Laptops don't like coffee

[Shayne]

and I don't want windows 10 so it's looks like I will be buying a refurbished laptop , im busy today but it's just occurred to me that 300 quid will likely get me a refurb tough book and a quick look found a panasonic tough book cf-53 .

What do you guys who have an interest in squidgymabites and stuff think ?

Only question I have is will it accept my hdmi card because I don't know how else to post pics .

 

[Rob Cowell]

and I don't want windows 10 so it's looks like I will be buying a refurbished laptop , im busy today but it's just occurred to me that 300 quid will likely get me a refurb tough book and a quick look found a panasonic tough book cf-53 .

What do you guys who have an interest in squidgymabites and stuff think ?

Only question I have is will it accept my hdmi card because I don't know how else to post pics .

Do you mean HDMI? That's for connecting to another screen usually. The newer Toughbooks have those certainly. But if you mean SD card, then I don't think they do.

 

[clivehorridge]

Do you mean HDMI? That's for connecting to another screen usually. The newer Toughbooks have those certainly. But if you mean SD card, then I don't think they do.

I think Shayne means SD cards.... Just for clarity, HDMI is a cable slot type like this (RH side)...

 

[fbnss]

And you can get a little adapter for your sd card so don't worry about that

 

[Shayne]

You got it Rob I'm worse than hopeless when I have no interest in a thing ,

SD card - internet and buttons is what I want nothing more , the cheapest out there will do several million things that I can do without so I figured an obsolete tough book might be just the thing , this is my second laptop to die of a drink problem .

I would link the one I'm looking at but Helen will kill me if I punch stamp and drive over here iPad so I best not try .

 

[GeekOKent]

If it does what you need it to do, the tough book can be a good option. However they come at a cost. .. typically they are pretty heavy with not stellar battery life, the keyboard can be quite a pain and the display colours are washed out. But then again, what do you intend to do with it.

 

[Shayne]

Use the forum , send an email and buy on eBay . I type with one finger

 

[Towpack]

I use a CF52 Toughbook (with Vista unfortunately) at work and they are tough. It's surprising what they'll take. I'm not office based so mine gets bounced around out in the field. Battery life isn't that great but I find the screen and keyboard OK but they're not water/coffee proof! Quite big and heavy compared to a 'desk' laptop. If a Macbook was a SJ410 a Toughbook would be a 80 series.

 

[Chas]

Shayne, I have a Panasonic CF28 Toughbook that I haven't used since we went to Romania the first time, They are as TP says "Quite big and heavy (3.8 kg) compared to a 'desk' laptop" but it is a water/coffee proof one you could google it to see if it will do what you want and make me an offer if it is suitable, I'm not looking for mega bucks.

 

[Shayne]

Reading a bit more about the cf53 on different websites it could be a winner for me , windows 7 is a plus , water resistant rather than proof is better than most , and being more often than not plugged in the D.C. Jack getting torn off is another serial killer of my laptops .

The description offered is brief but 4gb memory and 320gb hard drive sounds ok to my uneducated mind . Will have to contact seller about the SD card but I have seen it pictured on alternative cf53 reviews .

 

[Shayne]

We crossed posts Chas I will look into it but I am not hopeful , seems to me the newer a laptop the larger the memory and it needs it to run all the crap nobody wants .

 

[StarCruiser]

Some of the newer laptops have spill proof keyboards Shayne. I've got used to windows 10. I actually like it (am I allowed to say that? )

 

[Shayne]

Helen loves her iPad Rich each to their own . I don't want to learn how to fix a new operating system year on year it's bores me to tears , I've had the daughters win10 laptop here a number of times and each time I have managed to fix it but every time she has had to remind me how to get on the internet because the icon is hidden to make room for junk nobody wants .

 

[GeekOKent]

Have you thought about a chromebook? Unsure if there is a tough or spillproof one about

 

[StarCruiser]

I kind of thought the same Shayne then bit the bullet. The thing is, I haven't had to fix much and it does work pretty well and pretty fast. It doesn't take ages updating like win7 and it's going to be supported into the future the longest. I've now got used to it.
As you say, each to their own. Maybe you could look at putting something like Linux on a laptop. That can be pretty basic but able to do what you want. Not one I know much about but the techies seem to like it.
Good luck with it whatever you choose to do.

 

[Shayne]

Thanks for the chrome book suggestion GoK I took a look and I don't think it will work for me , I do use Microsoft works quite a bit and I don't like having to be signed in all the time to everything , that's why I don't have Facebook .

 

[Crispin]

An issue you have with buying old kit though and not wanting to run Windoze 7/10 on it is security.

Google Chrome is no longer supported on XP and has security holes in. Vista will not be supported from April 2017. So, if you bring it near the internet then you do stand the risk of getting some nasties on it. If you stick with the built-in Explorer then, well, good luck to you

Laptops are cheap from PC world. £150 starter.

Or, get a toughbook and put Linux / Firefox browser etc on it.

 

[Shayne]

First thing I do with a new laptop is delete as much of the preinstalled as I can including the antivirus . When they started pushing win10 I turned off updates altogether .

I use AVG and now that I think on it i have not had a Computer problem since I turned off updates

 

[Cptsideways]

I'm on a trusty CF-29 Toughbook on XP with no real issues, its coffee proof too.

I bought it for doing car related OBD stuff but its ended up being my main PC. It's fully loaded with all the options, like BT, Sim card stuff, GPS module etc etc think it cost £160 & its like new. Also have a Toughpad running Android which is also brill.

 

[Shayne]

Ended up with a cf52 it has SD card slot , built in wifi and 4gb of ram so yeah fingers crossed and all that .