
This is the CF-W7, the more portable of Panasonic's two new semi-rugged business notebooks. The CF-W7 weights 1.4kg, and includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 120GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM. It appears to be a piecemeal upgrade from its predecessor, and its price reflects the premium cost that comes with a hardened laptop.
The CF-W7 is available with an RRP of $3,600. Unlike the CF-52, it is based on Intel's first Centrino platform.
(Credit: 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!