http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/ Engadget Comments for Panasonic gets official with the W7, T7, and Y7 Toughbooks http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/The disc drive is cool, though.]]>Nov 12th 2007 8:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
I just looked at about 7 before posting this to make sure, and yup... they all wear in the middle.

You may think you use the whole thing, but you really just stick to the middle in a circular pattern.]]>Nov 12th 2007 9:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
I've taken apart Panasonic laptops but their engineering quality is top-notch. Especially when compared to the "style prioritized" Sony books and the low cost Dells. ]]>Nov 12th 2007 9:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 2:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 8:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 8:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 9:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 4:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 4:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 9:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 9:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 10:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 12:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 2:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 14th 2007 8:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/]]>Nov 12th 2007 9:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
Seems like a "tough" optical drive would be just a slot like what's on a Mac Mini.]]>Nov 12th 2007 10:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/@the guy above
its made out of aluminum]]>Nov 12th 2007 11:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 7:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/These Toughbooks can withstand 100kg/220lbs of pressure behind the screen when closed.]]>Nov 13th 2007 3:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/wxga= 1366 x 768, 1280 x 800

higher resolution with wide screens, meaning what you can fit in vertically STAYS THE SAME. However the horizontal resolution goes up so you can fit more horizontally. ]]>Nov 12th 2007 9:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
BTW... Do you realize that you can reply to your own post? It's a heck of a lot less annoying then to see someones comments strewn all over the page.]]>Nov 13th 2007 8:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 9:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
These are basically standard laptops with metal-plastic alloy cases. They're about as rugged as a Thinkpad, but with less shock-mounting and protection for the LCD... and they cost 50% more.

We've had a bunch of these as well as their fully rugged laptops... Both have very high failure rates--but these semi-rugged are a joke. Don't waste your money.
]]>Nov 12th 2007 11:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
We had a field deployment with 5 Toughbook rugged models. All 5 failed within 2 weeks due to failed motherboards--why? Toughbooks aren't fully sealed when in use.

We replaced those and each of the replacements failed 2 weeks with the same problem.

We had another 2 being used in a different environment. Both failed during a thunderstorm because the USB ports are unsealed. Their bad design allowed the motherboard to be exposed to water. Other rugged laptops/tablets seal off the USB ports so that you cannot damage the motherboard.

When the USB port is in use, I would expect the USB device to fail and the port to be ruined (and should be field replaceable), but MB should be safe. Panasonic requires you to send unit back.

We had about 4 or 5 (I can't remember the exact number on this one) others fail due a broken LCD screen. Toughbooks are not rated to be dropped when turned on or the lid is open. Most other rugged laptops are designed and TESTED for such a case.

The LCD screen flexes too much for a rugged laptop. Hence it tends to break when dropped. Toughbooks are advertised as being able to withstand an 8 foot drop.

After a few failures, we put 4 of them through our test facility to see if they met MILSPEC (Panasonic claims their laptops meet MILSPEC)... All 4 failed. When we talked to Panasonic, they refused to repair them--laptops are designed to MILSPEC, not guaranteed. What's the point?

We are an ANSI certified facility for testing sensor equipment so we have *some* clue about testing (I admit, we are not certified for MILSPEC).

One unit was run over by a golf cart due to negligence. Though it was closed and locked (as Panasonic specificies for maximum ruggedness), the case was cracked. Panasonic claims their toughbooks can be runover by trucks and forklifts...

Our law enforcement partner on this deployment told us their Toughbooks lasted an average of 6 months before catastrophic failure. They had 100's in the field.

Not a single one of our toughbooks lasted more than a month in the field... And no, we don't "abuse" our equipment. Everything we do with the equipment is covered by Panasonic's advertising and claims.

I call that false advertising.]]>Nov 13th 2007 9:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 14th 2007 8:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/]]>Nov 14th 2007 10:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
For full-rugged, Itronix has generally done a lot better. Their sales staff are a lot less ambitious about their claims and their units generally meet/beat their claims. It also survived all of the MILSPEC tests.

Both Itronics and Xplore Technologies make great Tablet PCs. Seems to hold up much better than laptops to abuse. They're much better compartmentalized than the rugged laptops so catastrophic failures are less frequent--dust, water, and contaminents can only ruin the USB ports, but not the actual motherboard. ]]>Nov 14th 2007 10:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 10:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 12th 2007 10:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
I settled on a Toshiba Tecra A9, because I could not find anywhere in the Midwest where I could personally see a CF-52 Toughbook. I know that CompUSA used to carry the W series Toughbooks, but you are SOL if you are interested in any other models. ]]>Nov 12th 2007 10:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
Minor negatives: the backlighting on mine is a little uneven. Not always noticeable, but sometimes. Also, no firewire port. Oh, and the port expansion unit is a -joke-: you have to power-down to unplug it from panasonic connector - that blows. And given how good the rest of their product is, I can't believe they screwed the pooch on that.

My .02 - Cheers!

]]>Nov 12th 2007 11:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/95% of the time, I suspend it to RAM (takes a few seconds), but 5% of the time, I don't even do that.]]>Nov 13th 2007 2:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/
]]>Nov 13th 2007 6:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Nov 13th 2007 8:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Feb 19th 2008 10:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/panasonic-gets-official-with-w7-t7-and-y7-toughbooks/Two gripes though: the backlight (even on maximum power and plugged in) was still too dim compared to other laptops, and the CD/DVD drive is incredibly noisy the entire time it's reading the disc (huge distraction when you're listening to music through headphones).
Hope these flaws will be fixed before they hit the US market.]]>Nov 15th 2007 2:42AM