Announced: Panasonic CF-74 Toughbook

Panasonic has announced one of the first of their Toughbooks to sport an Intel Core Duo CPU and Centrino chipset, the Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 or Toughbook-74. While it’s on the heavy side for an ultraportable (barely under 6 pounds), the weight can be attributed towards the heavy duty Magnesium-Alloy case, the harddrive protection, the spill-resistant keyboard and touchpad, and the daylight-capable touchscreen LCD display. It has a 13.3-inch display, which unfortunately is not widescreen (probably due to touchscreen costs). It will be available in April of 2006, and MobileWhack.com is reporting that it will start at around $3000.