Toughbook CF-30 MK3 Non-Touch Intel Core 2 Duo SL9300 1.66GHz

The Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 MK3 made some impressive leaps forward in rugged mobile technology. Its 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66GHz processor was a beast when it came out, and even today it can handle just about anything you throw at it (as long as you're not trying to play a graphics-intensive game or render the next Pixar movie).

That said, a Toughbook can never be defined by numbers on a stat sheet. These things are about quality — quality engineering, quality materials and quality components all put together into one cohesive, highly functional unit.

Have you ever bought one of those laptops you see advertised in Sunday newspaper inserts? They always look amazing on paper: huge hard drives, fast processors and lots of memory (those are the three "sexy" factors that sell computers). So, you take it home, boot it up, and it's awesome for a couple of months. Then it crashes, or the screen breaks off in your hand as you open it (we've seen it happen!), or something starts rattling inside, or its cooling fan gives out, or the ports come loose, or any number of things go wrong.

You come to realize that the sweet computer you bought was really the equivalent of an AMC Pacer equipped with a jet engine and a huge (nonfunctional) spoiler.

The CF-30 MK3 is a rugged working machine — a truck, a bulldozer, a tractor. It's built to do a job, not to race around and look flashy. It works, long and hard, without quitting, wherever you need it to.

Manuals

• Operating Instructions (pdf)
• Reference Manual (pdf)