Yeah, it is amazing how much brighter sunlight is than any LCD, even cranked up to max brightness. In a dark room with my 5.5" phone turned up to maximum brightness, it's unbearably incredibly bright. Same brightness setting in direct Seattle sunlight may be barely usable.
Worth mentioning that Itronix was acquired by General Dynamics for their super rugged military grade laptops. GD killed Itronix a few years ago but you can still find the laptops on the market, such as: https://www.amazon.com/General-Dynamics-Military-Grade-Notebook-touchscreen/dp/B008VFVL04 $219 is a reasonable price for that. On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 7:47 PM, Mathew Howard <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm really not sure what you would be doing with an installer/technician > laptop that wouldn't work just fine on a Core 2, but all we really do with > them is program radios and align antennas... and the ePMP interface is > slow, but not *that* slow. > > However, on the subject of Toughbooks, it is well worth getting a newer > one with an i5 if you're going to be using it outside, because they have > much, much better screens than the older ones - it's by far the best laptop > for using outdoors that I've ever seen, and the only one I've used with a > screen that I can actually see (and see well) in direct sunlight. > > On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 6:13 PM, Eric Kuhnke <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Ummm, a core i3 is a dual core CPU, it's the *type *of cores and >> architecture that's newer... Yes a 3rd/4th generation core i3 will be a >> lot faster than a core 2 duo based laptop. >> >> In my experience a fast SSD and 8GB of RAM will run an xubuntu/XFCE4 >> based desktop environment on a technician/installer laptop just fine. >> >> One of my field laptops is still an x41 tablet with a 'dothan' core CPU >> and 1.5GB of RAM. It does everything I need it to do and has a great >> keyboard. I don't even need a core 2 duo for network operations which exist >> entirely within a Firefox/https TLS 1.2 browser session to some back end >> operational software (example: OpenVPN tunnel into the company net and >> access to our OpenNMS or RT web interfaces), and everything else is by >> command line and SSH. >> >> People need a core i3 for the web browser/http aiming interface of a >> radio?!?! Is the ePMP software *that* bad? >> >> http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X41_Tablet >> >> >> On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 4:02 PM, Rory Conaway <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Based on our experience, dual-core doesn’t cut it any longer, you need >>> an I3 at minimum. To that end, we still like the Lenovo T420 units for >>> battery life and toughness. >>> >>> >>> >>> Rory >>> >>> >>> >>> *From:* Af [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Mathew Howard >>> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 6, 2016 5:14 PM >>> *To:* af >>> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Toughbooks >>> >>> >>> >>> I agree, a Core i5 is overkill... which is why the ones we have are >>> older core 2 versions, but it isn't huge and heavy, it's less than a pound >>> more than that thinkpad, and it'll take far more abuse. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 4:20 PM, Eric Kuhnke <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> For what an installer needs to do with a laptop, a core i5 something is >>> way overkill. That toughbook is nice, but huge and heavy. >>> >>> Here's an example of what a good condition Thinkpad X60 goes for: >>> >>> >>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-1-Lenovo-X60S-1-66GHz-2-0GB-100GB-WiFi-Laptop-/191834742697?hash=item2caa3ddfa9:g:S14AAOSw9uFW9Hgj >>> >>> 60 bucks. Then add $35 for a new third party battery for it. >>> >>> Put xubuntu on it. I mean, what do they need to do with it? Everything >>> is inside a web browser. It needs a 1000BaseT port on it, needs to be >>> reasonably small and rugged. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 2:16 PM, Mathew Howard <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> In my opinion, if you're giving them to installers, yes it's better than >>> three of those. It all depends what you're doing with it though... >>> >>> I'd rather buy one and have it last a few years than buy three per year. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 3:53 PM, Joshaven Mailing Lists < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Is that really better then three of these: >>> http://www.amazon.com/Latitude-E6420-Notebook-DVD-Writer-Bluetooth/dp/B007PN2L3Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1459975789&sr=8-3&keywords=dell+e6420 >>> >>> >>> >>> Personally I like the Dell Latitude E6420 at $100 - $150 because you can >>> break a few a year and still be ahead of the game financially. Also if you >>> buy all the same model then you can swap parts some time like a broken >>> screen for a good one. The Latitudes are pretty easy to work on. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> Sincerely, >>> >>> Joshaven Potter >>> Google Hangouts: [email protected] >>> Cell & SMS: 1-517-607-9370 >>> >>> [email protected] >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Apr 6, 2016, at 3:40 PM, Travis Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> Hey... Not sure if this is a good deal or not, but Woot has Toughbooks >>> for sale right now: >>> >>> >>> http://computers.woot.com/plus/panasonic-toughbook-laptops-1?ref=cp_cnt_odet_cp_crum_2_wp >>> >>> Travis >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >
