fz-55 review

hey folks, i received my fz-55 about 2 weeks ago. it has the i7 cpu 1.9ghz-48ghz with turbo boost. so far this thing is a beast! i have the dual battery option, 64gb of ram and im about to order the graphics card.i opted for the vga module extension with serial port. i also added a dvd rom. its running soley on the supplied 500gb quick disconnect ssd from panasonic. i think there is a place for a second m2 hdd if i understood correctly, but havent really looked.

the good.................. insane display, insane battery life (up to 40hrs they claim), absolutely blazing fast, appears to built stronger than my 54s

the meh.................. price,heavier than my 54s,thicker than my 54s

the bad.....................it seems no matter what i do i havent been able to install any other os than win10, i develop applications for xp-10 so i really need a dual boot win7/win laptop. i spent at least a week trying to get win7 installed and everytime have come up short. imho they should let you pick a option for cms support if needed in the bios.

this is just my worthless 2 cents. but i have literally owned tens of thousands of toughbooks since the m34 lol. if anyone has any suggestions on any way to dual boot, please let me know

 

Thanks for the quick review.
I saw the 55 on Panasonic's web site and was curious about it.

You probably already know this, but
The OS thing may have to do with Win 10 being "interlocked?" with the BIOS.
I don't recall what we had to do, but I recall OS issues while I was installing Linux on various Toughbooks. Disable Secureboot might be part of it.

 

thank you for your feedback sir! i will give that a shot

 

There is no way you will be able to install Windows 7 on a CPU higher than 6th gen. Starting from 7th gen only Windows 10 is working.
What I mean is that Intel didn't release any drivers for Windows 7 to cover the chipset/CPU/LAN/WLAN/etc. that are used in the newer machines.
From what I see the FZ-55 is a 8th gen machine so your only solution is Windows 10 and VirtualBox or other virtualization solution and run the Windows 7 in a VM. You have enough RAM for that.

 

thank you sir! that is kinda what i was thinking also. thank you for confirming this

 

*ahum*

https://www.win-raid.com/t4883f52-S...Controllers-of-new-Intel-chipset-systems.html

 

That's for USB drivers only from what I see there, what about LAN and WiFi? Also no drivers for Intel Video card in the new CPUs. Even if you make it work at standard panel resolution probably performance will be very bad. And that's not all, the new CPUs have all those drivers for Thermal Management, ACPI and power stuff. Just try it and you will see. I tried a few times and even if I fixed many of the drivers I was still not able to fix important ones like WLAN and LAN. I was using a USB to LAN adapter. That's not the way to go when you have the latest model of hardware.

 

Okay... It has been about 10 years since I purchased an insanely expensive new Toughbook. Normally I would grab one of my refurbished ones. KZ... Where did you purchase yours? What did you pay? (If you don't mind me asking.)

Right now I am using a CF-53 I bought off the Bay about 6 months ago. It's in great shape and has all the options but it would be nice to have something new especially with the much longer battery life. Of course I'd want all the goodies!

Can you please tell me what is easily upgradable after the fact? I imagine adding a 2nd hard drive would be easy, RAM of course... But what about the video card, webcam or GPS?

I need to get busy one day and start putting together less expensive packages for eBay to get rid of my excess stock before they become totally worthless.

EDIT - Also... I'd probably want to install my own SSD... Do these still come with recovery disks or are they partitioned recovery?

 

Pretty sure all Toughbooks now use a recovery partition.
I know Win7 and probably Win 10 has the option to create recovery media. Run that after the first couple boots and you should be good to go.
It comes with a SSD. Most SSD's now are m2 or NGFF style. The SSD looks similar to a desktop ram stick.

https://na.panasonic.com/us/support...e-product?searchType=components&baseModel=681

 

I guess that is why a 1TB SSD in this model costs $1k?

 

No, this is a banal greediness )
Samsung's m.2 nvme ssd 970 Evo Plus 1TB retail price is USD 170.

 

@Toughbook When I installed W10 on my CF-54 I went to MS and downloaded the ISO for W10. Installed it along with the one click drive pack and about 2-3 hours later up and running. It found the COA . Works great but hate W10

 

I had a "Retail Therapy" day on Friday and called our old buddy Rob at Rugged Depot. He is now a VP there! He worked me a deal on the i5 model with Touchscreen, LTE, dedicated GPS and the graphics card. I also bought the extra battery and a DVD drive. I told him I was interested in upping the HD to 2TB myself and started asking him about cloning the drive. He said he would work me a deal on that too... So I am getting the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD along with 64GB of Samsung DDR RAM. It's a pricy laptop but he worked me a deal. The last time I bought a new Toughbook it was from Rugged Depot and was right when the CF-31 came out. I have used that one for the past 9-10 years and it has over 26k hours on it. The touchpad is worn down and the keyboard is a little worn from use but it always worked 100%... As they all do!

I built a used CF-53 to move over for a little better speed and have gotten used to the thinner profile and better graphics. When I saw this thread I started looking at the TB55 and fell in love! I am really looking forward to getting it in the next week or two! I'll keep you guys posted!

 

My latest review on my new FZ55... FREAKIN AWESOME!

I was on a CF-31 and got tired of the thickness as I type while seated at my bar usually and I got tired of having to reach up and over... Just not as comfortable as it used to be. I bought a 2.7ghz CF-53 last year and stuffed a 2TB SSD inside along with 16GB of RAM. I loaded a fresh copy of W10 on it and overall I have been happy. Then I saw this review and started reading up on the FZ55. VERY cool! I HAD to have one!

When I was talking with Rob he mentioned that Panasonic had been keeping an eye on what mods we have done and what we have used. They took this under consideration when building their newer lines. They are also making it much more difficult to mod things in according to Rob. A lot of proprietary stuff and modules. I think they are trying to limit their exposure.

I stopped by the Verizon store yesterday to activate my 55. It works insanely well. After activating at the store... I just popped in the SIM and booted up. It read the SIM and that it was activated and Windows started using the SIM. I live out in the woods and have a tough time with connectivity. I used to have HugesNet until I quit their service when it started slowing WAY down. I had AT&T and Verizon hotspots but AT&T started flaking out so I swapped in another Verizon SIM into the hotspot. So right now I have a Winegard Roadlink hotspot and a Verizon Jetpack along with a work laptop that has LTE and now my new 55. The 55 has the best reception of them all! I was shocked!

Overall... The 55 total thickness is about the same as just the base of the CF-53. The 55 seems more "crisp." The illuminated keyboard types MUCH better than any Toughbook I have used. The touchpad is taking some getting used to... It doesn't seem quite as sensitive as my other Toughbooks. The battery life is insane! The monitor is fantastic! Much more Fn key functionality... More adjustability overall.

Now I am debating about buying a Gamber Johnson mount for $249 off the Bay... I'd remove the Havis mount I used to have in my truck and swap in the GJ mount. The cool thing is that the base of the mount can be removed in about 3-5 minutes by removing the 2 front seat bolts. It would be nice to have another mount in the truck but I have been working mainly from home... Someone needs to come up with a reason to justify this for me! LOL

 

Okay... Okay... Everyone just calm down. I went ahead and bought the Gamber Johnson mount.

 

The thing I don't like about the 54 and 55 is the screen size.
I won't even discuss the 53 with the display issues.
I am spoiled by the 52's 15.4 inch screen. The 54 and 55 are only 14 inch.
Panasonic does not make any "large" screen models anymore.

 

Here's the funny thing. I needed to fire up my CF-31 for a few things tonight. After being on the 14" CF-53 and 55... The almost square CF-31 was really weird. I have now gotten very used to the 14" screen of the 53 and 55. I also like the touchpad and keyboard much better!