Toughbook
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Panasonic's 3G-equipped Toughbook CF-W5 reviewed
True road warriors tend to be willing to sacrifice that FPS-boosting power for "just a few more minutes" of battery life, and having an always-on 3G connection sure makes things easier, too. Panasonic's wee Toughbook CF-W5 replaces the slightly heavier W4, and performed quite admirably in the longevity / portability departments during Laptop Mag's prodding. Reviewers marveled at the 12-inch LCD, "rigid" nature of the 1.8-inch thick machine, and its ability to withstand the typical bumps and bruises you'd expect, say, while trekking through through the woods or camping out for a Playstation 3. Another nice touch was the combo drive's automatic shut down feature after three minutes of inactivity, but they were none too pleased to find that a DVD burner wasn't even an available option. Further criticizing the specs, the (admittedly paltry) 60GB hard drive and 512MB of RAM were scoffed at, and the "cramped" keyboard wasn't exactly made for cranking out dissertations. Overall, however, the machine accomplished its main goals -- staying tough and toughing it out -- by offering up 8 hours and 28 minutes of realizable battery life with wireless options inactive, and still mustered just about 5 hours while surfing the 'net. So if you're rarely near a power outlet, and come across cellphone towers entirely more often that WiFi hotspots, the Toughbook CF-W5 just might be your "ideal candidate."
Panasonic intros ToughBook CF-30 and CF-19
While all those little pansy laptops have been getting busy with Core 2 Duo for quite a while, Panasonic is just now dropping a Core Duo processor into their flagship ToughBooks, but they're still looking pretty dang Tough, so we'll go easy on the teasing. Both laptops sport "record breaking" brightness, with 550 nits in the CF-19 and 1,000 nits in the CF-30, supposedly the brightest LCD ever to be stuffed into a laptop, so neither laptop should be much trouble to read outdoors. The new CF-19 (pictured) follows up the Pentium M CF-18 with a 1.06GHz U2400 Core Duo processor, 80GB HDD, 512MB of RAM (with room for a handy 4GB total), a 10.4-inch XGA touchscreen in regular or Tablet PC configuration, EV-DO or HSDPA WWAN, Bluetooth 2.0, a/b/g WiFi and an optional GPS and fingerprint scanner. They've stuck with the same form factor, which measures 1.9-inches thick and weighs 5 pounds, though the standard battery life has been bumped up to 7 hours. The CF-30 (pictured after the break) matches its swivel-screen sibling quite well, though the luxury of a 13.3-inch XGA touchscreen, 1.66GHz L2400 Core Duo processor and slot for extra battery or disc drive will really cost you in the size department: the laptop measures 2.8-inches thick and weighs 8.2 pounds, while "only" managing 6 hours of battery. Of course, the main point of these things is their magnesium alloy cases, sealed keyboards and ports, and shock mounted screens and hard drives which makes them quite drop-kick ready, and jacks the price to $4,700 for the CF-30 and $4,200 for the CF-20. Both laptops should be out this December.
Panasonic gets ultraportable with three new Toughbooks
These three new Toughbooks from Panasonic, the CF-W5, CF-T5 and CF-Y5, aren't quite the type of laptop you can leave out in the rain or dropkick across the room, but they should handle a bump or three just fine with their magnesium-alloy bodies and shock-mounted hard drives. To start things off, the 12.1-inch CF-W5 sports a 60GB HDD, Core Solo processor and a purported 8 hours of battery. The 1.8-inch thickness isn't revolutionary, but the 3.1 pound weight isn't bad at all. Next up, the CF-T5 has a the same specs except for a touch sensitive screen, 3.5 pound weight, and a crazy-silly-fresh 10 hour battery. Finally, the CF-Y5 (pictured) hits up a 14.1-inch display, Bluetooth and a DVD/CD-RW drive, while still managing to weigh a mere 3.5 pounds. All three of the new Toughbooks have options for EV-DO or UMTS/HSDPA wireless modems, but sadly RAM is capped at 512MB for the W5 and T5, though the Y5 can scale up to and each max out at 1.5GB of RAM. The two 12-inchers should be dropping in October for $1,899, while the CF-Y5 is coming in December for $2,199.
Recon-X military-grade PDA is "everything-proof"
Intended primarily for captains of heavy industry, Tripod Data Systems' Recon X-Series pocket PCs are the toughest we've ever come across. Both new models, the 200MHz 200x and the 400MHz 400x, are tested to stand up to even the toughest conditions, including drops, heavy vibration, extreme temperatures, dust and water that would turn many slicker devices into a shiny pile of junk. Other features include an integrated microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, 256MB of flash memory and two compact flash slots for worksite necessities like barcode scanners and GPS. Most units run the Windows Mobile OS, but a Linux version is available through SDG Systems. You'll have to contact your local reseller for actual pricing, but we think it's a fair assumption that this little brother to your Toughbook doesn't come cheap.[Via LinuxDevices]
Panasonic rolls Cingular HSDPA for ToughBook CF-18
It's a rough world out there, and no one should be without 3G nowadays -- especially not anyone whose job requires them to carry a Panasonic CF-18, one of their iron-clad ToughBook class laptops strong enough to take a bullet (ok, maybe not really). Looks like Panny landed a deal with Cingular to incorporate HSDPA into the CF-18 by way of a Novatel Wireless Expedite EU730 UMTS / HSDPA card, presumably a Mini PCI add-on. Nope, it's not the first shot the ToughBook has had at having 3G in its lifetime -- and we assume it won't be the last -- but this does add Panasonic to the short list of HSDPA laptop makers, as well as to the growing list of companies offering help in the way of laptop-internal 3G while remaining relatively (though never entirely) carrier agnostic. [Via The Wireless Report]
Panasonic's Let's Note T4 goes Tablet
We're all pretty well familiar with Panasonic's infamous Let's Note laptop lineup (known affectionately in the States as the Toughbook series), and their adorable little T4 is among the smallest and lightest. Well, looks like they wanted to teach an old dog a new trick for their ten year anniversary (or so says Akihabara News), by feeding the T4 some growth formula and demanding it sprout Tablet PC features -- which it did. Say hello to the Tablet T4, with XP Tablet and a touch panel (with digitizer, we presume). Sorry, no converting here to a proper tablet form factor (yet), but now that Panny's dipped their toes in the water, we wouldn't be surprised if they come back with something along those lines in the future.
Panasonic's Let's Note goes Core Duo
Panasonic's once again updated their Let's Note series over in Japan (what we call the Toughbook in the US), this time with a slew of latter Intel chips. The Y5 features a 14-inch 1,400 x 1,050 display, low voltage 1.5GHz Core Duo L2300, up to 1GB RAM, 60GB hard drive (ahem), DVD burner, 802.11a/b/g, Ethernet, PC slot, SD, VGA out, waterproof keyboard(!) and a 12.1 x 9.6 x 1.1/1.7-inch body; the W5 and T5 feature a 12.1-inch XGA display, 1.06GHz Core Solo U1300, 60GB drive, up to 1GB RAM, 802.11a/b/g, Ethernet, SD, and VGA, the difference being the W5 has an internal DVD burner, while the T5 has none (both are 10.5 x 8.2 x 1/1.7-inches); finally, the 9 x 7.2 x 0.9/1.6-inch R5 features a 10.4-inch display and also rocks the 1.06GHz Core Solo U1300, as well as 802.11a/b/g and a supposed 11-hour battery life. Coming soon to an importer near you for way, way too much money.
