Panasonic Toughbook questions?

wby0nder

wby0nder

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Matt Michael
Can someone familiar with the Toughbook models tell me which one I should shop for? I'm wanting used, and cheap. I don't want the latest and greatest. Well actually I do but I can't afford it and don't really need it either. I see on ebay that some of them have back lit keyboards. I want that. Some have integrated CDRW while others require external. I could go either way but leaning toward external (for portability) I'd like to run something better than Windows 98 (don't laugh, I'm still using it on my current laptop!) so whatever RAM capacity is required... And finally, I probably don't really need anything much faster than 1000MHz.

Thanks in advance
Matt
 
Not a lot of used Toughbooks around. They were/are quite expensive. I used to get one from the company, basically 2 years ago's hardware at triple todays top machine price (mine was bought for $6300 with a PII when you could buy a top of the line Think Pad with a PIV for $2100). Nice machine, you could drop it, squirt coffee out your nose on it, mine even took a wave of salt water after a tank rack took out my bridge windows and took a major spray of drilling mud after which I hosed it off. Companies tend to hang onto them until they die. They are Heavy (at least mine was). I now use a Lenovo X61 with Daylight Touchscreen, and it has worked well.
 
Well there is a bunch of them on ebay.
 
wby0nder said:
Well there is a bunch of them on ebay.
Click to expand...

Yea, there's bunch on eBay.

I'd be interested in which ones would be appropriate for aviation use with:

Sunlight readable screen
Small 5x7 to 6x9 screen
Ability to dim for night ops
Option for solid state hard drive
Touch screen

Any computer gurus out there that can give the models that meet these specs?
 
Larryo said:
Yea, there's bunch on eBay.

I'd be interested in which ones would be appropriate for aviation use with:

Sunlight readable screen
Small 5x7 to 6x9 screen
Ability to dim for night ops
Option for solid state hard drive
Touch screen

Any computer gurus out there that can give the models that meet these specs?
Click to expand...

Most all of them have the Daylight screen, Sunlight was optional on most all models, touchscreens again, optional on nearly all Tough Books.

All the screens are 12.1 or larger best I can recall. Dimming for night ops can be challenging depending on the software you have up. SS Hard Drive, just get one and replace.
 
Henning said:
Most all of them have the Daylight screen, Sunlight was optional on most all models, touchscreens again, optional on nearly all Tough Books.

All the screens are 12.1 or larger best I can recall. Dimming for night ops can be challenging depending on the software you have up. SS Hard Drive, just get one and replace.
Click to expand...

Henning,

There's a few 10" on eBay, and that would be the biggest for the cockpit....
Would like more specific specs so it's easier to shop..... Another choice is the Fujitsu 1620...
 
Larryo said:
Henning,

There's a few 10" on eBay, and that would be the biggest for the cockpit....
Would like more specific specs so it's easier to shop..... Another choice is the Fujitsu 1620...
Click to expand...


My X61 ThinkPad is a 12.1 but folds into a tablet and is touchscreen as well as stylus and daylight viewable. It works nicely.
 
Henning said:
My X61 ThinkPad is a 12.1 but folds into a tablet and is touchscreen as well as stylus and daylight viewable. It works nicely.
Click to expand...

Henning,

The 12" is too big, I've got one in the cockpit now, and it's a pain. Ideal would be one that showed an approach plate well, as well as maps and weather, and could be mounted on the control arm or panel to get it out of the way, but still see it.

These's a few out there, but I'm on a wait and see program for now. If Garmin would enlarge the 496 and include approach plates, it would be great.
 
Larryo said:
Henning,

The 12" is too big, I've got one in the cockpit now, and it's a pain. Ideal would be one that showed an approach plate well, as well as maps and weather, and could be mounted on the control arm or panel to get it out of the way, but still see it.

These's a few out there, but I'm on a wait and see program for now. If Garmin would enlarge the 496 and include approach plates, it would be great.
Click to expand...


This fits in a yoke
 
That AV8OR model was at OSH, and was a POS. Performance was god-awful. Now I'll stipulate that they said it was a late beta, but I'd be really careful - BK hasn't made any decent portables in.... forever.
 
TMetzinger said:
That AV8OR model was at OSH, and was a POS. Performance was god-awful. Now I'll stipulate that they said it was a late beta, but I'd be really careful - BK hasn't made any decent portables in.... forever.
Click to expand...

Yea, I briefly looked at it but no one knew anything about it......
 
Henning said:
It's very simple, Bendix King bought Vista Nav. This is Vista Nav rebranded. It's been around for years.
Click to expand...


the form factor is a Samsung Q1- I like Flight Cheetah's implementation.
 
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