Panasonic Toughbook W4

As my 6-year-old Dell laptop is near terminal, it's replacement time. While the timing could be better, funds-wise, when it's time, it's time. After reviewing the currently available offerings, we have determined that a Panasonic Toughbook W4 best fits my requirements. I was curious if anyone here was aware of any sources that might offer a discount on Toughbooks to a non-profit?

TIA,

Sorry, Doug, but I'm not aware of any places that might offer discounts to nonprofits on Panasonic Toughbooks.

Actually, come to think of it, I personally don't know anyone who owns a Panasonic Toughbook.

Can you tell us why a Toughbook best fits your requirements? What about it do you find makes it better suited to your needs than, say, something like a Dell Inspiron laptop?

Just curious.

Yann

Ryann,

Thanks for your interest.

First off, I am not particularly pleased with the service and performance I have rec'd from Dell of late. I have purchased for myself or www.equipped.org three new computers within the past few months. Two have had problems, none of those problems have yet been fixed despite a number of attempts. Even though I have Gold Support on my own primary computer, they cannot seem to fix some very basic problems and there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to waste screwing with them. Parts replacement has been proved to not be the answer and they just don't seem to give a damn about digging much deeper.

Now on to requirements. I spend way too much time traveling and I need a computer I can easily use in a coach seat airline environment. My current Dell with only a 14 inch screen makes that all but impossible. and if the guy in front puts his seat back without warning, it's not only impossible to work, but the computer screen can be toast. Happened to a seat mate on a flight a few months ago, a very, very ugly scene as he had specifically asked to be warned. So first requirement is it has to be small. I am perfectly comfortable with a 12" screen, most of my work is either text, email, Powerpoint or reviewing images in ACDSee and I can easily work on that size screen. For PhotoPaint and PhotoShop I can live with it. Don't do a lot of that on the road. Keyboard size and layout isn't critical, I still essentially H&P. Very fast H&P, but still H&P all the same.

Second, because of the time spent in airports and airplane, I need something with very good battery life. This will also save a ton of backbreaking carry of a genset when we need to use the computer in the back country.

Third, I'm not getting any younger and neither is my back, weight is becoming a significant factor. Also, especially as I need to often work with it on my lap, weight and heat generation there is also a factor.

Fourth, I need an integral DVD and CD-R. First to be able to review materials on the road, the second to make secure copies of images taken on the road to prevent loss of irreplaceable work. Don't want to be dealing with a separate DVD/CD pack. Just a royal PITA, BTDT, not again.

Needs at least one PCMCIA slot for my Compact Flash adapter (primary camera) and if it has an SD slot that's a big plus as the back-up/P&S camera is SD and so often is the data cards I get on projects from various handheld data recorders.

Hard disk space isn't a critical aspect as I run off 12GB now, which while tight, makes anything over 20GB gravy for me. More is better, but no essential. This is strictly a road machine and backup when the primary desktop goes down.

Processor speed at least 1.2 GHz and 1GB RAM. I've worked with slower and less and it's counterproductive for the way I work. Too many large files and especially when I need to do some image work on the fly, it becomes critical.

Built-in WiFi, I'm tired of having to deal with a PCMCIA WiFi card. Just another fragile piece to have to keep track of.

It needs to be ultra reliable and able to take a licking and keep on ticking. My computer ends up being used literally off-road and off-trail even on occasions and it has to stand up to the rigors of that use. Right now I use an old fully ruggedized Toughbook for those purposes, but it's really getting long in the tooth, though it still works perfectly, and it's also heavy. I don't think I need quite that ruggedness, but I do need something more rugged than your average laptop that quits if you blink hard. Spoken with folks who have W2 (earlier version of this) and other semi-ruggedized Toughbooks and they seem to survive more than their share of drops and bumps.

Also require excellent warranty and service with either immediate replacement or turnaround. I've paid extra for that from Dell and needed it way too often. Their's works, but is expensive and as noted, needed too often. Panasonic's 3-yr standard warranty, they pay overnight both ways and typical same day turn around, is not an extra cost option and appears to have good response based on feedback I've received. Other than Dell and IBM, both at extra cost, nobody else appears to have anything approaching that level of service available. Sony and other brands CS is so bad, they don't even bear consideration. And, as I noted, Dell has done nothing to inspire confidence in their service these days. IBM, I have concerns with having been sold off to the Koreans, only time will tell how that affects their CS.

Look at all those requirements and the W4 fits them to a tee. Only buy a new laptop every 5-6 years, so no sense trying to save a few bucks to compromise on hard lessons learned requirements. I'd love to save money on what I need, but learned a long time ago that saving money by getting less than I need is a very expensive and false economy.

I am open to other suggestions, but this is the only one so far that really meets my requirements.

Thanks again for your interest.

I dont know of any discounts for ruggedized latops. I tried to get something for electronic medical records use at the side of a therapy pool. I actually went with Acer tablet PC's. the travelmate is pretty good. has everything you require and is pretty tough(it survives my three year old on a regular basis) Acer support is also very good. the best part is that they are not too expensive. a single PCMCIA slot and no serial port are the only downsides. the SD reader is a PCMCIA card supplied with the laptop.

I'll check it out. Thanks.