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Panasonic's Toughbook 52 upgraded, shows its touchier side
After watching its Toughbook 19 and 30 siblings get a makeover, Panasonic's CF-52 wasn't about to miss out on all the fun. The semi-rugged laptop has a few new tricks up its armored sleeve, chief among them an optional 13.3-inch XGA touchscreen with integrated stylus holder, dual overhead keyboard light, and Intel GM45 video controller. If you're not the touchy-feely type, the 15.4-incher is still around, swapping tactile interface for WUXGA resolution and an ATI Radeon HD 3650. Both models sport Intel Core 2 Duos with vPro technology, 2-4 GB DDR2 RAM, Bluetooth and 160GB HDD. Look for these babies to hit retail shelves -- and still work -- later this month for an estimated starting price of £1851 ($2677).
Panasonic loads Centrino 2 into Toughbook CF-52 / CF-74
We're beginning to wonder if Panny's long-standing CF-52 and CF-74 will ever be replaced, but so long as folks keep biting, we suppose there's nothing wrong with perpetual makeovers. As with nearly every other laptop manufacturer, Panasonic has also decided it prudent to freshen up the aforesaid pair of Toughbooks with larger hard drives, 802.11n WiFi, expanded graphics capabilities and Intel's Centrino 2 platform. Aside from that, you can still expect the same rugged exterior, shock-mounted HDD and spill-resistant keyboard, but you'll pay dearly for those safeguards. Both the 15.4-inch CF-52 and 13.3-inch CF-74 will be available next month starting at $1,949 and $3,199, respectively.
Panasonic's Toughbook CF-52 with Santa Rosa lands in US
If you're ready to get rough and tumble with a Santa Rosa-based Toughbook, you're almost there: Panasonic's announcing the new CF-52's availability in the US, as well as new specs and features. There are two base configs (optimized for $2500 and standard for $1650), which feature: Core 2 Duo CPUs (2.0 and 1.8GHz) 1GB RAM (expandable to 4GB) 15.4-inch WUXGA or WXGA display (1920 x 1200 or 1366 x 768), enhanced 512MB grahics for Aero 80 or 120GB drives (shock mounted), DVD burner 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (optional) 3G option (launches officially with Verizon exclusively for 120 days, then will have Sprint Rev. A and Cingular HSDPA support -- or add your own) (4) USB 2.0, PCMCIA slot, ExpressCard slot, SD reader, 1394, VGA, gigabit Ethernet, modem, serial TPM chip, and optional SmartCard and biometric scanner Spill-resistant keyboard and integrated handle Available in July -- if you're hearty enough to carry around a 2-inch thick 7.3-pound beast of a box.%Gallery-3631%
Panasonic toughens up Santa Rosa with a pair of new laptops
it's a little late to the game, but Panasonic has now seen fit to bestow some of that Santa Rosa mojo on a couple of its ruggedized Toughbook laptops, recently announcing its new CF-74 and CF-52 models based on the platform. From the looks of it, the CF-74 (pictured above) will be more or less the same as the existing model of the same name, with the notable exception of all those Santa Rosa-related upgrades, including Intel's 965 Express chipset, an unspecified Core 2 Duo processor, integrated 802.11n WiFi, and Intel's Turbo Memory cache card. The CF-52, on the other hand, takes things up a whole digit from the current CF-51 model, with it getting some of the added security benefits of the more business-minded Centrino Pro platform. According to Panasonic, the CF-74 will be the first out the gate in June, with the CF-52 following sometime in July, although there's no word on pricing for either of 'em just yet. [Warning: PDF link]
