CF-54, thoughts on living with one??? Repairability??
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 11:31 pm
My OLD MacBook is getting even older... It is a 2012 and has been a constant near daily companion. It says a LOT that it is still running well. Repairability is AMAZING too. But it is way past time to replace it.... Specs wise it is a 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 and Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB. Harddrive has been upgraded to a 512GB SSD. Keyboard and trackpad are absolutely butter and perfection.
I have a 15" Macbook here with a crazy Retina OLED or something screen. It is night and day difference from this one, and alone is probably worth the upgrade. It is an i7 and has 16GB memory (I believe its also soldered in memory). It needs a battery, not a big deal (about $100). It has a bunch of other specs making it pretty hard to compete with... But, it isn't a Toughbook.
I am contemplating moving to a CF-54 with 32GB memory. I can get one with an i7 for about $900-1000. Or I can get a slightly lower spec i5 Black Cobra Edition for $1200. But either one of these is signifigantly more than the $100-125 needed to get my 15" MacBook 100%.
Hardware wise I am concerned about 2 things, the keyboard feel (I type a lot) and the trackpad feel. Toughbook pads always feel "draggy" vs the glass smooth feel of a Mac. Keyboard is harder to describe. I always seem to drop letters on Toughbooks, but never ever do this on my Mac. I suspect the Mac keystroke is lighter and possibly shorter. I don't think I have an issue on the older non-backlight Toughbook keyboards, but I drop letters on the emissive/chicklet Toughbook keyboards. It is POSSIBLE I still drop letters now and then on the Mac, but it does seem to have way better auto spell correct.
Software and OS. The Toughbooks doesn't have OSX on them... Windows has perfected the art of wasting your time. I am dozing off, going to call this one done for now lol.
I have a 15" Macbook here with a crazy Retina OLED or something screen. It is night and day difference from this one, and alone is probably worth the upgrade. It is an i7 and has 16GB memory (I believe its also soldered in memory). It needs a battery, not a big deal (about $100). It has a bunch of other specs making it pretty hard to compete with... But, it isn't a Toughbook.
I am contemplating moving to a CF-54 with 32GB memory. I can get one with an i7 for about $900-1000. Or I can get a slightly lower spec i5 Black Cobra Edition for $1200. But either one of these is signifigantly more than the $100-125 needed to get my 15" MacBook 100%.
Hardware wise I am concerned about 2 things, the keyboard feel (I type a lot) and the trackpad feel. Toughbook pads always feel "draggy" vs the glass smooth feel of a Mac. Keyboard is harder to describe. I always seem to drop letters on Toughbooks, but never ever do this on my Mac. I suspect the Mac keystroke is lighter and possibly shorter. I don't think I have an issue on the older non-backlight Toughbook keyboards, but I drop letters on the emissive/chicklet Toughbook keyboards. It is POSSIBLE I still drop letters now and then on the Mac, but it does seem to have way better auto spell correct.
Software and OS. The Toughbooks doesn't have OSX on them... Windows has perfected the art of wasting your time. I am dozing off, going to call this one done for now lol.