Meet Matt, a senior technician here at Laptop Broker. Like all our technicians, Matt knows his way around a laptop and has upgraded and rebuilt thousands of computers over the years. We asked Matt to review a few laptops he is familiar with and have posted them for our customers to review. We hope you find this information helpful and welcome your feedback.

Panasonic ToughBook CF-29 Review

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is a strong and rugged laptop that can withstand harsh working conditions. Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 offers a long life coupled with exclusive performance. This laptop is shockproof, drop-proof, waterproof, and it does not cause any problems even with rough handling. However, this laptop may not be suitable for multimedia and gaming options.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 supports extremely quick and precise wireless connectivity and processing in the remotest and harshest environments. You can use the most sophisticated software and work on any application anywhere through this laptop.

Features

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 has specific dimensions 11.8 in X 2.3 in X 9.5 in (WxHxD) weighing 8 lbs. The thickness of this laptop is twice that of a normal laptop. Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is available with a three-year warranty.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 supports the latest components like a floppy drive that can be swapped with a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, a 40GB hard drive, and a 1.3GHz Pentium M processor. Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 supports Intel's Extreme Graphics accelerator. This uses up to 64MB of its 256MB of memory for video and is left with just 768MB of memory. This memory level is definitely much less than other similar laptops.

Rating: 5/5

Looks on the Exterior

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is within a hardened magnesium-aluminum case. It is available in metallic silver or matte black color. It has a waterproof keyboard and has rubber seals on all openings. All hardware is within a shockproof case. The hard drive is removable and enclosed within an aluminum frame case with foam cladding. This protects the hard drive from any sort of shock. Even dropping this laptop from a great height does not cause any destruction. Every hinge, connector and seal offers extensive durability due to its design and enclosures.

The front side has a carrying handle and a sliding power switch. The back side has a plastic flap enclosing a serial port with a latched door housing many ports. The sliding docking door prevents the door from flapping open when docked.

Rating: 5/5

Design

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is designed specifically for police and military personnel. The design best confirms to the requirements of such personnel. Most laptops would stop working if you accidentally spill water or coffee. Further, an accidental fall in most laptops may cause it to suffer certain complications. This reflects immediately on performance and utility of your laptop.

Rating: 5/5

Ports

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 offers built-in 802.11/a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless networking. It additionally has Gigabit Ethernet and has slots for serial, parallel, audio, microphone, PS/2, VGA output, external monitor, and a pair of PC Card. It has only two USB 2.0 ports and does not have a FireWire port. It will be a difficult situation if you have many USB peripherals.

Every single port around the chassis is well encased within tight fitting plastic flap. Rubber-sealed doors with securing catches protect expansion slots and media bay.

Rating: 4/5

Screen

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 has a 13.3-inch XGA touch screen. It offers a 1024 by 768 resolution. The screen is antireflective and the display remains bright and clear, both indoors and outdoors. The balanced writing stylus functions perfectly on the display. There is no place to stash the stylus.
 
The Touchscreen allows you to tap icons and buttons. Navigation to Windows and other applications was never so easy. Colors and viewing angles are not too perfect. Yet they allow easy working for long hours without any strain.

Rating: 5/5
 
Wireless

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is the first of its kind with integrated Cingular UMTS/HSDPA 3G Broadband Connect wireless service. This network offers the latest Global System for Mobile Communication, or GSM. It offers connectivity between more than sixty cities.

If you are unable to connect to this system from an obscure place, you can tap into the high-speed EDGE network. This offers accessibility across 13,000 cities in the United States and more than a hundred countries worldwide. Further, connectivity is appreciable at a steady four hundred to seven hundred kilobits per second. Sometimes the speed could be even a megabit per second. Bluetooth and GPS technologies are available as optional.

Rating: 5/5

Battery Life

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 runs on a single battery. This battery has a life of around seven hours. This is an excellent performance record for a laptop working on a single battery. The battery compartment is within compartment and has rubber sealed door. You need to slide a locking catch sideways and then downwards to release the lock on the door.

The battery life is excellent and understandably so. As this laptop has been designed keeping the requirements of military and police personnel, long battery life alone can help these people work continuously in remote and difficult terrain.

Rating: 5/5

Processor and Performance

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 houses a Pentium M Intel Processor with a speed of 1.2 GHz. It has a 1 GB RAM Memory and supports 1.3GB RAM Maximum Memory. The hard drive size is 60GB and the speed is 5400 RPM. It also has a standard parallel IDE. The operating system is Windows XP Professional. Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 also has an Integrated Intel Centrino graphics chipset. This chipset houses some amount of the memory.

Rating: 5/5

Keyboard and Touchpad

Touchpad offers easy navigation with left and right select buttons. Keyboard and touch pad is water proof and dust resistant. Some of the keys on the keyboard are comparatively smaller like the spacebar and the return key. Keys have a solid feel and allow easy typing. Further, being waterproof, you do not have to worry for a shelter to type at your Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 if stuck in a rainstorm.

Rating: 5/5

Support and Service

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 offers knowledgeable and friendly support staff, all twenty-four hours and all seven days. You can contact them through a toll-free telephone number. You can approach any of the service centers at Cardiff in Wales, Kansas City in Missouri, or Osaka in Japan for any repairs.

Rating: 5/5

Overall Conclusions

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is a tough laptop offering exclusive and great performance. It does outperform other laptops in the same category. The ruggedness and superb connectivity makes this laptop the most desired and functional unit. The inbuilt technology is specifically suited for military personnel and police requirements.  However, Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 can offer sufficient utility to other laptop users.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 although rugged does have a stylish appearance. It does not lack behind in its overall looks. This laptop can survive everything, yet be so elegant. Further, it is as lightweight as other laptops and hence, mobility is not a problem. It is a beauty working in most hostile environments.

Nonetheless, this laptop is definitely expensive at more than £3,100. This is almost double the cost of other business laptops. Although the cost of this laptop is lot unnerving, yet, if you consider its performance, features, and adaptability to function under the harshest conditions, the cost hardly seems to matter. In fact, it seems nothing in front of the functionability that this laptop offers.   

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 depicts an indestructible resilience. Yet, the bare truth is that Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is a definite buy for people in the war and remote zones. However, it does prove too costly for an average laptop user. 

The overall truth is that Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 is among the most reliable laptops. The fast connectivity dispels any delay due to poor connectivity. There is no wastage of time in recovering lost work, transferring data from damaged systems, replacing failed notebooks or hiring expensive IT consultants. The inside and outside of this laptop is completely secured and all hardware and software components depict the utmost in durability without any chance of damage.  

Pros:

• Superb durability
• Appreciable Connectivity
• Antireflective touch screen
• Strong, stylish, and elegant
• Lightweight
• Long battery life
• Three year warranty

Cons:

• Expensive
• No FireWire
• Limited RAM expansion
• Few USB ports

Features: 5/5
Performance: 5/5
Price: 2/5
Usability: 5/5