Comments

Here's a review of Tom's specific model of Toughbook from Laptop magazine:
http://archive.laptopmag.com/Review/Panasonic-Toughbook-CF-W5.htm

Posted by cathy mosca at March 25, 2008 10:23 AM

Sorry.... I cant resist...

With an Apple... the powercord would have disconnected and the laptop would sit there... smiling... maybe even grinning...

Posted by s g at March 25, 2008 10:34 AM

and I thought you were a Mac guy, what a big disappointment...

Posted by Marie at March 25, 2008 10:46 AM

Consulted to Wee Apple in 1981, 1982, 1983, etc. Was 100% Applebigot First Class. (Bob Waterman typed Draft 2 of In Search of Excellence on an Apple II in 1981.) When PowerPoint became my life, and file movement constant, I went PC, back in the "old days" when PC-Mac not very friendly. At this point stuck--in my mind--with what I've got. Hate Vista, so maybe I will make the switch--hey, I wouldn't want to disappoint you guys!

Posted by tom peters at March 25, 2008 11:07 AM

I'm a lifelong PC guy from the days of DOS, but I'm on the verge of retiring my ancient Mac used for website testing in favor of a new Mac which will eventually become the primary machine of the six I use regularly.

Besides iMovie and Garageband's attraction, I have a growing fear that Microsoft is going to push me into a corner I can't upgrade out of.

Not to bring business into it, but I suspect that's not a good prospect for a company, driving its users by fear. As much as my geek mind struggles to grasp the simplicity of Apple's products, when I finally do sort it out it really is more like playing with a toy than working with a machine.

Posted by Joel D Canfield at March 25, 2008 12:05 PM

For such a smart guy how can you be so stupid (truly idiotic!) to STILL be using a Windows laptop. Get yourself over to the Fashion Show Mall Apple store and buy yourself a MacBook Air. ....and then, if you still insist, install Windows XP using Boot Camp or Parallels.

Seriously, we're all kind of joking but still.... you're really not using a Mac?

Posted by TGP at March 25, 2008 12:14 PM

Tom,

I've seen your PowerPoint slides.......you REALLY could use Keynote!

Posted by Vic at March 25, 2008 12:18 PM

PowerPoint works on the Mac, too.

The real benefit of the MagSafe power cord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe) is when you have kids who like to run around the living room while Daddy is working on his laptop. The six-year-old now knows how to plug it back in when she trips over Dad's power cord.

Posted by Andy Lester at March 25, 2008 3:34 PM

Mac. Period. Air. Better.

Posted by JPMartin at March 25, 2008 4:12 PM

College freshman Computer Science 100 course.... a black vertical case with a smallish screen in top 60% with a 12" slot at the back of the top.... built by the CompSci department.

Then the Mac (OMG... 12" floppy to 3 1/2" floppy moved to front.... black to tan... otherwise looked like CompSci 100 machine hmmmmmm?).... and stayed Apple until.....

Worked in a computerized mapping firm with PCs AutoCAD and ESRI GIS sytems.....

Bought a Dell Desktop in Jan 2004... bad experience (spec software turns out to be trail version; spec lifetime hardware software support - not true; cant add 2nd drive without buying additional cabling though speced industry standard; can't order through the mail) though the machine still chugs along....

A year ago Apple MacBook and Airport Express... nice. Apple store in walking distance... the best!

And not much of a Powerpoint user....

Posted by s g at March 25, 2008 4:17 PM

Actually, PowerPoint is a much nicer product on a Mac. I keep both platforms, but use the powerbook for client gigs. One interesting little note...the mac blogs are running red hot about this little problem with the wireless connection to the internet going in and out. I have the problem with two of my macs. You won't find the problem addressed on the Apple support page, but it is a raging issue for a lot of Mac addicts. When I addressed it at the Apple store I was told that the problem would go away if I hooked directly up to the modem with an ethernet cable. Hmm, how do you fix a wireless problem? By going hardwired. Stay tuned.

Posted by Mike Neiss at March 25, 2008 4:53 PM

PS: I am making an effort to have all my files be open source formats... I dont want to be locked into any company.

I too have had the wireless issue.... Havent explored it.

Posted by s g at March 25, 2008 5:24 PM

If your computer doesn't fall you don't need a toughbook, do you?

I know they're already using the clever powercord solution in apple.com as a selling proposition, but maybe it needs to be promoted more.

Same thing happened to me maybe dozens of times and as an ex-PC user each time I'm suprised to see it.

Tom, I believe, even this small feature is a good reason to buy a Mac. And, it's much nicer to imagine you preparing your great presentations in a Mac.

Posted by Can at March 25, 2008 5:53 PM

Tom,

It's not WOW if the computer survives a crash because you tripped on the cord.

WOW is when the computer doesn't go flying when you do.

Apple = WOW; Panasonic = Lucky.

For someone so adamant about good design, I think you should rethink your post. Great design is about engineering out user error, not about coping with user error.

Posted by shawnpetriw at March 25, 2008 11:00 PM

Built to Last huh?

Posted by K.Sriram at March 25, 2008 11:05 PM

Interestingly I am starting to see a backlash by a small number of journalists against apple now. Main complaint was that Apple press conferences were getting too "love in", cult like and evangelical and journalists were not doing their job and not being critical about Apples failings.

When your brand is based on the intangible and emotional that feels very fragile to me

Posted by PaulH at March 26, 2008 3:45 AM

A clever power cord cannot save you if the laptop falls down because of hundreds of other reasons. The Toughbook can, it seems.

Jay, from Bangalore
http://ideaburger.blogspot.com

Posted by Jayakumar Hariharan at March 26, 2008 4:27 AM

Great - now we all live with the mental image of a 60 something year old management guru, wrapped in a white towel and dress socks, lumbering around his crampt hotel room, knocking over everything in site. One piece of advice - What happens in Vegas... (you get the idea, and thanks for sharing!)

Posted by Garr at March 26, 2008 7:05 AM

I really like PaulH's comment about the intangible and the emotional being a shaky proposition for sales alone. But the focus on the intangibles and emotional is not really the problem.

The intangibles and the emotional are important, as they get people into the store to buy the product. (Apple's new ultra thin light notebook --the Mac Book Air -- that slips into that manila envelope with that cool music in the background makes me want to run right out and buy one today! You know the commercial.) But it is the useability and features of the product in hand that gets people to return.

It is not the intangibles and emotional that is the problem; the follow up with customers and a dogged desire to hear, please and serve them is. Obvious (but perhaps not so obvious) questions include: What are customers saying? What are their experiences with the product? How can we change it now?

Garr...your image of TP in Vegas literally made me laugh out loud! Thanks!

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 26, 2008 10:18 AM

Ignore the MAC Heads… If bottled water came in MAC flavor they would buy it. I own the Y5 and gave my son my older W5. So far I haven’t done too much to the new one but the old one has been through its fair share of bring dropped, kicked, and having grape juice poured on top of it. Still working like a charm...

Posted by RTodd at March 26, 2008 1:03 PM

If a MagSafe is really worth it, then I should make the equivalent for my own cheapy lap-top: http://www.instructables.com/id/ThinkSafe%3a-A-Magnetic-Power-Connector-for-Thinkpad/
but the most common reason for my laptop hitting the floor is because I drop it ....

Posted by Mike L. at March 26, 2008 5:46 PM

An associate's angry spouse once had serious difficulty in destroying his Dell laptop. She eventually gave up and decided upon venting her angry by using toothpaste on clothes instead.

Laptops are sturdier than they look...until you apply fluids.

Posted by Richard Millington at March 26, 2008 6:01 PM

No more excuses to NOT go back to Mac. The magnetic power cord is just a bonus. The bigger prize is no blue screen of death. Long live Leopard. Die VISTA.

Posted by Leonard Klaatu at March 26, 2008 6:41 PM

RTodd...switched to mac after a session at Microsoft where the ppt presentation went to the blue screen of death...Microsoft engineers in my group said they had no reason why??? Not a love afair with mac, just a business necessity...

Posted by Mike Neiss at March 26, 2008 7:37 PM

As for the blue screen of death, I use windows xp for about 14-16 hours every single day, and I don't remember when I saw the blue screen last. Not in a long time.

xp with Sevice Pack 2 is a stable proposition, and I don't have any connection with Microsoft :-)

Jay, from Bangalore
http://ideaburger.blogspot.com

Posted by Jayakumar Hariharan at March 27, 2008 2:34 AM

I'm with everyone else - what's up with using a Windows machine anyway? Heck, Tom, this was even a subject of a Mac/PC ad, when PC ended up in a wheelchair. You're missing the point - the point isn't survival of the fittest PC, its make survival plans unnecessary.

Posted by Ann Stone at March 27, 2008 3:23 PM

I might buy bottled water from Mac (Apple) as "R"etarded "Todd" suggests - because you know the bottle design would be superior.

Posted by Leonard Klaatu at March 28, 2008 12:37 PM

you know, leonard, i don't think referring to someone as 'retarded' is part of civil discourse. do you?

Posted by erik hansen at March 29, 2008 7:58 AM

Just finished reading your book called "The pursuit of wow" and although it was written over 10 years ago I can tell you that much of what you said was as irrelavent now as it was then.

Get your act together man.

Posted by Christian at March 31, 2008 5:30 AM

I'm with you, erik. Hey...Leonard could you say that a bit differently? We know you could not have really meant to suggest that an other on this Blog is "retarded." After all, I'm sure Trevor and Dave, as well as I, would posit that even they are people too. Of which, are you?

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 31, 2008 8:54 AM

It's kind of weird, the least, to see such aggressive & irrelevant comments here, i.e. concerning "MAC vs PC" subject.

I wonder if any of those who 'rushed' TP to move to MAC thought about why would someone buy a ToughBook when he can afford (i presume) any other.... and if you happened to work on ur nbook on the road, in 'the wild', and it drops from the table/chair/rock because u accidently pushed it, then there is no difference whether it has or not the MagSafe feature.

I also wonder whether people recommending KeyNote over PowerPoint (saw it in some previous comments too) have seen TP's presentations: any cinema quality pictures/diagrams? Any special- transitions-visuals-animation-effects?... The ones I saw did not have any of those specs and were representative, transforming, wow-ing (correct me if i missed a significant part of PPTs that do have those specs).

I remember there was a theme on the "Innovation for the sake of innovation"

Posted by mbalan at April 4, 2008 7:04 PM