Toughbooks?

We have them here. They do appear to be reasonably tough. I know a regular laptop wouldn't take the abuse these get. They usually work OK but sometimes they are so slow it"s like watching paint dry. They have connectivity issues as well. They really don't like to be in a bldg. We use them for ePCR and mapping and we get our calls on them as well.
 
It seems like the overall slowness comes from software, not hardware, and of course varies based on configuration (both hardware and software), so generalizations are overrated. I'm interested in how different hardware configurations (or manufacturers) hold up. The Panasonic toughbook seems to be standard issue around my parts (although the suitcase non-tablet is also used by at least one company). A few years ago, I had to buy a single tablet for a small service, that had a larger maintenance contract with Dell, so we ended up with the Dell XPS XFR tablet, and were pleasantly surprised.
What are are your thought on the non-Panasonic versions? What do you find breaks first?
 
I don't understand why the toughbooks don't have solid state drivers though. They're only like 70 bucks for a 60gig drive. Much faster, more dependable being thrashed around and use much less power than a standard HDD.
 
Our CCT units use Toughbooks and they hate them. They say they are very slow. The rest of our units use General Dynamics computers that were designed for the military. They are much tougher than the toughbooks as proven by the countless drops they take. Only thing I don't like about them is how heavy they are (over 5 lbs).

I used toughbooks as a cop for our MCT in our patrol cars. In that capacity I think they are great. I don't think they are suited for epcr's though.

I do have issues with our general dynamics as well but that is for another time.
 
Love em. We have been using them for over three years now. They are even better now that windows have been upgraded.
 
Just as they were rolling out their ePCR system, a service in my area used the general dynamics hardware, and when the devices started falling apart after weeks of use, they were returned to the manufacturer, reimbursed, and replaced with panasonic toughbooks, and apparently were given damages, for having the problems they did.

As I mentioned before, every service in my area uses some version of the tough book, with the exception of the dell xps xfr... and they have held up to the challenges well.
 
epipusher said:
Love em. We have been using them for over three years now. They are even better now that windows have been upgraded.
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I feel the exact opposite. Windows was upgraded several months ago on ours, and they are much slower and crash more often.
 
Our company IT guy says the Panasonic Toughbooks are like $500 laptop in a $2500 case, and that is what they seem like. Not great (fast) internals, but ours get the job done. For the laptops that our CAD stuff is on, another (normal, not ruggedized) laptop would work fine. They stay locked on a stand in the cab so a ruggedized thing isn't necessary. We can't drop them when they are bolted to the truck.
 
bill williams said:
I hate them. There is nothing wrong with paper reports. Waste of money if you ask me.
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I bet the people doing QA on your reports would disagree.

SloEd said:
Our company IT guy says the Panasonic Toughbooks are like $500 laptop in a $2500 case, and that is what they seem like. Not great (fast) internals, but ours get the job done. For the laptops that our CAD stuff is on, another (normal, not ruggedized) laptop would work fine. They stay locked on a stand in the cab so a ruggedized thing isn't necessary. We can't drop them when they are bolted to the truck.
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The comment about them being 500 dollar computers is spot on.

Apparently running a laptop in a moving vehicle all the time is not good for it however. Temperature variations, bumps in the road, drink spills, etc. Both General Dynamics and Panasonic sell "semi-ruggedized" computers that would be perfect as MDTs.
 
Tigger said:
I bet the people doing QA on your reports would disagree.



The comment about them being 500 dollar computers is spot on.

Apparently running a laptop in a moving vehicle all the time is not good for it however. Temperature variations, bumps in the road, drink spills, etc. Both General Dynamics and Panasonic sell "semi-ruggedized" computers that would be perfect as MDTs.
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We just use the old toughbooks with missing buttons as our MDTs lol
 
I still like the Tablet idea.
 
We recently switched from Toughbooks to these janky little POS laptop with a touch screen that swivels on it.

Never thought I'd say it but I'll take a toughbook any day over what's issued to me now. On a toughbook you can use the stylus, your fingernail or a capped pen to touch the screen rather than having to use the stylus that's tethered to the laptop and is finnicky as hell anyways. Our new laptops freeze every two seconds and generally take 2-3 minutes just to open the chart. I love how they "updated" our ePCR software and all it did was make everything worse.

People always say they wished we did paper charts. My handwriting is horrible, personally I'd rather do an ePCR. I also type 50+ words a minute so that helps. I can knock an ePCR out in 10 minutes if the computer cooperates, unfortunately it takes 2-3 times as long because we constantly have to wait for the thing to un-freeze.

iPads were talked about and I think it'd be a cool option if there was a keyboard you could attach to them. I personally wouldn't want to type out multiple charts a day on the iPad touch screen.
 
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My only problem with a toughbook is the TINY keyboard. I have small hands (I buy my winter gloves in the kids department) and I find myself hitting two keys at once. I often offer to type for the other EMTs that are even slower due to their much bigger hands.
 
CritterNurse said:
My only problem with a toughbook is the TINY keyboard. I have small hands (I buy my winter gloves in the kids department) and I find myself hitting two keys at once. I often offer to type for the other EMTs that are even slower due to their much bigger hands.
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You should see the keyboard on my current work laptop. If you think TB keyboards are small you'd be in for a treat.

FWIW every medic is issued a charting laptop at my agency. Their partner uses the medic's laptop to write their charts. If we're really buried we can request the VSTs bring us another laptop and will either get a spare or an old TB. When it gets to that point I give my laptop to my partner and do all my charting on the TB.

It's a lot easier and much quicker to scroll down while clicking drop downs and check boxes with the butt of my pen on the TB than it is to use the stupid little trackpad on the laptop.
 
We use the CF-31's and I like them. Sure they can be a little laggy sometimes, but what computer isn't?
 
bill williams said:
Thats great. Thank you.
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There's a reason that the rest of the medical community uses electronic record keeping. They're much more portable, it can help eliminate many documentation problems (completeness and neatness), and data can actually be pulled out of the records in efficient manner.

There are some states requiring ePCRs now I and I suspect that paper charts will soon be a thing of the past.
 
EPCR failures are the responsibility of the agency (either policy, software selection or hardware support) and the employee.
 
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