Panasonic Toughbooks

[theslickvik]

I think the toughbook is sold only in Japan but I would buy it any day. The people at Panasonic say that it can withstand a 100 ft fall and upto 75lbs of weight. Anyone have any comments?

 

[Blazkowicz]

No, only initially were toughbooks available only in Japan. Now they are available outside Japan too.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah there are places you can get them online now. Roughly double the price of normal laptops, expect to spend at least $1500 or $2000 for a decent model. I know a guy who has one and likes it a lot.

 

[computeerrgghh]

I've never owned a Toughbook; however, you can buy one at PortableOne. Its a very reputable dealer and I know that many of its customers are military which is probably why it sells the Toughbooks. Here is the main site. A Dual Core Toughbook looks like it will cost close to 3k.

 

[phantom309]

I've got two of them on our shop floor for our techs to program truck ECM's. After three years of ridiculous abuse at the hands of our mechanics, and a generally very harsh, dirty, environment the still work great.

 

[halw]

You can find info on Toughbooks is you go here.

 

[Suture]

I used Toughbooks for almost 5 years for the Department of Defense. It is the most reliable and sturdy laptop I've ever used, but I wouldn't want one for daily use. They're too bulky and heavy.

I was invited to a demonstration where they were doing everything from submerging the Toughbook in water, to beating it with a baseball bat and running over it with a Hum-vee.

But as the other poster said, they are very expensive. You don't pay for performance, you're paying for an armored notebook.

 

[herm0016]

oh! i bought an old p2 or 3 one here a year or so back, it still works great. and i have seen a video of one being shot, and the bullet not going through. they are amazeing! i got mine with a p2 or p3 (dont remember, was a gift to a friend) with a 10 gig hd and good battery for less than $100. its a little slow, but it works great and is tough as nails, has been travleing around yellowstone as her computer for writing articals and doing work stuff for a year. i love the design of this one, really easy access to the hd and memory and a big steel handle to carry around its 10lbs of weight with.

 

[Texun]

We have about 100 where I work and they are built like a tank, but I would not want to use one for daily use. They are built to be tough.... not pretty.

 

[WackyDan]

There are two types of Toughbooks.

The truly rugged models, and the "somewhat" rugged models.