Boat Forum / Electronics / June 2008

Panasonic ToughBook...... the only Ruggedized Laptop....
5000 Engineers can't be wrong......

My brother (the World Traveling Engineer) has one...

No.

The Panasonic Toughbook C-30 is 1,000 nits and I've seen those selling
for around $2,300 on eBay.  The Toughbook 74 is 460 NITS and will
probably work OK in daylight.

Buy more boat to get out of the daylight...

Jack

When we were experimenting with LCD monitors on small patrol boats in
2001 we merely wrapped them in plastic "Gladwrap" shrink wrap. They
got wet from sometimes quite heavy  spray and from rain with no
adverse effects. We smoothed the shrinkwrap to the screen of the
monitor with my creditcard. Some of the monitors stayed that way for
over six months. The shrinkwarap presented no disadvantages or
distortion to viewing using such as digital charts.

LCD monitors do not require as much ventilation - the ambient air
temperature in Malaysia near the equator is in the 30's Celcius.

The laptops were put out of the way but were still open to the outside
air.

I have had computers on board since 1993 and have never had any
corrossion problems apart from slight oxidation requiring cleaning of
the USB and COM pins of the connectors.

regards
Peter

There are always Panasonic toughbooks for sale on Ebay. Police departments use
them for 2 or 3 years and then buy new ones, so there is a steady supply of used
ones. Not submersible, but it's no problem having them exposed to weather, or
dumping a large mocca latte on it. Mine has a magnesium shell. You can drop it
onto concrete from 6 feet up while it's running. I can see the display just fine
in sunlight. Being a former police unit, it also has touch screen, which is
handy in a boat cockpit. The battery is pretty expensive, and mine was no good,
but if you take the battery out, the computer is quite happy running off of a 12
volt cigar lighter cord. The one I have is a model CF-29. I think I paid about
$300 for it on Ebay.

The toughbook is not waterproof (IP66). I think it is rated IP54, splash
resistant.
Steve

Hey Karl,

I took a korean laptop to sea in mid 1980s. It lasted two 90+ day
crusises then the hard drive croaked.
Bought a micron it lasted almost 2 years. Mind you this was total road
worrior abuse plus cold condensation and vibration

I bit the bulit and now have a Tough Book CF-29. Its been doing well
for over a year. Only droped it once :)
take a look in cop cars lots of city PD use em too. I hate to say it
but some times ya get what you pay for.

Get a referb or used one for XP and stick 1000mb ram in it. I think
thats the max for the CF-29. Newer one may take more.

Thecool thing I like about them is you can slid out the HD and CD/DVD
drive. their both behind a cool O ring hatch :)

O, they aint light... !

Bob