Panasonic ToughBook Testing Facility Tour 146
An anonymous reader writes "ToughBooks are considered by some to be the most resilient of all notebooks. So how does Panasonic ensure that their line of indestructible portables are just that? In a recent tour of the Kobe plant in Japan it was discovered that 1000's of ToughBooks are destroyed each year in pursuit of the most rugged systems. Soaking, electric shock, heating and electromagnetic radiation are among the many methods of torture used."
Sounds like fun (Score:2, Funny)
Please submit your resume ASAP (Score:2)
Please show your experience with measuring damage caused by RFI, ESD, EMP, ionizing radiation and other damge causing emmissions.
Please show your experience with pressure testing, fluid leak testing etc.
Indeed (Score:5, Funny)
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How to REALLY test a notebook (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How to REALLY test a notebook (Score:5, Funny)
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My CEO went through two toughbooks in three years and he doesn't even take it onto industrial sites. He can kill any electrical device by simply using it as normal. We've given up on spending twice as much for these toughbooks. We just make sure we've got a good three year warranty these days and get him a normal notebook.
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Trust me on this (Score:4, Funny)
You can take the computer away from the four-year-old. Your dad will want to try "one more thing".
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It's about the right tool for the job, to use an aphorism.
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Video editing in the adult-film industry?
Re:How to REALLY test a notebook (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously though, we're moving back to Fujitsu's over the Panasonics. The Toughbooks (at least the T2's we have) haven't proved to be all that tough and their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Fujitsu had problems in that department as well, but lately has made strides in the right direction. We need the touchscreens for this application (our RN's complete tons of medical assessments using checkboxes) so that kind of narrows our choices.
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not bright enough (Score:5, Insightful)
Vista Help Forum [vistahelpforum.com]
Re:not bright enough (Score:5, Informative)
the toughbook-30 looks fantastic in bright direct sunlight as it has a correct reflective LCD instead of a standard Laptop screen, IF ordered correctly.
Most places do not buy the right gear when it comes to toughbooks because their accounting department craps their pants when they see the price.
Daylight Screen Standard? / $4169.95 (Score:3, Interesting)
Can you order it without the correct screen? The Panasonic site [panasonic.com] makes it seem like it's standard.
Most places do not buy the right gear when it comes to toughbooks because their accounting department craps their pants when they see the price.
If so, Amazon [amazon.com] has it listed for $4,169.95 which doesn't seem unreasonable, considering it's not hard to order a Lenovo
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BTW, a toughbook kicks the crap out of any other laptop. I have an old one here from my Pentium II days that still works and has fell from a 2nd story height been r
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Nice. That does have a certain allure.
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Then again, after owning multiple laptops with 1600x1200 screens, I find the 1440x900 screen on my shiny new 15" MacBook Pro extremely cramped. Which means that I've become quite spoiled. I wish I knew of a work-around to that.
Ross
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Holiday in Cambodia?
If you don't have time to read TFA.... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/df_te
If they weren't so bloody expensive, I'd get one. It looks like it would survive the real world quite nicely. If only all notebooks were built to HALF of what these are built to survive.
They cost about $4000 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:They cost about $4000 (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want to use a laptop in a field over summer, buy the cheapest you can find and keep buying them every year. 5 years later you'll have spent less money (even if you break a couple and need to go buy some replacements) and you won't be stuck with an outdated, but perfectly functioning, computer.
Toughbooks, I hate them.
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The point is, there aresome situations where breaking "in the field" is not good in a big way. That's why the DoD buys 'em.
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They have actually been known to have protected soldiers by stopping bullets. I'd imagine troops stuck in unarmored HumVees carry their ToughBooks between themselves and the door.
I'd like to have one of them, but as a general rule, I don't buy any laptop I haven't actually typed on. And Panasonic doesn't seem to have any interest in getting these things into stores. I've never seen one in any computer store.
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We use them where I work (Air Force), we send them into the field with C-17 crews. Toughbooks have a reputation for being "slow" only because there are so many old ones still working (at $4000 plus, we use 'em till they die). The new ones are just as zippy as any new laptop, they only suffer from a small screen size due to the small "footprint" requirements.
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I like grabbing "outdated, but perfectly functioning, computer"s and tossing Linux on 'em.
Even my CF-71 is still useful (in my shop, for reading vehicle manuals), easy to fix if I do damage it, and cost me about $160 plus some fiddling to make one
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Toughbooks have their merits, but if you want a general purpose computer and you don't know what you mi
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http://panasonic.jp/pc/appli/tough/ [panasonic.jp]
And this is for the *semi* rugged line!
More videos (fully rugged line):
http://panasonic.com.au/products/information.cfm?d etailsID=236&contextID=2482 [panasonic.com.au]
Waste? (Score:2)
Matsushita Versus Sony (Score:5, Interesting)
Why would anyone want to pay 30% more for an equivalent product?
Why does Sony charge so much money even though nearly 100% of its products is now assembled in low-wage China? Panasonic still tries to build its products in high-wage Japan.
you are just wrong! (Score:2)
the question is still valid, the assertion is not.
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My own experience with Sony hardware is actually the same. I've thrown out a lot of Sony stuff, but everything I have that has been made by Panasonic I still have and still works.
Yeesh. (Score:2)
I'd hate to see the review that ends up on "SlightlySuspectedOfBeingShillReviews..."
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Thats so 1990!
Didn't your mother ever tell you:
"If don't have anything nice to say, don't post on slashdot!"?
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Watch it though.... (Score:5, Interesting)
can panic the TSA morons quite fast.
The thing looks like a bomb from the TV show 24.
At minimum you look like a spy or someone who is not doing good things.
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Not to worry (Score:2)
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True story.
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I have been around most of the world with my trusty CF27 toughbook and never had a problem. It looks even more agricultural than the more recent one you pictured. Never had a problem.
In hong kong, forgot about it (heavy jetlag) and left it on the X-ray machine while going through customs. Went back half an hour later and picked it up. All they asked me to do was identify it and it was fine.
I guess if I went to the states it could be more difficult, as they get spooked quite easily over there.
Itronix (Score:5, Informative)
I got my Itronix used (years ago) on E-bay. It has a 'Sprint' logo on the cover. Apparently was used by field service techs.
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"Put a firefighter in a phone booth with 2 bowling balls and come back in a hour. One bowling ball will be lost and the other bowling ball will be broken."
The dept I worked at had the toughbook tablets in all the trucks and chiefs cars. Well worth the money if you truly need a hardened laptop.
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No, not if you wait for companies to replace obsolete machines. My laptop (old Pentium 133) was part of a large batch sold off to resellers. The downside is that some of these machines were pretty beaten up. A reputable reseller will give you an accurate description of the condition (scrapes, scratches, parts falling off, etc).
Methods of torture (Score:1, Funny)
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ToughBook ToughLove (Score:5, Funny)
From TFA:
Every dominatrix should have one.
Um... (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of a Toughbook... (Score:3, Interesting)
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And it can be very easy to swap out hard drives if they're pcmcia.
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Sure. I can imagine situations where it would be useful too -- especially if you're backpacking your gear -- but most of the time Toughbook users are wasting their money.
Most of the time? The police, military, fire departments, field technicians and others who work in extreme environments are "wasting their money"? If they brought a traditional laptop to many places they need them on a day to day basis they wouldn't last more than a week. How practical is it to purchase 4 laptops per month when a single $3500 unit would last for years?
And it can be very easy to swap out hard drives if they're pcmcia.
Psssst; part of the strength of the toughbook is the ruggedness of the hard drive enclosure.
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When you're talking about engineers whose main tools are a screwdriver & spanner, they probably treat laptops with the same level of harsh use.
Parts Quality Counts Too (Score:2, Insightful)
After buying a Toughbook 3-1/2 years ago; I have not had one single problem. The laptop industry's dirty big secret is not that laptopls need to be ruggedized for real-world use but that most laptops are flimsy and are designed so that they are prone to break under normal use. Most have a very slip
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I remember back when... (Score:1, Interesting)
He walks in and had a question about repairing the keys on the computer. A few had broke off and he wanted to get a replacement keyboard. As I walked out and noticed the computer I said to the guy "Thats an odd looking lapto
Great notebooks (Score:2)
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They have ads in magazines for police and fire here in the states. I don't think the average Joe would need a ruggedized laptop, so I think they focus their ad dollars at the people that could benefit from them.
not so tough (Score:1)
Re:not so tough (Score:5, Insightful)
Give users something and tell them it is tough and they will break it by being wreckless.
Give users something and tell them it is fragile, there is a good chance they will treat it reasonably.
Better to give a rugged notebook to someone who needs a rugged notebook due to the work that they do and tell them that it is not indestructable and that they should handle it as carefully as their job permits... Then it should last a reasonable amount of time.
Just my 2 cents worth.
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I can't say much for the new T60s though, I played with a new T60p at work and thought it was nasty (awful screen and keyb
Whatever! (Score:1)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/021 9212 [slashdot.org]
So are they (Score:1)
(It's in Kobe. Kobe beef. Got it?)
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Silicon Heaven (Score:1)
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It is possible to kill the hard drives (Score:3, Informative)
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bad workmanship (Score:5, Funny)
Things just arent built to last these days . .
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The proper phrase is "In Soviet Osaka, Toughbooks break drop testing machines."
For added flavor, you can throw in stuff like:
"THEY SET US UP THE DROP TEST"
"The drop tester is dead, Netcraft confirms it"
"I, for one, welcome our drop tester-breaking Toughbook overlords"
Just imagine... (Score:1, Funny)
Beware! While they are idle they might compute a way to revenge against the human torturers with electroshocks. Oh wait... these are not Dell notebooks.
Shame for me, before reading this story I never knew that Panasonic is involved in notebook production.
Pretty Tough... (Score:5, Interesting)
Great Products (Score:2)
Great, but can they handle... (Score:2)
Sound very familiar (Score:4, Funny)
No real video card? (Score:2)
It's pointless ... (Score:2)
So: Do these machines run a Unix derivative out-of-the-box and perfectly?
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I've been eyeing second-hand Toughbooks for some time, as they make ideal laptops to throw into my motorcycle hardcases without worrying about padding around them.
As far as I can tell, and the reports on linux-laptop.net [linux-laptop.net] seem to bear this out, Panasonic aka Matshushita uses fairly standard chipsets in these things, the kind they also sell to other manufacturers, so they run Linux with a little fiddling at most. Which is of course logical: a well-known, well-tested, and well-integrated hardware design is al
Yeah, but.... (Score:2)
The Kobe plant in Eagle, Colorado (Score:2)
Do not confuse this with the Kobe plant in Eagle, Colorado, where laptops are being raped.
Sounds familiar? (Score:2)
So this is like the Abu Ghraib of laptops?
CF71 still holding up (Score:2)
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Really? How many calories are in one of those things?