Category: Notebooks

Back in the day (was it really a decade ago) I was a loud evangelist for Netbooks. The Netbook, you may remember, was a lightweight, low-powered small laptop device with minimal internal storage. Unlike conventional personal computers that you work on and in, the Netbook was intended to be just a portal that you worked through—out onto the Internet. It was a Cloud machine. There are many reasons why it failed (despite my enthusiastic advocacy!).… Now read on…

 Part 3 brings us to what the Toughbook is like to work with on a daily basis. There are two snags with my testing I’d better acknowledge up front. Number one, the CF-33 is designed to be used not just in the field, but in the tundra, the desert, and in the icy wastes of the Antarctic. I’ve been testing it mostly in the comfort of my office. Number two, I have thirty years experience… Now read on…

  If this review has run to many more words than I originally anticipated, it’s because the CF-33 is much more than just another laptop. Even as I approach the finale, I’m left with the feeling that I can never give the device the full treatment that Panasonic’s attention to detail deserves.  There’s much that I haven’t covered here, either because—like the wireless WAN—it’s not fitted on the review model, or because, although present, it’s… Now read on…

During the past several weeks with Panasonic’s Toughbook I’ve been waiting for a rainstorm. The plan was to include a photo of both of us out in the garden plugging away at this article and getting drenched. The rainstorm hasn’t come. So instead I faked a pretty fair equivalent with a garden hose (see picture below). I hadn’t had permission from Panasonic to do this, but earlier this year I’d visited the factory in Kobe, Japan,… Now read on…

While I was debating the acquisition of a MacBook Air back in 2013 my wife encouraged me with the unforgettable phrase: “Go on, it’ll see you out.” I’m 76. She might be right.  But I feel I might have a chance of winning the race. Although the Air continues to function, three and a bit years in it’s already beginning to show its age. The embedded battery, not user-changeable, is almost defunct and the keyboard… Now read on…

Fair warning: this is not going to be a regular Tested Technology review. It’s the result of a weekend flirtation with the product, under the supervision—admittedly pleasantly loose—of Acer’s own PR team. Acer organised a trip to Glasgow for a small gaggle of journalists and bloggers to experience the (surprisingly many) gastronomic delights of that city. Included was a visit to the Auchentoshan single malt whisky distillery, involving (full disclosure) some extensive product sampling. Thus… Now read on…