review and user experience with a CF-19 (mk5)

Review Panasonic CF-19 mk5. CF-19ADNAHF4.


On the internet there is a lot of information about Toughbook’s and some information about the CF-19. What I did miss was longer-term user experience. So I first want to give a good description of my CF-19 and then my perspective about the mk5 CF-19 as a user. I’m a bit different user than the usual group, I use this laptop as a consultant, to make notes, minutes, write applications, business plans, make forecasts etc. Just the kind of thing you can do on almost any laptop (although I also use a large screen for the more complex things like large spreadsheets). The reason that I have a CF-19 is that I wanted to be able to work outdoors whenever I want and also want to haul it around every day of the week in a messenger or backpack. My previous 6 or 7 laptops lasted about a year, if they did last that long. My last MacBook air 11” needed some four weeks in the repair shop after only 5 months. And I pampered that MacBook with a slow-memory-foam sleeve, padded messenger bag and always careful handling.

So, what do I have? It has a fairly regular i5 2520m processor, no discrete graphics, 1394 port, 2x USB 2, serial port, VGA, modem, Ethernet, SD-card-reader, PCMCIA, ExpressCard, phone and microphone jacket and a sim-card-thing. This laptop also has Dual Touch screen, it has a Ericson HSDPA modem and I changed the keyboard to a Chiclet emissive keyboard. I also added an Intel 320 600Gb SSD. Ow and upped the memory to 8Gb.
This laptop largely made from magnesium, is also IP65 meaning fully dust proof and soft-water-jet-proof. I have an acquaintance that used these in Iraq and Afghanistan and he told me the only place where dust got in after 6 months on a forward operating base was behind the antennae covers. Not bad when you daily haul these things around for 6 months.

The display.
Some people have asked about this display, as is supposed to be better than anything they build before. The info/marketing leaflet says the following about it:
10.1" sunlight-viewable transflective plus XGA Active Matrix (TFT) colour LCD with circular polarizer (up to 500cd/m² transmissive and 6.500cd/m² reflective
brightness, depending on light conditions); Concealed Mode, Dual Touch (resistive Touchscreen & Digitizer).

My Macbook Air is said to be around 350 nits and the 19 is clearly brighter than that. This is just the 500 nits that is generated by the leds.
The other 6000 nits in the 6500 nits statement come from the sun. When the sun shines on a regular display, it is dispersed in the display. The 19’s display uses this light and reflects it back, in effect using the sun to make the image much, much brighter. However, there is a small catch when you think you don’t need backlight any longer when using the display outside. First of all there are losses when the light falls in and get reflected out. They are not as huge when compared with regular displays, but there still are some. So when the backlight is put in its lowest setting, the surrounding light is a little more than the light that reflects from the display. It’s not as mirror like as the regular displays and you can read them without backlight, but to be comfortable and use it for prolonged times, you still need the backlight to make the screen brighter than its surroundings and thus easily readable. So far I haven’t seen any display that performs better in sunlight.

Another good use of the display is in near dark and pitch dark. The info leaflet says it will emit just one nit of light. That is a comfortable light level when typing in a really dark environment. It might be a lot when your eyes are fully night adapted, but it’s one of the lowest I’ve seen in any laptop. Just one little nagging thing: you can’t easily turn off the backlight completely as you can with most other laptops. To do this you need to engage the concealed mode, but I use concealed mode to make the laptop use the minimal amount of energy when I walk away but don’t want to turn it off. It’s a bit odd as every laptop I know can have the backlight turned off by just pressing the lower-button.

The panel inside is a XGA Active Matrix (TFT) with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and is 10.1” large The format is an old fashion 4:3. In these days that is a tiny screen with just a few pixels. And it gets worse. Black’s aren’t as black as an iPad/iPhone 4 and nowhere as black as a OLED screen and other colors are a bit faded as well. Off center viewing isn’t really good either. So at first it looks a lot like Panasonic tried to make some profit on the panel. And I don’t know if they do, but there can also be a reason found behind this madness at first sight. The letters that are displayed are decent sized and good readable. The intended user group might look at drawings, but they tend to be technical and often just contain lines, letters and numbers. So accurate color representation wasn’t a big design issue for Panasonic. The 4:3 format is really nice for reading in portrait mode and works quite well for me when typing texts. Working with this screen has made me realize how often I’m squinting to look at the tiny, tiny letters on my iPad and even with the fabulous sharpness of the iPad display it is tiresome. But when reading a lot on 19’s display, it will get tiresome as well as the letters aren’t completely sharp. But overall it’s a good display to use for reading text, drawings and that kind of work. It’s also a good screen for creating simple text content. But most likely you want a nice 24”screen to make complex spreadsheets, documents with multiple graphs and text-boxes.
If you use software like ERP’s or that kind of company software stuff, you are usually good. Most programs and websites assume you have a minimum display of 1024x768. So you can watch most sites and software without missing bits on the side or bottom.
But where the true value of this screen becomes clear is when working outside. I’ve had times when I was working outside on my Macbook and I wasn’t able to see anything at all. I even had times when I was in an office with particular bad lighting (not enough indoor lighting and too much sun/glare) where I was only just able to see something on a regular display. Not with the CF-19. The display is very bright to start with, but also uses the light from the sun to stay well readable.

Touch & Digitizer.
The touch function in this screen is something you can get used to all too fast. When I switch from my 19 to my Air, I often am tapping at the screen of the air. Needless to say the Air doesn’t respond. When you use touch in a word document you can usually tap the right line or word to select that word or go back to edit the text. That works quite well. Tapping with your fingernail is accurate, you can also tap with you finger, but that will be so in accurate you need inch sized buttons to be sure it goes right the first time. So if you’re a nail-biter and have almost no nail, get the digitizer version. Both the digitizer and the ouch versions work with gloves, although the gloves make the touch a bit less accurate. The digitizer function is something nice. It uses Wacom technology and if you use a digitizer enabled stylus (one is supplied with the laptop, attached via a lanyard) you can very accurately select/mark things on your screen. If the pen hovers above the screen (about 6mm ¼ th of an inch) you see the cursor move along. Tapping will activate the left mouse button, and for the right button you need to click and hold a button on the pen and the tap the screen. Works nicely, but the pen is really thin and I have sometimes a bit of trouble before I have found the button on the pen. Larger Wacom pens are easier to use. But they won’t fit in the special bay on the left bottom side of the screen.

So far the screen. It’s not very special at first sight, it is rather small and has just a few pixels, but this makes good with easy use for its intended users. Touch and/or Digitizer are really handy features and I am wondering why not more laptops or certainly netbooks have them.
One last thing about the screen, it attaches via a hinge to the body of the laptop and this hinge can rotate as well, making a thick, bad tablet out of your CF-19. New on the mk5 (and I can’t imagine why the earlier versions didn’t have this) is that if you slide the lock, you can then turn the screen. That sounds rather obvious, but earlier versions required you to do both at the same time, just like opening a door. But on a door that is easy, on a laptop that is held with two hands (and thus not sitting on a desk) it is a bit more awkward.

The keyboard & microscopic touchpad.
In Europe there are two options for a keyboard. A regular keyboard and a rubberized backlit keyboard. The first is standard and works all right. I had a bit of cross typing between the keys (meaning to hit the “Y”key and also hitting the “T” in the process), but that could have been because it is a 98% keyboard. That means it is smaller than your regular keyboard and just like stairs, if the keyboard is just a few millimeters off, it can get really annoying. It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, it takes some time to getting used to. The keys themselves have a good distinct point where the key clicks, but it’s not very special.

The rubberized keyboard on the other hand is something special. What a pain in a proverbial place. I know it has its uses, like working on the beach (but then again, I won’t work on the beach, I just watch girls volleyball there ) or if you need to work in a desert it is nice not have quarts-particles stuck between keys. But if you’re not playing in a big sandbox, get the next keyboard.

The Chiclet-style backlit keyboard. This is the best of the pack. Keys are even smaller than the regular keyboard, but the spacing is also a bit bigger. This extra spacing makes a big, big difference. With this keyboard I can type just as fast as I can on my Macbook Air and only have minimal more errors, if any at all. The keystroke is quite shallow, but it takes very little force and it’s sensitive. You also register very clearly the click (although it isn’t a real click, but you’ll know when you hit the key right or not). Furthermore this keyboard is backlit, you can choose with the [FN] key and [F12] if you want it off or four levels of brightness. The keyboard is never very bright, you’ll have trouble seeing in daylight if it is on at all. But when it gets dark it’s really handy to have.
This last keyboard is not available in Europe. Don’t ask me why, but the dealer didn’t know it even existed. They only knew it from the CF-18 and told me it wouldn’t fit on the CF-19. Luckily there is such a thing as notebookreview.com/Panasonic

The touch-pad is a tiny thing, coming from a macbook air it is microscopic, it only can register one finger at a time, it has a plastic membrane on top to make it waterproof. The touch-pad buttons are rubber covered but work well. Luckily there is a touch & digitizer screen. Otherwise prepare to use a wireless mouse, although that defeats the waterproofness of this laptop.

Housing & rest of the laptop.
Underneath the keyboard is the rest of the laptop. It is largely made from magnesium, has plastic covers that seal the small ports (power, usb, modem, Ethernet etc) and large hatches that close bays like the HDD bay, battery bay etc. The bottom has a slide that enables connection with a dock. Front houses some indicator lights and a power slide to put the laptop to sleep/awake/reset etc. Also on the front is a latch that closes the display and keeps it nice and cozy to the body, no matter what. This latch is also made from magnesium with stainless steel pins. What can I say about this case? It might not win designer prices, not have a urban hip look, but it’s strong as a vault. The case is IP65 as well so you can work with it in less than ideal environments.

I haven’t been inside this laptop yet, no need because switching the HDD to a SSD was pulling the latch open, getting the HDD caddy out, opening this up, carefully laying the foam-packs and heater aside, disconnecting the HDD and connecting the SSD, carefully packing everything together again and sliding the caddy back in. Easy-peasy. The caddy is a very typical thing. You can get a HDD out very easy, but the caddy does more than that. Inside is foam that protects the HDD from shocks and vibration. I’ve read reviews and articles claiming it is something really special, but I couldn’t see anything else than soft foam that protects it. Perhaps there is more to it than meets the eye. There is also a thin heater inside that heats up the HDD in cold weather, to prevent a frozen HDD from failing catastrophically if it is frozen. (it seems this can happen, never had it myself). It gives an idea of the kind of engineering that went in this laptop.

Sound.
What’s more to say. Sound! In the screen there is a small waterproof (or water resistant) speaker. It gives sound and if you’re a hifi-freak, start running! Joking aside, the speaker works nice, it’s not generating 120dB, but it does do a good level. Low and high sounds are not really noticeable, but overall it’s a good functional thing.

3G connection and GPS.
There is a Sony Ericsson card inside that provides you with the ability to connect to the internet whenever there is a mobile network. It connects with these modes: WCDMA/HSPA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE and on these bands: WCDM A /HSPA 2100/1900/900/850MHz GSM/ GPRS/EDGE 1900/1800/900/850MHz. I have no idea how many more modes and bands there are, but I guestimating you can connect in almost every country as long as there is a network within reach. Speeds I get are up to 14Mbps, but it seems to be able to do 21Mbps as well. For my use it is plenty fast and since last month I stopped using a regular broadband connection in favor of this 3G. I paid €45 for the broadband line, unlimited, 8Mb/s down, 1Mb/s up and I pay for the 3G a €30 for 2Gb and every Mb I use over that 2Gb costs me 1,5 cents. For €45 I can get 5Gb per month and 0,9 per Mb cents if I get over that. 3G speeds are 14Mbps and around 2Mbps up, plenty fast for me. These costs vary by continent, country and provider, but as I’m on the road very often, it is easier and even costing less. I do not understand why not more ultra-portables have this inside!

User experience.
First of all I would like to say I use this laptop a lot. Really a lot. I have around 1790 hours on it in the first 6 months. That is a full year of work. In that time I have had no crashes, but I have had three times that the computer stayed on while the lid was being closed. I recently did a battery-calibration and it showed my battery being 95% health and having still 57970 mWh with 110 cycles.
After using MacBooks for some 8 years I have to say this on is not as sleek, but it has a good user experience, it’s much, much stronger and best of all, I’m not thinking constantly: be careful, you have a laptop with you. I have to consider it can be stolen, but it’s not any longer that dropping my bag to hard, banging the bag against something or even keeping a messenger bag to close to your body might wrap the case and crack the motherboard. (as happened to my last MacBook Air 11” after 5 months.

But after using it for some 6 months I’ve found some points that could use improvement or are being watched how they develop.
• First is the 768 pixels wide screen in tablet mode. That doesn’t provide enough space for a lot of websites. At 75% most websites do fit, but they are hard to read. I don’t see how to change this and keeping the 4:3 format and good readability.
• Second is the pivot. It can rotate (works nicely) but it is also used to close the screen. At first this was very tight, I could lift the laptop at the screen without the angle of the pivot changing. It now starts to move a little bit. Not a big deal, but I’m curious how this will develop in the future.
• Then there is the handle. It is made from (polyprop?) webbing with a small steel side-closing snap. This snap tends to seize up after it has been subject to some load and it takes a bit of wiggling and trying to get it to un-snap. The webbing is very sensitive to Velcro (I pack this laptop in the trauma-plate pocket of my Eagle industries Molle Patrol Pack) and it starts to look fuzzy. Not a big deal, but there are other webbings (like the safety belt in your car) that are less prone to this.
• Then there is a cover for the sim, it is kept in place with one screw. This has a proprietary head that looks a bit like a protected torx, but it’s a Japanese specialty. Hard to use and not very convenient. And it is an accessory that costs €50, even when you have WWAN factory installed. I found them cheaper (but even €18 is a lot for such a small piece of metal).
• Last and most worrying thing on my CF-19 is the door on my HDD bay. It looks like solid magnesium, but it isn’t. There is a strong, thick plastic sticker on the outside and two square parts of the door are just covered by that. One of them is dented a bit and I’m not sure if this sticker is really strong enough. IMHO this is a bit weak. I’ll see how it develops.

The bottom line is that I found the strongest laptop so far (and I don’t expect to find a stronger one anytime soon) it is very useful outside, can withstand rain, dust, drops and hauling it around every day in a backpack, works in cold or hot or humid environments, (darn, it even keeps working when I don’t want to anymore). Even though it is not indestructible, it is pretty much as close to being indestructible as any laptop can come.
I have considered buying an CF-31 (mk1) because of the larger screen and keyboard, but after 6 months I’m sure I won’t. The CF-19 is a perfect balance between power, size, strength weight and usefulness. Or at least for me.


It has become an extremely large post, I know, but I hope it helps others in making educated choices about their next laptop. If there are any inconsistencies/mistakes or typos, just let me know. Also if you have any other usefull information, please do post it!

 

Alecgold:

Good Information....you deserve a **Star** for typing all this on such a small keyboard/screen. Now that the newness has worn off, how do the points you have covered rate on a scale of 1-5 ??....the price premium for this model is HIGH, whats your view on cost versus user experience ??

Thanks.

o.g.

 

Hi OG. I type this amount of text quite often. At least a few times a week. And I don't have small hands either. It's the chiklet keyboard that makes all the difference!

Having the experience and trust that I got in Panasonic's Toughbooks?
If this unit would get stolen, damaged or the likes, I probably look for a neat, little used mk4, fit it with a SSD, 8Gb of memory and still be as happy but save some serious money.
I think think the i5 520m processor is every bit as capable as the newer i5 2520m. Going back further to a C2D processor would be good for now, but hamper my use most likely in the future.
Just to give an example, I found a local CF-31 mk1 with the i5 processor for 1800 euro's. That is at least half the price of a new one! Perhaps the discrete graphics are a problem for some on this model, but otherwise you might just save €1500-1800!! that is a lot of money in my book.
OTOH I plan to use this laptop for at least 4-5 years and perhaps use it 7-8 years. Compared to the rate Apple made me burn through laptops and money, I hit brake even after two years and "save" money with every day it lasts longer. Add to that the fact that I don't need to spend time to migrate from laptop to laptop and it saves on annoyance as well.

Just to make a quick rating:
Touch/Digitizer 5 (How have I done without this?)
Screen/display 4 (very good for my uses, but a bit small)
keyboard 4 (very good for my uses, but a bit small)
housing 5 (never seen such a sturdy housing)
Sound 3 (it works, but it's not a hifi set )
3G + GPS 5 ((How have I done without this?)

 

Reps to you Alecgold! I read reviews often before making buying decisions. Many reviews are written while the subject is still only a few hours old. The "gotchas" haven't been noticed yet. A review from someone who has had theirs more than 24 hours is a useful thing. You have time to see the things that only appear after extended use.

 

Thanks!
But it's true, I often buy gadgets and I like them a lot, all hyped up and with (perhaps too) high expectations. But it's after using it for a month, or sometimes even as little as a few hours when you realize there is a quite big flaw that is making the gadget near impossible to use.

Often stupid things like a backpack with a zipper that keeps opening because it is stressed to much, a bluetooth headset that isn't able to stay in/on your ear or one of my favorite: an ultra PORTABLE laptop that can't take the strain of being carried around.

 

I am a proud owner of a MK5! But i was wondering, what did you have to buy to make the SIM slot work? I do have wwan factory installed...

Thanks,
Niels

 

Welcome in this rare club I've found it a very nice system to use!
Did you buy it new? If so why not wait for the 6?
What's the number of your mk5?

I just click the sim in and it stays put. Remember that it will only fit one way.
Then it should recognise the sim automaticly.


there is a sim-protector-metal-thingy or something like that, but it cost 18 euro, uses a ridiculus screw and is IMHO much, much, much overpriced.

 

The SIM card on ANY toughbook is NOT hot swappable! Be sure to turn it off first!

If you do put it in when it's on, just reboot.

Yes, they only go in one way, and the newer models are getting away from that SIM cover. The screw hole is still there, but they don't ship em with them any more.

I don't have a cover on my 19 because I like to be able to pop my SIM into my other Toughbooks to give AT&T interwebs to other machines easily

 

Woah that was a quick reply! I don't have the notebook with me right now, so i don't have the number.
I made the deal of my life with this system. I bought it second hand from a company that was going bankrupt. Thats why i only paid 500 euro (they cost around 3000+ where i live). The unit was only 1 month old. I really like it, it is really quick with the i5 and has stellar battery life. I have the full loaded version (GPS, camera, wwan etc), but what i noticed is that there is a wwan card installed, but the sim slot is covered with a piece of plastic/metal and secured by a T6 screw... So the only thing I have to do is to remove the screw and I am good to go?

Thanks!

 

)(*&^%$#@#$%^&*()(*&^% I'm jealours!!!!
What a steal, that price! Mine was 4400 bucks incl. VAT.
What's your part of the world?

It's not t6, it's some mad japanese variant. but by all means unscrew it and pop it in!!

 

that's an incredible deal !!!
do they have any left ?

 

Yeah best deal of the year. I got it from a guy from Belgium. But I live in the Netherlands, so I have the wrong keyboard (will be upgrading it in a while, the island style backlit keyboard looks good to me). Still it's far from perfect, there are a bunch of things I would change. Awesome machine though! Will post some pics soon.

 

Always good to see a kaaskop
AZERY keyboards are a nightmare. all at once it's like I've lost several fingers while still trying to type blind.

The rubber keyboard is a nightmare unless you're living inside the dunes or sitting in mud all day.
The regular keyboard is oke, but I had some trouble with cross-typing letters (e.g.wanting to hit a T and accidently hitting the Y). The chickelt/island style one is the best AFAIK.
And backlit and easier to type on and a very good tactile feedback.
Everything I can as for from a keyboard. It's rather expensive, think along the linse of 185 to 200 dollars.

 

Nice to see more Dutchies! Do you still have the screwdriver? I might want to borrow it... : )

 

Nah, I just used a small flat "watch" screwdriver to unscrew the sim-screw. It doesn't take much force to unscrew it. But it's not very convenient.

 

18 months user review update.
This week was the 18 months anniversary for my CF19- mk5. It was a rather uneventful time, the biggest thing was the mk6 that came out and it had gotten a USB3 port. Which is something I rather miss on the mk5. But more on the things I miss later.
What I want to do in this update is to see what I’ve changed on the 19, things that aren’t as smooth and things that surprised me.

So first the rough parts, troubles, annoyances and other negative points.

Windows 7.
The single biggest annoyance is Windows 7. I think windows 7 is pretty nice, but after 9-12 months it starts to get hiccups. For instance my WWAN card took ages to get internet access. That wasn’t so with a clean install. So I updated the driver for the Ericsson F5521GW, but doing so I lost Bluetooth. But the WWAN access was back to seconds for logging in and getting full access. After about 11 months I noticed windows had become really slow and I wanted to do a full reinstall of windows.
But as this is my work machine, I don’t want to be a few days without this machine. So I acquired a second caddy, got a 256Gb SSD to get fast installs and transfer times and installed a neat, clean install with all updates, all necessary work-programs and the data.
This way I can always get a clean copy really fast: when I want a new install, I just clone the drive and hey presto! A new install on a perfect working drive.

USB2.
But copying from an SSD to a SSD via USB2 is not something you want to do in a hurry. At least not when it’s about 240Gb of windows, programs and about 8 million tiny HTML files (don’t ask, but I need them).
The easiest solution is to buy a new mk6 which has USB3 build in, but that is a bit costly. A little bit less easy is to buy a USB3 enclosure for my SSD and a 54mm Express card that has 2 flush mounted USB 3 ports! I’m not sure it is as fast as a USB3 that is directly connected to the MoBo, but it was about 5-8 times faster as the USB2 ports. Because it is flush mounted, you can just close the hatch, forget about it and use it just when you need it. Only minor disadvantage is that it has a limited amount of power, so a SSD will work, but a HDD requires additional power from a USB2 port. (not that there is any need to connect a HDD to an USB3 port, but that is another discussion).

Screen protector madness.
Next negative point is a rather silly one, but I want you to learn from my mistakes.
The screen of a CF-19 has a screen protector on it. These are factory installed and IMHO highly recommended. But one idiot friend (now former friend) saw the protector, said: “hey you didn’t remove the protecting plastic” and ripped it off before I could say anything. Bloody. So I ordered a new one, that took ages to arrive, so I ordered another one, that was cancelled then I ordered a third one in the UK and that was within 3 days on my doorstep. I sat on a desk in an empty office with no AC, heating or other things to create floating dust particles and installed the new screen protector.
It went perfect! No dust or dirt behind it. Nice. It was a little bit more glossy, but ooh well, I was protected once again!
After a week there where some scratches on the protector. Pity. Two weeks, a lot of scratches. After three weeks I couldn’t see between the scratches! Even though screen protector 1 and 2 had arrived at last, I wasn’t looking forward going through the process of sticking a new protector on every month. I just didn’t understand it, these where new, factory original protectors, € 50 each!! The first, factory installed, had lasted 5 months without so much as a scratch! After 4 weeks I really had to remove it. So I sat down to remove the old screen protector and to my astonishment I removed an upper protective layer. The installation notes didn’t mention it, but after that the real screen protector (and not the protector of the screen protector) has been with me for 13 more months and it is still looking great. Some minor light scratches along the right side caused by lots of scrolling.

Digitiser pens.
Don’t use strong rare earth magnets near them. Especially on the tip. They don’t like it and won’t click any more, even though they still point, you can’t click.

The next pet peeve.
The digitizer pen is connected with a coil-lanyard to the left-hand bottom side of the screen. The pen has it’s garage also on the left bottom side. There also is a lanyard point on the right hand side, but no pen-garage! For right handed people this is rather annoying. You can attach the lanyard to the right side, but need to stretch the lanyard to get it in the garage. If you want to twist& fold the screen, the lanyard gets in the way. If you attach it to the left side, you’re always fighting with the lanyard to look onto the screen as either your hand or the lanyard is in the way. Just make a garage on both sides!! And now we are at it, why not make a small lock or something to keep the pen in the garage? Digitiser pens are bloody expensive (around 45 euro’s for one tiny pen at the dealer, I know there are cheaper sellers, I found 8 of them for 175), so make it a bit less easy to loose!

Now for the positive side.
It still works!! Even after 18 months I had no break downs, unexpected hardware failures or dents. If you look closely you can see it has been used (keys are a bit more glossy, on the bottom are some really minor glossy patches from rubbing against a table or inside of a bag). And I haven’t been very careful with it. If this had been my macbook air, it would have died within a week. I have had it in an Eagle Industries backpack-backpanel where you need to put the trauma-plate. (really nice spot to put it, safe and protected with foam, but lined with coarse, rough Velcro and prone to bend/torque loads when you load the bag with 10-15Kg of stuff). Since a three months I have a Goruck Radio Ruck that is a bit more civilian looking and has a pouch meant for a laptop.
So carrying it with me every day, everywhere, dumping it on the passenger side car-seat, pulling it out over the middle console, on trains, busses, crowded offices, parties, on my bike and walking, in every possible weather type, hasn’t made any difference.
Everything is still doing strong, everything is still as it was when it came out of its box, everything is still in perfect working order.

Another big thing.
The lack of a fan is still a great thing. It never gets the fan’s revved up like a chopper that is about to take off, heavily loaded. My wifes Macbook Pro can make a lot of noise when it get to work hard.

Battery life and runtime.
The original battery has now gotten well over 500 cycles and is getting worn down. It still holds about 3-5 hours’ worth of charge when working, but not the 8-9 hours it once head. I bought a second battery that I use every day and when I need some extra juice at the end of a long day, I get out the second battery. This way I can always get at least 8 hours of good use but with care and light use I can get up to 11 or 12 hours. Because this laptop is so crucial for my work I even bought a second new battery that I can take with me to get around 15 hours of the heaviest work, It jst means hauling around two spare batteries. Oh, don’t buy non-original batteries the are crap. Or at least the ones I got.

Bottom line, I expect it to last at least another 3 years, after it will become my backup. If it gets nicked, I will immediately get a new one (or better a score used mk3 or mk4). It’s that good.

 

Alec, do you have any of the issues (gray/red tint on the screen, indoors, washed-out colors) that others have noticed about transflective displays (on older CF-28, 29) ?

see http://forum.notebookreview.com/pan...ve-must-sunlight-readability.html#post9155514

 

Hard question. It's not as virbrant as my iPhone and nowhere looks like an oled. It's a bit washed out and I wouldn't use it for foto shopping. But grey and red are clearly distinct and I also watch movies on this screen.
I'm not annoyed by it, but I didn't expect or need high cri and color accuracy.

So to be short, perfect workable with office, not perfect for adobe-work.

Hope this helps!