Panasonic Upgrades Rugged Mobile Computers Line, With The New Toughbook 19 Convertible Tablet PC

Panasonic has upgraded the new Toughbook 19 series with additional computing power and memory. Rugged laptops have never been more powerful as well as heat management for applications in extreme environments.

The new Panasonic Toughbook 19 convertible tablet PC incorporates the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with speeds of 1.06 GHz and a 533 MHz front side bus (FSB). It also features expanded memory of 1 GB SDRAM standard, which can be increased to 4 GB; and an 80 GB hard drive. Weighing in at a slim 5.1 pounds, the upgraded Toughbook 19 can be purchased with an optional integrated camera for inspections and incident documentation applications.

The military-specification (Mil-Spec)-certified notebooks incorporate rugged features, such as magnesium alloy cases, sealed keyboards and ports, hard drive heaters, flexible internal connectors, and shock mounting for high reliability, the company said.

If we also consider the anti-glare, anti-reflective sunlight-viewable display, the fact that this rugged notebook is compatible for WiFi 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, and mobile broadband (WWAN), that it has a backlit keyboard and GPS wireless we could say that we have a great choice here when it comes to rugged laptops.

The wide-area wireless capability is optional, enabling users to access data when they move outside a WiFi network.

Using the heat-pipe technology, the need for fans has been eliminated. Usually a fan adds weight and noise and are a potential source of failure in rugged situations where dust, sand, humidity, and precipitation are present. Due to  Intel's low-voltage version of the Core 2 duo, Panasonic to build a small machine without a fan.