Panasonic Tough Books

Mike Finley

Is anyone familiar with Panasonic Tough Books laptops? I'm curious if anyone thinks the ruggedness of the tough books is a serious consideration in choosing a lab top to use on location doing estimations and presentations? They have magnesium shells, shock and drop resistant hard drives, flexible internal connections etc...

RobertF

I've got three laptops and their PDA. I'd never buy anything else again. These bad boys are beyond tough and having a touchscreen is awesome. When using other laptops I find myself trying to tap the screen. Toss me a PM, I believe my old business partner became a dealer for them.

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-Robert F

Nathan

Yea, the building inspectors in my area have them in their cars with Sprint high speed data cards installed. Pretty cool stuff.

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

AAPaint

Never seen those...but I just recently dropped 2K on an MSI-1036 that's fast enough to both do estimates and presentations, but also play all today's latest games, w00t! Not that it matters, I game on my main rig, and it has just become a workhorse lappy. I hardly even plug it up in the house anymore....

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Paul Burns

Money?

I bought a toshiba laptop a few years ago on ebay that was NEVER sold in the States. So after I/ME messed the thing up, I had to go searc for a hard drive. Not because the drive is so special, but the connectors are NOT the standard type. Anyway, through my searching and reading, I found out that Toshiba made the same hard drive that my Libretto L5 uses and sold it to Panasonic to use in their Toughbooks. IOW's my little Toshiba has the same hard drive as your Panasonic.

The good news for me is that I only paid a little more than 1,000.00 with windows xp American style, LOL on it.

The bad news is you can't even find a Libretto L5 on Ebay. You can find their oler models and the brand new u105, but it a has a 6.4" screen and my L5 has a 10.4" and they both weigh about the same. 2.2 lbs. or so. GOK's why they did that.

Anyway, I thought I would let you on that little knowledge I gained through days of internet browsing to find a new hard drive.

Oh, and that is my SECOND Libretto in almost 10 years. I'm pretty sure the first one was running indows 95 and I think it still works! They are almost bullet proof! I mean, I can't get a pair of sunglasses to make it month. AND I'do 99% of our proposals with that thing in one hand and pecking with the other as I walk around homes and buildings.

Good luck,
Paul

p.s. I've got my eyes on the Panasonic R4 now. I think you can only find it on www.dynamism.com. It's another 2 pounder.

Cole

I think they are awesome.

I also think they are a must need for a construction professional who likes to work in the field.

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Aceinstaller

anyone know of any deals on these?????????????

they seem very expensive.

RobertF

I'm a dealer for them, but even my cost is expensive. These units are built to last a lifetime and will take the abuse we contractors put them through.

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-Robert F

Mike Finley

That's part of the problem for me, who needs a computer to last a life time when on average every 3-4 years I am starting over with a new one?

AAPaint

Hah, wish I had a lappy that I could walk around peckin on whilst doing estimates! Instead, I bought a 17", 8lb. monster so I can play call of duty 2 online, whilst eating my lunch in the van, lol. Oh yeah, it can do estimates too...nah, I don't wish for anything different.

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

fez-head

I am trading labor for one of these as we speak (either the rigid or semi-rigid version). My client is a dealer and sells / installs new and used tough books along with the mounts, GPS systems ect... He is a lot cheaper than retail especially on the corporate trade-ins

I was debating on asking for the cash instead but after reading this I am going for it.

Shoot me an email and I will give you his name and email address. jessekirchhoff@earthlink.net

Atricaudatus

Mike,
In the sandbox "over there," the US Army issued a lot of Tough Books to our guys (for use with the situational-awareness type software we use. What we used to do with paper maps and acetate is now done on computer graphics.) I have to say they are pretty durable and can take a lot of banging around. Although I wouldn't put Panisonic's drop test claim to the test. They aren't indestructible of course.

As for the value of a tough book over a regular laptop, I'll share one anecdote: One of my Sgts had his laptop (not a toughbook) tucked safely under his arm, taking it from point A to B. As he passed through a door, the power cord (still attached) managed to get caught on the door knob and the unit was tugged out of his arm and fell to the floor. When he powered it back up, total memory loss. Lost all his data. No visible damage to the unit, but he couldn't recover anything from his drive, nothing.

So, if you take your puter with you to jobsites I think shelling out the extra cash for a shock resistant type is worth it.

Just my $.02 worth.

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-Rhett
Licensed electrician and plumber