Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1 Hands-On (Akihabara)

Akihabara News has posted one of the first extensive looks at the new 5.6-inch Intel Atom-powered Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1. The CF-U1 is a “rugged’ type of device, made to withstand drops of around 3 - 4 feet and is sealed to protect it from exposure to moisture water.

They’ve posted about sixty pictures of Panasonic’s press conference / demonstration of the CF-U1 in Japan yesterday. There are a lot of closeups of the CF-U1, as well as it’s dock/charging station (it can be docked and charging extra batteries as well), plus a charging station for four batteries. The CF-U1 has a unique two-battery system that allows a battery to be hot-swapped with a fresh battery while continuously operating off of the other battery and without being plugged into another power source.

Included are pictures of the CF-U1 being liberally doused with water, as well as being dropped around three feet or so onto a piece of concrete. It’s very important to note, this is not meant to be used under water! (although the model was definitely pouring a lot of water on it during the demonstration).

Read: Akihabara News

Announced: Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1

Panasonic has formally announced the Panasonic ToughBook CF-U1, an ultraportable device powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom CPU. The device has been shown at various events going back to Cebit Germany, but today marks the official announcement of availability and pricing.

It has a 5.6-inch widescreen touchscreen display (putting it into the same class as the Fujitsu Lifebook U810 and its sequel, the Lifebook U2010). Storage consists of a 16GB or 32GB Solid State Drive (SSD). It will weigh around 1.06 kg (2.34 pounds).

One of the unique features is that the 61-key keyboard is directly under the display - it’s more of a Tablet form factor than a laptop, but it includes a full keyboard (that is split in the middle with a numeric pad taking up the center). There is an optional 10-key keyboard that functions more like an enhanced Tablet PC. It also features a two battery system that, in addition to the up to 7-10 hours of battery life, can allow for the batteries to be hotswapped for continuous use.

As with other Panasonic Toughbooks, it has rubber seals for I/O sockets (USB, etc.) along with other measures, to protect the device from water being accidentally splashed on it or dust getting inside. In addition, its rugged design protects it from accidental drops to the ground/floor.

It will be available in both North American and Japanese markets later this year (availability in Europe and other parts of Asia is not known at this time). North American customers can expect to see it in August, with a starting price in the $2500 range.

Read:
- Panasonic ToughBook page (Panasonic.biz, Translated from Japanese)

MacBook Air Roundup (Feb 22)

A few MacBook Air articles that are interesting, from a critical point of view:

Akihabara News points us to an article that’s part of a series on Tech-On!, MacBook Air Teardown: ‘No Waste Outside, Nothing but Waste Inside that looks at what happens when you take a group of engineers from several Japanese PC manufacturing companies and have them tear down a MacBook Air: “Can we say that the MacBook Air has a perfect, sophisticated external appearance, but its insides are full of waste?”

Crave is running a MacBook Air alternatives article, with the following being possible MacBook Air alternatives if you need to spend less or need a few more features or aren’t too concerned about going with Mac OS X:
- Sony Vaio TZ150
- Panasonic Toughbook W7
- Asus U6S
- Toshiba R500

Last week, PC World listed their alternatives. I’ll list mine this weekend.

Review: Panasonic ToughBook CF-74 (TrustedReviews)

This morning, TrustedReviews published their review (along with some amazing videos/animation) of the Panasonic ToughBook CF-74. The Panasonic ToughBook is exactly what it sounds like, a semi-rugged laptop.

The CF-74 they reviewed is the updated version of the CF-74, based on Intel’s Santa Rosa platform (the CF-74 was introduced over a year and a half ago, but has been updated to Santa Rosa, with new CPUs, with all other features remaining the same).

Among the features of the ToughBook CF-74:
- Durable case, made out of Magnesium Alloy
- Liquid/spill-resistant keyboard and touchpad
- Communications options include CDMA, EVDO, or EDGE, with an external SIM slot for other carriers.
- Shock-mounted Hard Drive
- 13.3″ non-widescreen daylight-readable, touchscreen.

While this weighs almost twice as much as some laptops with 13″ displays (and costs twice as much or more), people aren’t buying these for their offices, they are buying these because they have certain requirements for a laptop - to quote the review:

Although the CF-74 is only classed as semi-rugged, it can still survive its fair share of knocks, bumps and drops. In fact the last ToughBook CF-74 that I looked at didn’t seem to have any problem with being dropped from around a metre, as the image below highlights. Panasonic states that the data on the hard disk will remain safe even if the unit is dropped from 90cm, so it’s good to see that there’s a little headroom in there, in case your desk is a little bit higher than that.

The CF-74 also has doors protecting the majority of ports and connectors, while the keyboard is spill resistant. That doesn’t mean that you should use this machine out in the pouring rain, as you would a CF-30, but it does mean that you won’t have to worry about spilling the odd glass of water on it, or using it in a dusty environment. On the whole, this notebook is close to perfect for the majority of field workers, unless you absolutely, positively need your computer to keep working, no matter how extreme the conditions.

To get any more durable/rugged, you have to pay quite a bit more and add quite a bit more weight.

Review: TrustedReviews

PC Magazine Laptop (and Desktop) Buying Guide

PC Magazine is running their annual PC Magazine Buying Guide: Desktops and Laptops. Ultraportables have gained quite a bit of exposure this time around (or rather there seem to be more models mentioned that are lighter and faster than last time around).

Ultraportables were mentioned in two sections - those on the road a lot, who would favor a smaller size and weight, and those who are limited in the space they have available to them.

Quote:

For the businessman constantly on the go, whipping out your laptop on an airport security-check line is labor enough. Lugging it through numerous airports trying to make connecting flights is a whole other ordeal. You’ll want a system that won’t weigh you down (or make you permanently lopsided). We think a sub-4-pound ultraportable is the way to go. Advances in technology also make it possible for PC manufacturers to integrate optical drives without exceeding the 3-pound barrier.

Under the Road Warrior section, these ultraportables are featured:
- Lenovo ThinkPad X60
- Toshiba Portégé R500-S5002
- Panasonic Toughbook CF-W5
- OQO model 02

Under the Cramped Space Dweller section, they mention:
- ASUS U1F
- Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P

Full article/guide: PC Magazine Buying Guide: Desktops and Laptops

Laptop Industry - Parts Shortage

In light of the delays that are affecting Dell’s XPS M1330, PC World is running an article, Laptop Industry Faces Parts Shortage. They talk about shortages in LCD displays (LCD TVs have taken off sales wise) and small hard drives used in both notebooks and iPods and the like (I’m guessing 1.8″ hard drives to be certain). That’s on top of the huge battery recalls that have been ongoing over the past year or two, coupled with the huge demand over the past several months (back to school plus Intel’s Santa Rosa platform launching).

They point out that this current shortage is unlike most that the industry has faced in the past.

Excerpt from the article:

What normally happens during a component shortage is that PC vendors will adjust the makeup of the notebook PC to find savings elsewhere and ensure a constant price for users. For example, using less DRAM (dynamic-RAM) memory in a laptop can reduce the cost a tad, to make up for a higher priced laptop battery.

This time is a little different because there are shortages of several key components.

Demand for new laptop computers is far greater than predicted so far this year, and companies are scrambling to keep up. At the same time, the industry is trying to cope with component shortages caused by other factors.

Now they don’t explicitly mention the Dell XPS M1330 (nor do they mention other laptops by name/model), but considering the LED-backlit displays seem to be a big part of the delays, and considering that other laptop makers are pushing LED-backlit displays out, it’s probably fair to say that it’s tied into all that. Whether Toshiba’s Dynabook SS RX1 as well as Panasonic’s R6 Jet Black Edition are suffering from parts shortages is hard to say, since they haven’t provided details.

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