Toughbook durability influence other purchase?

Just curious if anyone else does this. Since I have started using Toughbooks, it has influenced my other purchases.
For example; I am getting ready to put bi-xenon HID projectors in my truck. I had several choices for ballasts. I went with Matsush*ta's (Panasonic's parent company) mainly because of the design and durability of my Toughbooks.

 

Not a panasonic, but when it came time to get a personal cell phone I went with a
waterproof, dust proof, shock resistant, and built to mil-spec 810f standards, Samsung galaxy rugby pro
I still have to be careful as it's not a tough as my toughbooks


Bob

 

Everything I own is rugged. Period, end of story!

Truck, phone, tablet, stud finder, volt meter, camera, flashlights, drills, saws... Anything that can be rugged IS...

 

My sister gave me a Panasonic LCD wristwatch for my 15th birthday years ago. It worked like a champ for years until I got tired of it. I beat the crap out of it for years. I researched it a few years after that and found out it was a counterfeit watch.

Too bad... It sold me on Panasonic anyway.

 

It was the opposite - my toughbook was the last "rugged" purchase.

First I bought Lada Niva car ( pic). Then I bought equipment for that car (long list of what a car on offroad driving must have). Then a rugged phone - Durrocomm LM801 ( pic). Then a rugged head flashlight (Petzl Pixa 3 - a perfect one, despite it's kind of heavy). Finally my rugged laptop - Toughbook CF-52mk1.

 

I went with a Motorola Defy

 

I guess we are lucky they don't make a counterfeit Toughbook.
Hmm counterfeit Toughbook.....Would that be a counterfeit YOU?

 

After i bought my first toughbook (a CF-27 mk2) , i learned the profits of rugged equipment. So , when i needed a new mobile phone, i bought a Nokia 6303. This mobile phone has a nice aluminium body (kinda rugged).the phone survived many punkrock gigs and also some water. (I found it 2 days after a punkrock festival, it was in a pool of water in the mud ,... in front of the main stage podium). Had to dry it 3 days or so, then it worked without a problem. There is also a 6303i, that can be charged by USB. The 6303 needs a mains adapter to charge its battery. I also like the free mobymaps (kinda GPS map service), works rather good even without internet.

 

My first "tough" stuff was a nokia 3310 mobile phone (green/black screen), it was about 2002, i still have it, the battery still hold about a week of charge in normal use and the hard plastic of the case let you to use it to play soccer.

 

Ha, we all new you would be back

 

Yes they do... They call it a Dell XFR.... LOL

 

Not yet, but the more I am learning about internals, etc. the more it would or will. I have no doubt about that.

Frankly however, on an off note, having taken them apart now, as many things I might add, once apart I really don't see how the retail prices are justified. There really isnt much to it, and other than design, I see nothing really which justifies the new machine prices.

I am a bit of a different story perhaps. Although largely a worker and laborer of sorts, I love craftsmanship and quality in everything. From suits, to shoes, to timepieces, to paintbrushes, you name it..I'm a prince without a palace, what can I say.

Having become tired of being the ignorant sucker, replacing a laptop every 2 years I decided to learn more and research all I can (within reason)..so here I am.

I wouldnt buy another computer but a toughbook. Definitely found my PC here and a Toughbook evangelist now.. These are precisely what I was after and Im glad they are available to the public and parts are so wonderfully plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to find! Not to mention easy to work on..

Seems Im definitely in like-minded nutty company with those who appreciate, tolerate, and become attached to these machines for similar possibly illogical motives.

If only i could find the perfect OS .. actually Linux seems the answer from all Ive heard, but I just havent the time to learn abou all just yet.

my .02 fwiw

 

Or just dual boot, the best of both worlds.

 

Or just get a Mac... *Runs as Toughbook guys flog Rob*

 

As in Big Mac? because you can't mean Apple/Mac

 

At least on the ruggedized laptops, there's obviously a larger markup on these units simply due to volume. So given (much) lower volume with a given design, more costly materials, more costly testing, plus manufacturing is still based in Japan, plus components are Japanese-sourced as well AFAIK... you're not exactly buying a common commodity like an iPhone. You're buying the 20th Anniversary Macintosh (if we can compare apples to oranges!)

In Japan, the "Let's Note" laptops are very popular. But still nowhere near the worldwide proliferation of Dells, HP, Apple, etc.

And if you experienced the failure rate of the rugged Toughbooks... you'll know. For some, a broken laptop means going to the iPad to check email and make that presentation, no biggie. But for people who use Toughbooks, a failure may mean a dead stop in the water. But no, you're not gonna get max FPS on Crysis.

 

I would still like to test that out on a CF-31 with ATI.

 

I hacked Unreal Tournament 2003 a little bit, to get it working on my TOughbookc CF-M34 (with a celeron 400Mhz and SSE), 256MB ram and Win XP. changed the settings file to display a resolution of 400x300 (and putting most grafix fx off). Now i can play UT 2003 on my CF-M34, a bit blocky, but thanks to the small 8.5 inch screen thats not a big problem. The Frames Per Second (FPS) of UT2003 are rather okay and it playable. So, thats what i call adapting a cool game to fit my own needs, without having to buy a CF-31. Hail to all Toughbook users and modding people !

 

I am working on pushing the limits on the Mk3 19 right now. (4gb ram, x25 160gb ssd, 1.2 coreduo) I have got left4dead working on it now. This is all with the stock driver. I haven't even tried the modded driver yet.