Panasonic Toughbook - CF Y5 - 14.1"" laptop @ 1.5

[gator]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks ... k-CF-Y5/p1

I am going tokeep my eyes open for a sight of this laptop inside the campus - the review looks very, very impressive - a full blown 14.1" laptop at ~1.5kgs is amazing.

[GomJabbar]

I read the review, and I must say it looks pretty sweet!

The only thing missing is the TrackPoint.

For sure, their Service Facility would have a hard time claiming "Spill Damage"!

[pianowizard]

The Y5 and Y4 (both 3.4 lbs) are two of the four laptops on my wish list. The other two are the HP nc2400 (2.8 lbs, also has internal optical drive) and the Fujitsu Q2010 (2.0 lbs, no internal optical drive). Unfortunately, the HP is the only one within my budget though.

The only thing missing is the TrackPoint.

For many people, the biggest problem is the 4200rpm HDD.

[egibbs]

It looked sweet, until I got to the 8MB of system RAM reserved for the embedded graphics...

Ed Gibbs

[GomJabbar]

It looked sweet, until I got to the 8MB of system RAM reserved for the embedded graphics...

How do you think they get such great battery life?

You can always add RAM with the spare slot.

[egibbs]

But you can't do nothing about the video memory, and that's a bummer. I'm stressing out the 128 MB Radeon in my T42p with 3D modeling - there is no way I could live with 8 MB of Intel integrated graphics. And as the review says, forget about Vista - or at least any of the Vista eye-candy.

Ed Gibbs

[draco2527]

Well, I just received two for a DEMO from panasonic...they are as light as a FEATHER.!!!

Have not turned them on yet...

[pianowizard]

Well, I just received two for a DEMO from panasonic...they are as light as a FEATHER.!!!

Wow, how much did you pay for them? Are you going to sell them? I would be very interested in buying them from you!

[draco2527]

Snipped overly long, nested quote.

Panasonic has been GREAT! They truly have a dedicated salesman...

With that said..in the last month...month and a half I have tried three of their laptops (did I mention how cool the CF-30 is! )

This time he/I ordered ONE of the above...somehow the Company processed TWO of them! as demos. I have them "free" for 30 days...brand new in the box, I can bring one home and post some pics/tests if anyone is interested..

As far as purchasing...sure! I can get some numbers for you...

[osamede]

For many people, the biggest problem is the 4200rpm HDD.

Its a 5400rpm drive in the Y5 and W5 models.

And the latest Y5 models just released in Japan do come with factory-installed Vista Business - they use a new low voltage 1.83Ghz CoreDuo CPU, with 224 MB of shared RAM. I would think one would be wise to have a minimum 1GB of RAM though.

As far as purchasing...sure! I can get some numbers for you...

Can I ditto that request for a contact to find out about buying one? This think looks fantastic actually for that weight.

[pianowizard]

Its a 5400rpm drive in the Y5 and W5 models.

Where did you get that info? This page says 4200rpm.

[osamede]

Its a 5400rpm drive in the Y5 and W5 models.

Where did you get that info? This page says 4200rpm.

It is wrong info by that seller. I have owned the W5 model and it has 5400 rpm drive inside, although several sellers mis-state it as 4200.

I think that 4300rpm misconception is a left-over from the Panasonic "2" and "4" series Toughbooks, which had the fairly unique characteristic of using low-voltage (3.3V) 4200rpm drives to save on power consumption.

When Panasonic adopted the Core Solo and Duo in the 5 series they must have decided to quite quietly phase that practice of using the slow drives out, but some people dont realise that, because it was a signature thing for them.

[pianowizard]

It is wrong info by that seller. I have owned the W5 model and it has 5400 rpm drive inside, although several sellers mis-state it as 4200.

So it's a standard 2.5" hard drive, i.e. it can be upgraded to 7200rpm? Somehow the Panasonic site doesn't say anything about the speed or physical size of the HDD.

[osamede]

I have the service manual for the Y5 and it is a very standard process of moving the hard drive - just unscrew the large hatch on the underside.

So the move on this laptop is to buy the cheapest/base model and put in whatever size/speed 2.5" HDD you want.

[pianowizard]

OMG, I just won a CF-Y4 on eBay! As you can see in my Feb 2007 post above, I have wanted to get one for almost four years! It will be my first ToughBook!

[ArtShapiro]

OMG, I just won a CF-Y4 on eBay!!

Upon reading the linked review, the Y5 seems like a wonderful machine - 4x3 SXGA+ rather than the stupid 16x9 jobbies with inadequate vertical resolution that seem to be the norm these days. What's the resolution on the Y4 that you won?

The sad thing is that these Toughbook guys seem very, very expensive.

Art

[ajkula66]

I'm fairly certain that all of the older Y series had SXGA+ on a 14" LCD...amazing little machines with a ton of character, that sometimes require a lot of patience...I absolutely loved my Y5...

I hope that your new best friend comes with OS installed and/or recovery media, pianowizard...congrats on a great purchase!

[lead_org]

congrat pianowizard, so how much did you pay for it?

[RealBlackStuff]

3 were sold for $150.50, $160.51 and $188.-
All had the same specs.
For PW's sake, I hope he gets a Panasonic Toughbook, and not a Gateway 200ARC as described in the auctions!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-Toughbook ... 20b4e891dc

[pianowizard]

I hope that your new best friend comes with OS installed and/or recovery media

I suspect not, because in the seller's photos, the screen seemed to only have 800x600 resolution, suggesting that the seller didn't have the correct driver for the video card. George, are you saying the Panasonic web site doesn't have ToughBook drivers?

3 were sold for $150.50, $160.51 and $188.-
All had the same specs.
For PW's sake, I hope he gets a Panasonic Toughbook, and not a Gateway 200ARC as described in the auctions!

I got the $188 one, which was the only one that wasn't stated to have a pressure spot on the screen and so people were willing to bid higher than for the other two units. I am not worried that it's a Gateway 200ARC because the photos clearly showed a Panasonic Y4.

[pianowizard]

This Panasonic Y4 that I won on eBay came in today, and it has instantly become one of my all-time favorite laptops. I just weighed it on a scientific balance: 3.37 lb! The second lightest 14.1" laptop with SXGA+ and an internal optical drive that I know of is the Sony Z1 in my signature, and that's 1.3 lb heavier! I wonder why only Panasonic has been able to accomplish this amazing technical feat, and I wonder why ajkula66 and I seem to be the only people on this forum to have owned a Panasonic Y* laptop. The prices of Y4's have come down a lot on eBay and I urge everyone to check them out.

I plan to swap out the 60GB HDD with a 250GB HDD later.

[pianowizard]

One more exceptionally nice thing about this ToughBook CF-Y4: its palmrest doesn't warm up AT ALL! I wonder if all ToughBooks are like that.

[ParatoOptimal]

WOW! $150!?! Everything I find is north of $350.
Is it a Pentium-M or a P4-M? His sale page shows Pentium 4-M. I thought these came out after the CF-51 and had Pentium-M and dual core processors.

What are the dual cores going for?

Please post and let us know if you find others available.
Does yours take an IDE HDD? Will it take an IDE SSD? Does it have a SATA controller that would allow you to use an adapter and a SATA HDD?

I have a Pani CF-51, Pentum-M.
I'm loving my IBM X31. Your Pani with better graphics and a built-in optical drive would be a blast.

[ajkula66]

ParatoOptimal wrote:

Is it a Pentium-M or a P4-M?

It's a Pentium M.

I thought these came out after the CF-51 and had Pentium-M and dual core processors.

CF-51 was also available in Dual Core version, after the original one with Pentium M. These machines are roughly the same age and all of them - including Y5 and Y7 - take IDE drives.

What they go for is anyone's guess. As with everything else on feebay, it's a hit or a miss.

What one needs to bear in mind is that Panasonic never officially sold any of the Y series in the U.S. so the support is likely minimal. Cover all basis before purchasing one. Also, they take proprietary RAM which is quite expensive.

Apart from that, these are stunning machines, and overall one of the best (at least in my not-so-modest opinion) 14"/4:3 laptop designs ever...

[pianowizard]

Thanks ajkula66 for answering most of the questions for me. I will answer the rest:

What are the dual cores going for?

Both the Y5 and Y7 have dual core CPUs. Both are more expensive and harder to find than the Y4. Several weeks before buying my Y4, I came across a Y7 on eBay and it was sold for just over $600 if I remember correctly, and I think my highest bid was $580. That Y7 had a small crack on one of its hinges, so a mint-condition Y7 would probably go for over $650.

I am using this Y4 to do simple things while on the road, and so Pentium M is sufficient for my needs. In fact, even the 512MB onboard RAM is enough for what I do. I am just leaving the extra RAM slot empty, to keep the machine as light as possible. Yes, even 0.015 lb matters to me!

Please post and let us know if you find others available.

After buying four laptops over the last several months (i.e. those listed in my signature), I won't be checking eBay for laptops for a while. Sorry.

What one needs to bear in mind is that Panasonic never officially sold any of the Y series in the U.S. so the support is likely minimal.

Well, Panasonic's U.S. web site does have all the drivers for my CF-Y4.

[pianowizard]

This came from another thread:

PW I've noticed you have a Panasonic toughbook Y series..
Can u elaborate on how it compares to thinkpad? since u have many thinkpads before ..the screen quality panasonic uses? keyboard, upgradeablity?...

The CF-Y4 is the only Toughbook I have ever owned, or *touched* for that matter. The display lid is extremely strong, but the bottom half of the laptop actually feels kind of flimsy. Screen quality is as bad as the TN screens of the Thinkpads. The keyboard is just average. Upgrading the hard drive (which is PATA even in the fairly recent CF-Y7) is a major pain in the neck because one needs to disassemble a big chunk of the laptop. And it uses expensive proprietary RAM modules.

Nonetheless, it's possibly my all-time favorite laptop, because it has 14.1" 1400x1050 and an internal optical drive in a very light package. No other laptops have ever come close -- I think the next lightest 14.1" 1400x1050 laptop with a built-in optical drive was a 4.5-lb Fujitsu.

[pianowizard]

The CF-Y4 is the only Toughbook I have ever owned, or *touched* for that matter.

The quoted statement is no longer correct, because I just acquired a CF-Y5. It's better than the Y4 in certain ways, but the Y4 is better in others. The pros of the Y5 are:

1) Faster: it's 1.66GHz Core Duo versus the Y4's 1.6GHz Pentium M.
2) The chassis feels a tad more solid.
3) It has a smooth palmrest, whereas the Y4's palmrest has grooves (a personal preference).
4) Has Bluetooth.
5) Easier to replace the hard drive.

On the other hand, the Y4 is better in these respects:

1) Lighter, at 3.37 lbs versus the Y5's 3.55 lbs.
2) MUCH quieter.
3) Slightly less bulky, especially the display lid.
4) Somewhat cooler.
5) The display lid can be pushed further back.

This CF-Y4 is now up for sale: http://67.214.227.38/~thinkpad/forum/vi ... 11&t=97360