got my first semi-rugged today!

I said I'd never do it.. but.. The misses is going back to school and said she needs a laptop. BUT.. she isn't interested in one of my 27s or 28s I figured the next best thing would be a semi rugged Toughbook.. I couldn't have a non-Panasonic notebook in the house, could I? I lucked out (I think) and found someone local that had this untested CF-48 for $20. I think I lucked out.. Screen's ok and it boots to BIOS. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to go on a HD caddy quest (like every CF28 owner does), but to my pleasant surprise the 48 doesn't need a caddy (and the CD/DVD drive is built-in). didn't come with a battery, but it uses the same as the 28 so hopefully I've got one in the pile that isn't dead. Looks like I just need to add a hard drive and we'll be in business!

One thing I do need though is the memory slot cover. Anyone happen to have one of these?

 

It's OK Grav - just keep telling yourself it was cheap and it is for research. I started snagging cheap 72's and 73's - not a bad setup for the casual user that needs something better than a Dell but does not need the full Monty -

 

I will look this week for you
I used to have 2 cf-48 in parts
The main problem that I found with the cf-48s was the backlite failing

Alex

 

thanks man, let me know

 

What I'm starting to like about this 48 is it is caddy-free (making for a potentially cheap fully-functional computer) and it shares many parts with the 28

 

guess my great deal wasn't so great of a deal.. it has a strange problem. it works fine at first, boots up, but then shuts off after like 30 seconds. it seems to coincide with the fan running.. guess i have an excuse to take it apart how hard is a 48 to take apart, compared to a 27 or 28?

 

I’d make her take a real toughbook to school. Only a fool would mess with a girl swing'n a 28.

 

Gotta ease her into it.. If she breaks this one though, I will insist on a full-rugged!

I'm happy, because I think I solved the problem. It seemed like a thermal management issue (shut down right after the fan kicks on) so I took a peek inside.. It's got a ZIF-socketed CPU! The heatsink compound was all dried up, and I happened to have another compatible CPU (that's just a hair faster) so I swapped it out and greased it up real good. It stays running now, and the fan doesn't come on nearly as much either.

So at 1.13 GHz, it's now the fastest notebook in the house. I wonder what was the fastest CPU they made for these?

 

gravitar, the 48 is a very good machine. i like the p4 1.8 units for decent speed and built in wi-fi. i've only had to replace one backlite, but several power jacks. let me know if you need anything!

 

My friend has one of these, pretty decent machine. I make a habbit out of dropping my laptops often so this one probably wouldn't do it for me. I think as long as she takes decent care of it it should be ok, although I do like the idea of her carrying around a fully rugged one, getting whopped over the head with a 28 would suck lol

 

right now i need the little plastic cover for the memory socket. got an extra?

 

gravitar, sorry i don't have a memory cover, i think i got one on ebay for about $5- semi-frequent item there

 

gravitar, found one, this is one of my trusted sellers-bought several times from him-never a problem http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-Toughbook-CF-48-Laptop-Memory-DIMM-Cover_W0QQitemZ160297134025QQihZ006QQcategoryZ74949QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

 

actually, i think i'm going to look for another 48. Although I thought initially that I solved the shutdown problem, it seems now that I only prolonged its life. It'll go 15-20 minutes now, but once it gets good 'n hot, it goes back to its old tricks.

 

gravitar,there's a bunch of cf-48 mobo's on ebay right now

 

update.. I'm using the Cisco 350 series miniPCI wifi card and a pair of those little plastic "flag" antennas in the palmrest, and it works REAL well! Better than I'd expected.

 

Happy Birthday Gravitar



Alex

 

Any other semi-rugged that are caddy free?

Also, I noticed some of the CF-48's don't have built in wireless... do they have mini-pci card slots where cards could be added?

Thanks!!