Panasonic ToughBook Testing Facility Tour

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."

Matsushita Versus Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

Panasonic is just one brand in the consumer-electronics empire of Matsushita. For decades, Panasonic quality was considered inferior to Sony quality, but at the moment, Panasonic quality is nearly identical to Sony quality. Moreover, Sony products cost 30% more than Panasonic products.

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.

Watch it though....

[Lumpy]

Getting on an airplane with one of These [panasonic.com]
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.

Instead of a Toughbook...

[Henry V .009]

I've never considered buying a Toughbook. It's cheaper to buy two (or three) equivalent "regular" laptops, and swap out the hard drives every time one is destroyed. Combined with decent backups, this is all that most Toughbook users really need.

I remember back when...

[Drakin020]

I used to work at a store called Altex. It was a computer store. We had lots of cables OEM computer parts and so on. Well that was my first job as a computer technician before I hit the networking job. I remember this guy bringing in a tough book. I had never seen or heard of one before.

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 laptop" he responded with "Oh its a tough book" I paused for a second and said "Tough book?" He goes "Yeah watch this" He picks it up and drops it off the table...Stunned, I looked over and noticed not a scratch on it. Was very cool getting to see one of those.

Daylight Screen Standard? / $4169.95

[bill_mcgonigle]

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.

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 ThinkPad for that much. I'm sure the specs aren't as good (fast/big/bells/whistles) but they're both 'high-end' notebooks, just with different requirements docs.

Now, how are the Linux drivers? I understand the DoD uses them in this fashion, so I'm guessing 'good enough'.

Pretty Tough...

[Wes Janson]

Saw one take a dive off of the top of a moving patrol car, onto asphalt (moral of the story: don't leave laptops on top of cruisers). Popped a few things out the side, but everything slid back into place, and it booted right up. Dunno about long-term abuse, but I found that test pretty impressive. For organizations such as those, I can easily see how the extra cost for a Toughbook would be worth it. You'd make it back within a few months with the amount saved by not having to replace components and entire units all the time.

Re:They cost about $4000

[solevita]

Their high price is the biggest problem with them, the second problem is their toughness. Sounds strange? Well, I had to use one of the bastards last summer. I was working for my university who had spend a few grand on a toughbook years a go. Of course, now it was too slow to run anything I wanted use, but there was no way the university was getting rid of it; it had cost a fortune and it hadn't broken. That made it useless.

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.

Re:Instead of a Toughbook...

[JPribe]

I'm going to guess you have never used a Toughbook. Swapping the HDD is as easy as swapping the battery. We have about 300 of these at work, spares on the shelf. If the screen dies on you then you go in, pull the HDD and battery, turn in the old shell and get a new one. (CF-29 in an industrial environment: all of our tech data is on the toughbooks, and work is updated live via a scheduled wireless database sync.)

Re:They cost about $4000

[couchslug]

When they are bought as an equipment item for a specific task, they shine. They are often integrated with military test systems where they need to last for years, and they do. They are not intended for people who will care about the initial or replacement pricetag.

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 out of two. They are a breeze to work on.

not indestructable

[SirSmiley]

We have a client who is very hard on equipment.... his memory stick which was some noname thing he got in asia wouldnt work in the toughbook (we gave it to him for internet browsing as he is hard on equip,,,no one can break this right?) long story short he "tapped it into the usb slot" turns out he had it upsidedown...and tapped it in with a hardcover book or something...we had to strip the toughbook apart and solder on a new usb port we stole from an old laptop