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Can a Toughbook be My Go-To Travel Notebook?

This article is a transcript of a video that you can watch by clicking the thumbnail below. Hence, certain statements may not make sense in this text form, and watching the video instead is recommended.

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Intro

Using ThinkPads exclusively for all my mobile computing needs has served me well for the last few years. It’s like a spiral that I do not think I can escape. However, I’ve been curious about Panasonic Toughbooks, as they’re often brought up in online discussions about ThinkPads. I’ve been wishing to try out one for myself, and that is exactly what I’m sharing in this video.

Why Toughbooks?

ThinkPads are known to be reliable, easy-to-service, and built tough, among a few other things. Even though many of the things they used to be known for have gradually disappeared over the years, they are still one of the best options to go with in the current market. However, certain brands have offerings that go a little further with designs that are even more durable. Panasonic is one of the few major manufacturers that I learned also has reasonably great Linux support with its hardware, so here I am.

New Ecosystem

I’ve worked with Dell, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, Acer, Apple, Lenovo, and maybe other brands that I do not remember. But having spent most of my last few years within the ThinkPad lineup has had me literally “think” in terms of ThinkPads. This also means that making sense of the different series and lineups from a different brand was going to be a little tricky, and that is exactly how Panasonic feels to me. I went in blank, looking for something reasonably cheap enough to start my exploration of Toughbooks.

Why Toughbook CF-20?

I saw a lot of Toughbook examples for a very reasonable price on eBay, but what I was looking for was something that I could take out with me for a spin, and not just adore on a desk.

I found plenty of CF-19 examples sold for very little money, reminding me of the X61 Tablet form-factor (which reminds me I still have to work on those two partially working machines), but these aren’t the most practical today in terms of hardware with their slow CPUs, support for only DDR2 memory, and a TN XGA screen. I have a couple of such machines already, and I didn’t plan to add more.

Another model that I found to be easily available in the used market was the CF-31, but that’s a 13” machine with the Toughbook casing around it, unlike the 10” designs of the CF-19.

I wondered, what if there could be something with the best of both worlds? I found the CF-20 as the perfect starting point for me with relatively modern hardware and a similar form factor to the CF-19, and so I pulled the trigger. Most of the CF-20 examples you’ll see being sold also have a kick-stand on the top cover, but I chose to get one that didn’t because none of those available were in good condition, nor did I like the design of the cover with those additional complications. I love this clean design with the bold lettering that says “Toughbook”.

Initial State and Impressions

Upon receiving it, one of my first quests with this device was to find the power ON button, and it was pretty much right there. I do not know why I was looking for it down there on the keyboard. The overall condition of the device was pretty good, especially compared to the other examples you’ll see for sale on the web. The RAM is soldered, so it won’t go beyond 8GB. The device came with a 256GB storage drive, with Windows 11 installed. A charger wasn’t included in the sale, but I had this universal charger, so I could at least try it out before I spent money on a Panasonic charger.

Interesting Quirks and Features

OK, so it’s time to talk about the interesting quirks and features (Doug DeMuro style), and I’ll go in order of least interesting to most interesting:

  • The machine has dust covers, and a lot of them. All the ports and anything that can be interacted with are secured behind dust covers. When you need to access one of these, just slide the latch, and it's within reach. Once you’re done, cover it up again, slide it back, and it’s secure! One of the dust covers was missing, which I only noticed after I received the unit.
  • There are two charging ports, as this is a detachable tablet. One’s on the unit itself, and the other on the keyboard base, which is what they call it. This makes sense as you can charge the device through the base when it’s connected, and from the unit when it’s not.
  • There is a garaged stylus, but not how we have in ThinkPads. This one is holstered by clamps and is attached to the unit through these flexible strings, so it is less likely that you may lose it.
  • There are two Ethernet ports, one on the unit and the other on the keyboard base.
  • There are two cameras, one on the front and the other at the back.
  • There are extra buttons all around the unit.
  • There are LED indicators all around the unit as well.
  • There are more indicator LEDs on the palmrest, right between the two touchpad physical buttons.
  • The keyboard is backlit and has four levels of brightness adjustment.
  • There is a mechanical latch for the lid that you need to undo before opening it up.
  • The hinges are some of the hardest I’ve seen in any notebook computer or tablet ever.
  • There is additional protection when the cover is closed, where these bumpers kind of lock in these slots on the keyboard base, creating a secure fit.
  • There is a two-step release mechanism to release the tablet from the base. One of them is a sliding lock, and the other is a release slider.
  • There is another docking port at the bottom of the keyboard base.
  • And finally, the coolest is the retractable carry handle that comes out of nowhere when you need it, and hides back inside when you don’t.

I’m sure there are more quirky features on this machine, so let me know in the comments what else I missed.

BTW, if you’re wondering about this red F11 key, I learned that it is designated as an emergency button for public safety personnel, but this functionality requires specialized software used by law enforcement agencies. I’m sure you can’t get it to work with Linux, as Panasonic recommends Windows.

Bridge Battery System

The Toughbook CF-20 came with a bridge battery system similar to the ThinkPads from those years. One battery is in the keyboard base, and another one is on the tablet. I’ve mentioned before on this channel why I’m not a fan of this, as there is no way you can control which battery gets used first. When connected, the battery in the keyboard base needs to be drained completely in order to use the one on the tablet, which makes it impractical for my use, as I take really good care of my batteries. Manufacturers design these bridge systems to provide a longer battery runtime by splitting the battery into two, but to me, it effectively becomes half of the total possible capacity. Configuring the charge thresholds between 20% and 80% drops it down further to effectively 30% of the total possible battery runtime!

Windows was reporting that the second battery was absent, but I did see one installed. When I went in to re-seat the battery, thinking maybe that would solve the problem, I found that there was no battery, but only a filler! Very funny!

Maintenance

This machine is pretty maintainable, just like ThinkPads. Opening the back cover is as simple as moving these two sliders to lift the panel. Once you’re inside, you have access to the battery and a few more things behind this plate. Behind this protection plate, there are the rest of the things you can upgrade without having to open up the machine further. Unfortunately, the rest of the elements, like the CMOS battery, CPU, etc., need further disassembly, which is something I plan to cover in the next video. I think I need to give another shot at the X61 Tablet rebuild before that, so that I may have something to compare with this Toughbook.

Restoration

If you ignore the missing dust cover and the charger, this machine was already complete, so my restoration didn’t involve a lot of steps either.

I looked for a replacement dust cover for this charging port, but as the price of the only listing I found online was a little too crazy, I ended up buying the complete set, and then, of course, replaced all of the dust covers with fresh ones. Now I have a lot of spare dust covers to sell to someone who might need them, for a reasonable price.

Finally, I added an aftermarket Panasonic charger to complete the set.

Coming Up

Up next, I plan to go in deeper (which I learned involves much more than I expected), give the machine a thermal repaste, try out a Void Linux setup, compare it with one of my ThinkPads, and evaluate adding it to my fleet.