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“Addictions can be very, very bad but addiction itself is not bad.
It’s a case of what you’re addicted to.
You better live each day like it’s your last, ‘cos one day you’re going to be right”.
Ray Charles.
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- Truck:1 Toughbook:0
It is possible to destroy a Panasonic Toughbook.
* Throwing one from a moving car at 80 mph will do it.
* Throwing one 50’ on to concrete will do it.
* Shooting one with a 45 calibre handgun will do it.
* And having one corroded by salt will do it.
- Truck:1 Toughbook:0
And just to prove they can be killed, on this page there are some photos to show how dead they can get. But to be fair, Panasonic does call their range of fully rugged laptops “Toughbooks” and not “Indestructiblebooks”, so no-one can get them on an unfair advertising claim.
So what is this section for?
Well here it is. During the last year, we’ve been contacted by 3 trips that have come back from the field having all experienced failures with their laptops that have resulted in a loss of existing data and an inability to get the machines to function again on the trip.
- Salt Corrosion: 1 Toughbook: 0
And in combination with the material that was lost, the laptops themselves were permanently shagged and while in the big picture it is not as though anyone was injured or worse, the three reasons for the failures of the machines were for one, spillage of water onto the keyboard and the other 2, small drops on to hard surfaces.
The simple reality is that a standard laptop is not designed for an outdoor environment or anything more than very minor level abuse. And that’s what these three were subjected to, a cup of water spilled in to the guts of one or being dropped from around 12 inches for the others. Sure, normal laptops can be wrapped in bubble wrap, put in a Pelicase but the simple fact is they are a very fragile item.
So this is where the concept of fully-ruggedised, semi-ruggedised laptops and Mack Harris and OC Rugged Laptops come in.
On a recommendation from someone who has bought 2 fully rugged laptops from him, we took this subject further which has led to a connection with a guy whose products can pretty much solve any outdoor laptop disaster story that could be looming on your horizon.
- Salt Corrosion: 1 Toughbook: 0
- Concrete: 1 Toughbook: 0
And to be clear, OC Rugged Laptops and Human Edge Tech are not competitors to each other, the 2 businesses do different things.
We decided to focus on just two models of the wide range of laptops and products Mack sells; the Panasonic Toughbook CF 30 and 19 and here are the reasons we did:
* The Toughbook range was launched in 1996 so they have had more than 10 years of refinement and testing to get to the level of sophistication they’re at now.
* Panasonic is a global company with the warranty system, infrastructure and support to back up their products across the world.
* They only make two models of fully rugged notebooks and not a plethora of weird options and derivations.
* They actually make their products and are not a bolt together item made up from a variety of other manufacturer’s parts.
* These models are extensively field tested and reviewed and 2 reviews are on the CF-19 page but there are plenty more on the web that gives the Toughbook a great rap.
* The CF 30 is in the standard laptop configuration but the CF 19 also converts to tablet format.
* There is a category called Semi-rugged but we decided not to focus on them, as they understandably aren’t made to perform like the Fully-rugged ones are.
So, have a look at the rest of this page for an overview of what this whole rugged laptop thing is all about and then the pages on the 2 models. And yes, these things cost more and weigh more than a normal laptop but even if you’re not thinking about buying one, what these things can do is pretty extraordinary, so maybe worth a read just for the hell of it.
All right, enough of this stuff, what’s the story?
- 45 cal rounds:1 Toughbook:0
Who is this Mack Harris and who is O.C Rugged Laptops?
OC is based in Orange County in California and their product line include a wide array of fully rugged and semi rugged laptops, software media solutions, as well as an extensive array of peripherals.
The guys will talk to you about what the best option is for your needs which may not be the CF 19 or 30, as maybe a rugged PDA would be a far better option. They’ll configure your purchase the way you want it and then ship it to any global destination that’s required and their details are on the Other Stuff page in this section.
- 45 cal rounds:1 Toughbook:0
What Panasonic and independent testers do to test these things:
Unless you are completely crazed with knowing the intricacies of what military specification is which, to read more than just this length overview of what these things go through to be certified MIL STD (Military Standards for the non-mil crew) will be enough for most people but it’s sort of interesting for a few minutes.
To start with, Panasonic sacrifice a 1,000 Toughbooks per year to this process and here’s some of the stuff they need to endure.
Stuff like that the hinges are tested to survive 50,000 cycles and the keyboards must last for 25 million keystrokes and the Drop and Shock Resistance Test is to see if they can endure and survive falls, as well as sudden high-force impacts to the casing.
- 22 cal round: 0 Toughbook: 1. Still working ... yay, at last!
In this test they get dropped in non-operating mode onto each face, edge and corner for a total of 26 drops. The drop surface is two-inch-thick plywood, over a steel plate and over concrete, the drop is from 3 feet and the testing is for both the unit and the hard drive.
Liquid Testing requires a laptop to be open and running but with the ports closed and then the spray testing goes on for 40 minutes.
Vibration Testing is needed because high levels of vibration can quickly root up ordinary mobile computers, especially those often used in vehicles and to test for this they are clamped to an aluminium plate to approximate a rigid mounting and tested in non-operational and operational mode designed to stimulate the equivalent of 1000 miles of transportation.
- Tiger internet dating. "I like to hold hands, kick leaves in the park and my favourite food is Indian ...... villager".
Particle Testing, this one is great. At 140°F, silica flour is blasted at the machine to see whether it will continue to operate without any blockages of moving parts and none of the contacts or relays failing. Sandblast your computer … ha ha.
High Temperature and Low Temperature Testing is when the laptop’s operating the temperature is set at 140°F and when it’s not operating, the temperature’s 160°F. And at the cold end, the operating temp is -20°F and when it’s not operating it’s at -60°F.
And there’s something as well called Thermal Shock Testing which happens at 205°F or -60°F; no idea what this is but sounds official and useful.
Pressure Testing is a simulated altitude test done at the equivalent of 15,000 feet and as well the magnesium casing needing to sustain 100 kgs of pressure.
- Urban camper internet dating: "I like the outdoors and I want a Toughbook to suit my active lifestyle".
OK, maybe just a couple more, you get the picture.
Then there’s the Humidity Test which is done over 10 days at 95% humidity and where the temperature ranges between 80°F and 140°F.
And finally for now the EMI and EMC Testing which is where they test for electromagnetic energy disturbances which can play havoc with electrical gear and they do some lab-coat type action in this area as well.
It’s probably described more technically than this but that’s enough testing for anyone to get the idea that they do a shed-load of work in this whole area.
- 7.62 round: 0 Toughbook: 1
In April 2003, a soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division in Northern Iraq was carrying a CF-M34 Toughbook on his hip while in an un-armoured Humvee, when a 7.62mm round came through the vehicle's door and buried itself in the computer. The round pierced the outer case, cracked through the LCD's glass screen and cratered the left side of the keyboard but it didn't make it all the way through and it didn't enter the soldier.
The result? The screen was trashed but the computer would boot up and the image of the actual laptop is the one on the left.
This video features typically insufferable TV clowns doing some stupid things in the name of testing the Toughbook but it’s pretty good when they blow it up with explosives and run screaming from a maelstrom of deadly shards of Japanese technology. If only … Next page go here
