a magnesium alloy casing which does nothing to protect it? Not looking for it to be as durable as say the CF-30 obviously but for it to just stand up to daily wear and tear)

Thanks.

 

W2's are good laptops. For 3 years I carried one on trips all over the world. I even dropped it once or twice from bag/desk height. It still works well.

I would say the price is OK, but not great. you should be able to get Y2's (14" version) for that price. If portability is what you want, though, a W2 will serve you well. It weighs no more than a netbook, has a 12" screen and has a DVD reader built in.

Hope you like it.

 

Yeah I was looking at a more portable form factor (and sth more durable than my VAIO X) so I guess the W2 it is.

Just a few questions:

1. Are they upgradeable to 1GB RAM or is it limited to 768 as the official documentation states?
2. Is it possible to add an internal 3G modem? Otherwise is it possible to upgrade the Intel 2200 card to a b/g/n model?

Thanks!

 

I am pretty sure there was never a 3G modem offered for the W2. I don't see why you could not add a PCM, USB or (possibly) SD card modem.

When I took mine apart, I did not see any internal add-in slots.

 

I never tried to go above the 768K, so I don't know if it is possible or not. Maybe someone else knows...

 

There is no internal upgrade path for UMTS. Yet you could use the PC Card Slot for this. The RAM, well back when the system was introduced, there was no 1 GB RAM module with 172pins available on the market. This is why 768 was the promoted maxium RAM upgrade. Since there are 1 GB 172 pin RAM modules available today, I suppose 1 GB is the technical maximum since there is only one RAM slot.

I have found this reference to such a RAM upgrade (I hope it is okay to post links here, they mention a max RAM upgrade of 1GB):

Panasonic Toughbook CF-W2 172pin Laptop RAM Memory Upgrade

I just recentyl bought 4 used CF-W5 computers with Dual Core 1.06 GHz and those can be upgraded to 1.5 GB (512MB soldered on the mainboard). I paid about 250 USD per device. They came with 512MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive and a DVD-Burner.