panasonic toughbook?

[Captain Pugwash]

just asking if anyone has used or using to date any toughbooks. as i have to purchase one for work and quiet frankly don't know much about them. which is the best value for what i would be paying out. i have narrowed the field down to the cf-30 or the 19 version. the programs being used are xp based as vista will not work. any info would be greatfully recived, good or bad.

[forthbridge]

Samantha's brother uses them at his work, and by all accounts they are virtually indestructable**.

I've had a look at more than one, and they are very solidly constructed. I'd say certainly better 'portability' than a stadard lappy, and they are designed to be just that.


** Having said that a Gas engineer slipped on my path once and the toughbook hit the deck hard, and the HDD got wrecked.... although the case and screen etc was fine, and they installed a new HDD (and got whatever information pertaining to my boiler out of the old HDD).

The above perhaps not surprising, and a normal lappy would probably be in bits on the same drop.....

[TSR2]

They are build lik brick outside toilets, and even though drives could get damaged they are less prone to it than the average laptop. I know a guy who drove his Landy over one and it was unscathed.