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    Toughbook questions

    Discussion in 'Panasonic' started by Pinecone, Jun 24, 2011.

  1. Pinecone

    Pinecone Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the advice on the other wwan thread. In return....I work for Panasonic Toughbooks directly (not as a service engineer...I'll leave service questions for the TBTechs). I'm not sure how many burning questions people have on their chests about Toughbooks, but if you have any at all about any subject (why does Panasonic do this, why are Toughbooks like xxx etc etc) then post away and I'll do my best to answer.

    PS: I can't talk about anything to do with the so called Toughbook tablet yet!
     
    Pinecone, Jun 24, 2011
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  2. Rob

    Rob Toughbook Aficionado

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    DAMN! I was reading this and formulating my questions and thoughts... "What is the status on that tabl.." DAMN :/

    Haha.

    But in all seriousness, WHY THE HELL does Panasonic charge so damn much for TINY parts (like the CF-30 power rubber for example is up to $3.71/each)????? Also, why is Heartland the ONLY company we can get parts from???

    I have no grips about Heartland, it's a GREAT company, BUT us Americans like CHOICE!
     
    Rob, Jun 24, 2011
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  3. Pinecone

    Pinecone Notebook Consultant

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    As a non-American, it seems American companies love to outsource things. So I guess Panasonic outsourced all the servicing to Heartlands and let them deal with everything. It's not that way in Europe - Panasonic does all the servicing and spare parts selling here. Because of the rugged nature of the product, and the values they are sold under, Panasonic likes to service the Toughbooks itself, so there is no chance that the rugged nature - the flagship quality - can be lost during servicing. So nobody else officially services Toughbooks - Heartlands does it on Panasonic's behalf in the US as I understand it.

    As for the pricing....I can't comment directly, but due to the lifetime of the product (I know of one customer here in Europe that is still using CF-27 devices officially - despite them being 8 or 9 years old) Panasonic has to keep spare parts to service kit with for a long time after the manufacturer of them stops. Hence there is probably storage costs included in the price and a host of other factors. But yes, they....aren't the cheapest around!

    As for the tablet, when I can talk about it, I'll let you know!
     
    Pinecone, Jun 24, 2011
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