Panasonic's Toughbook CF-30 gets gnawed by tiger, stomped by elephant and 187'd

In a whirring round of hurt that only a dear friend we know simply as Congmasta could deliver, a team of his irreverent cousins got ahold of Panasonic's Toughbook CF-30 to see just how far the envelope could be pushed. We already discovered that said machine was plenty tough for the average adventurer, but Forbes' tests prove that this bad boy is tailor made for maltreatment in the field. Somehow, the machine survived a round of Diet Coke to the keys, a few chomps from a white tiger, an elephant's playful attempt to extirpate it and even a single .22 slug through the lid. After the torment concluded, the CF-30 still managed to boot, and while that hole in the LCD was certainly a nuisance, it didn't stop the rest of the pixels from lighting up and trudging onward. Tap the read link for all the gory details, photographs and video, but seriously, don't try this at home. Or anywhere.

[Image courtesy of Schim Schimmel/SchimmelSmith Publishing, thanks Vipul]

[Thebloodysea @ Jun 25th 2009 8:57AM]

The Tigers are so cute!

[Templarian @ Jun 25th 2009 9:03AM]

+1. He looks so playful, then I remember that humans are equivalent to an easy kill.

[MuSeW @ Jun 25th 2009 9:04AM]

Until they bite your hand off for petting them

[Magallanes @ Jun 25th 2009 9:25AM]

tiger or snow leopard?

[WinterTiger @ Jun 25th 2009 9:35AM]

Pretty sure they just couldn't find a wallpaper with a white tiger that looked 'interesting' enough. The Forbes article has a photo of the lappy being held by a white tiger however, so blame creative license...

[Derek @ Jun 25th 2009 12:22PM]

those are not tigers. tigers have stripes not spots.

[Joseph @ Jun 25th 2009 9:03AM]

HOLY %$##

[kal326 @ Jun 25th 2009 9:08AM]

.22 is pretty weak, hit it with a .45 and see how well the screen works then.

[Mark @ Jun 25th 2009 9:16AM]

they did, you should read the article and look at the pics it's quite amazing

[Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways @ Jun 25th 2009 11:47AM]

FTFA:

So we borrowed a Springfield 1911 in .45 ACP. Most cops use comparatively dinky 9-millimeter pistols. This classic 39-ounce piece is more hand cannon than handgun.

A shot with the 1911 from 15 yards took the Toughbook down. To be sure it didn't stagger back up, we followed up with a .44 magnum revolver and a solid lead slug from a 12-gauge shotgun. Then we packed up the Toughbook and sent it back to Panasonic.

[TC @ Jun 25th 2009 9:17AM]

Ignorance is embarrassing, but... 187'd?

[Darren @ Jun 25th 2009 9:20AM]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=187

[Orbitcorbett @ Jun 25th 2009 9:25AM]

"It's 1-8-7 on a f***in' lap-top!" (to quote Snoop)

[Jo-Al @ Jun 25th 2009 3:26PM]

engadget's gangsta.

[AJ @ Jun 25th 2009 10:02AM]

Those are snow leopards. White tigers have stripes.

[callused @ Jun 25th 2009 9:58AM]

Anyone know of a place where I could buy that tiger design on a t-shirt? I think it would go well with my wolf shirt and neckbeard...

[tekdroid @ Jun 25th 2009 10:08AM]

Video was a bit off. He says the laptop can survive drops of 3 feet, yet he drops it from less than one foot onto the table... hmm.

Then he tries to exaggerate the effect of Diet Coke (especially since it's being spilled on plastics), and waterproof keyboards are not that unusual.

The bowling test didn't look too severe, especially not on carpet. Of course it's nice the Toughbook come siwth a handle so you can hold it, but nothing severe being dished out here any laptop couldn't handle.

Crushing Doritos on the keys and having the keys work doesn't look like anything special.

The darts piercing the protective layer of the screen outline the need for a user-replaceable layer, more than anything else, I reckon.

Crushing a can on the lid is not anything you couldn't do on a cheapie, either.

The tiger and elephant stuff it held up well with... except some pieces of the unit fell out (but good that the keyboard is still working, I guess). Maybe most impressive is the screen still works. The elephant should have stood on the Toughbook in an open state to really test it out, though - not closed.

These videos can be great PR (no doubtt that's why Panasonic agreed to sacrifice one) and no doubt some industries would save money with less downtime with something like this (and it has a touchscreen)...but I wasn't too impressed with the video. Felt all a bit too restrained in certain areas and too forced in others (ie. shooting it at the end).

[Geek4Rugged @ Jun 25th 2009 1:29PM]

My friend, you put way too much thought into that! It's just a great story and video - unless you work for Dell's PR agency.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jun 25th 2009 10:32AM]

technocide.

[Heavytoka @ Jun 25th 2009 12:27PM]

That was Awesome

[eldris @ Jun 25th 2009 12:46PM]

That image you used is stolen, you should probably remove it :)

Photobucket really isn't a good place to go for images. Most good ones there are stolen. Try a tineye.com search on things first. That image gets nearly 500 results.

[eldris @ Jun 25th 2009 12:47PM]

P.S. The original image is here: http://lena-panthera.deviantart.com/art/leopards-blue-earth-118525755 However you *need to ask first* if you want to continue using it here.

[eldris @ Jun 25th 2009 12:49PM]

Turns out that link I posted isn't even the original :( Sorry to keep posting, but I very strongly act upon finding art theft.

[eldris @ Jun 25th 2009 1:18PM]

Hello again :) I found the original artist, Schim Schimmel: http://schimmelsmith.com/home.html (for the image you use, click gallery then art collection in the bottom right. It's in the 3rd column, 6th down)

He seems pretty famous. Info about licensing his work, eg displaying it places ;), is here: http://lionhartproductions.com/schims_newbio.htm