rugged, beautiful, some shortcomings
Written: Sep 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: durable; beautiful; good carrying handle
Cons: sluggish when hot; drives not swappable
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| ilselieve's Full Review: Panasonic Toughbook 71 (CF-71KYCKCAM98) PC Noteboo... |
I'm a graduate student in the Amazon and have used my Toughbook daily for over a year. Five units were purchased for our research team, and all of them have stood up well under daily transport in field vehicles and backpacks; so far none have required repair.
However I've been disappointed in a number of features. Switching between CD-ROM and disk drives on the Toughbook (supposedly hot-swappable) causes Windows to crash. This means rebooting to switch between drives.
The Toughbook often does not restore properly from the standby or sleep function, and so I finally disabled this function.
I've found the Toughbook is not well suited to the heat. Despite an internal fan that kicks in, after several hours' use indoors on a hot day, it gets too sluggish to continue without rebooting. An exterior fan blowing on the computer seems to take care of the problem (equally important for the performance of the user!)
Another what seems to be a heat-related problem is that Shut Down does not always complete by itself. Often the Windows-is-shutting-down screen remains on until one manually turns off the computer.
A minor discomfort is a light electric shock that one gets when in contact with any spots where the finish is nicked. The solution to this is not to operate the computer barefoot!
Despite these shortcomings, its durability through the daily transport and field situations has been impressive. The design that includes a handle (removable if it doesn't fit in your backpack sleeve) makes for secure carrying. The magnesium alloy case also makes it one of the most beautiful portable computers.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ilselieve
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Member: ilse ackerman
Location: Harrisonburg, Virginia
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
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