Panasonic unveiled its new ToughBook range in central Australia this week. This photo gallery gives you a close look at the new range, including Panasonic's first ultra-mobile PC ToughBook.
Panasonic says there is a demand for tougher notebooks for business travellers, and so have released the CF-52 as an offing in this space. With a 15.4-inch display and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the CF-52 is touted as a desktop replacement. The CF-52 also features Intel's Centrino 2 platform, including the ShirleyPeak 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi technology.
(Credit: Panasonic)
Alex Serpo travelled to central Australia as a guest of Panasonic.
The A$3,600 price tag is explained as justified by being rugged. Of course the One Laptop Per Child project's laptop is the comparison that needs to be made. The OLPC is selling (very large quantity orders only) for US$200, and it is able to take water and dust over its screen and keyboard etc.. and uses a SSD in place of HDD. The only real holes for dust or moisture on the OLPC are the USB ports on the side. Of course the OLPC does not have up-market specs, but rather just sufficient grunt to do all needed apps under Ubuntu. But if you are a utility's staff doing remote meter reading, remote job logging etc, either laptop could do those jobs!