Panasonic Notebook a Tough Customer

They call it the Toughbook, but it's more than hardy: it's small and incredibly light, too.

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Panasonic sent me the Toughbook W7, part of the "7 series" (note to BMW: you may have a trademark infringement law suit here!) of "business-rugged notebooks ready for any challenge facing mobile professionals." The other models are the Y7 and T7, the latter of which features a handling strap and touch screen LCD. I didn't want to send the W7 back, but those darn Panasonic people made me do it anyway. The series uses Intel Core 2 Duo-based technology as the hearts (or is it brains?) of the PC's, all of which tip the scales at less than four pounds. According to Panasonic, they feature long battery life as well. I didn't time the battery burn down of my test W7, but it seemed more than adequate. Toughbooks' claim to fame is that they're supposed to be resistant to spills and, probably more important, being dropped. The cases and chassis are made of magnesium, hard drives are shock-mounted (I think that means the motherboards weren't expecting them), as are the LCD displays. The displays aren't widescreen, so if you're thinking of using the Toughbook for playing DVD's, you'd better get used to letterboxing (which isn't a big deal anyway). Maximum resolution of the W7 is 1024x768, which is what I ran, and Panasonic says it'll output up to 2048 x 1536 at 16.7 million colors if you want to drive an external monitor. Windows Vista Business was installed on my cool-looking silver loaner and Panasonic says you can "downgrade" to XP if you wish (this may be short-lived, though, if Microsoft cuts its support of the older Operating System). The optical drive is built right into the body, in front of the keyboard, and you load discs by pushing the open/close button on the front edge and flipping up the top. It's kind of cool and I liked the fact that the drive doesn't extend outward, like an impudent tongue, because it means you can use the PC in tighter confines – and it won't confuse anyone into thinking it doubles as a cup holder. The cursor control touchpad is circular, with buttons and indicator lights mounted around the circumference. I thought I'd hate that layout as much as I hate touchpads in general but as it turns out it wasn't too bad. I still eschewed it in favor of my beloved wireless USB optical notebook mouse, though. The keyboard is a little small for my ten stubby thumbs, but I had no real trouble typing on it except the very short space bar (Panasonic has stuck an ALT key where there should have been more space bar) drove me crazy when typing because I'd hit ALT when trying to type a space. The W7 comes with a range of embedded wireless options, including 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 and can handle (optional) "high-performance built-in 3G mobile broadband solutions such as EV-DO Rev. A." Panasonic says the Toughbook's case is 20 times more durable than the usual plastic stuff. To test this, I dragged it behind the car I was reviewing that week, a Porsche Boxster. Okay, I didn't do that. In fact, I was too chicken to do more than just use the computer as I would normally, though that included one moment of oafishness when it slipped from my grasp and bounced off a carpeted floor, my own inadvertent version of a drop test. It took that licking without affecting its ticking, though. I don't seem to be alone in my occasional klutziness. Panasonic quotes a 2007 Harris Interactive poll they sponsored claiming that 42 per cent of adult notebook users reported some form of mishap with their little PC, including knocking it against a hard surface, dropping it or spilling something on it. Undoubtedly sensing an opportunity for a profitability enhancement, Panasonic therefore came up with the Toughbooks. Works for me, though I wish they were a lot more affordable. My loaner would sell for more than two grand! The 7 series Toughbooks are "mil-spec" drop test-rated at 12 inches for the unit itself and 30 inches (analogous to dropping it from a desktop) for the shock-mounted hard drive. According to a Panasonic press release, the mil-spec testing "outlines a method by which units are dropped a total of 26 times, on every axis, onto plywood over steel over concrete." Panasonic adds its own drop-test that requires 7 series notebooks to survive a 30 inch drop to the base of the unit while it's operating. Panasonic claims to be breaking new ground with heat and power management technology in the 7 series. For one thing, it uses a proprietary implementation of Dynamic Power Performance Management technology, which continually fine tunes the CPU based on its load and the tasks being performed. It sounds kind of similar to engine cylinder deactivation, where the power plant can shut down or fire up cylinders based on need, to get better gas mileage. The Toughbooks' new Hybrid Cooling System incorporates a compact fan and a user-defined utility to manage the fan's speed based on need. Panasonic says the power management and cooling technologies help optimize performance while preventing the case from overheating and helping extend battery life. The keyboard is of a "spill-through" design the company says protects against liquid spills of "more than 6 ounces (200 cc)". This undoubtedly made the champagne celebration by the designers a lot safer when they toasted the first Toughbook off the assembly line. The lid and the base of the PC are supposed to be capable of taking more than 220 lbs (100 kg) of pressure. Not only that, but its hinges have to endure 50,000 cycles and the keyboards are tested to withstand 25 million keystrokes. And whoever does that particular test must have one of the world's most boring jobs! "My" Toughbook W7 Ultra-portable Notebook came with the integrated DVD MULTI drive and a 12.1 inch anti-glare LCD screen that worked surprisingly well in bright sunlight. But the thing I loved most about the W7 was its weight. The critter tips the scales at a puny 2.8 pounds (1280 grams), which makes it really great to tote around. You can grab and carry it easily with one hand. The W7 also comes with a gigabyte of SDRAM (it's expandable to twice that), an 80 gig hard disk, and approximately seven hours of battery life (according to Panasonic). That would make it pretty good for extra long flights, when the movie sucks and the seatmates are boring. The Toughbook Y7 has a 14.1 inch display, weighs 3.7 pounds and claims five hours of battery life. The T7's screen is 12.1 inches; it weighs 3.3 pounds and claims up to eight hours of battery life. Panasonic says Toughbook 7's also provide significant data security features including "trusted platform module (TPM) security chip v. 1.2, the Computrace theft protection agent in the BIOS, a cable lock slot, password security and an optional fingerprint scanner" the latter of which makes it ideal for people with optional fingerprints. So far as its performance as a PC is concerned, the Toughbook is a pretty standard notebook computer, which means it works fine for most applications and I had no trouble with it at all. But I loved its small footprint and ease of heft, which would offset my angst over the truncated space bar easily. The price is another matter. Making a computer as tough as Panasonic claims these Toughbooks are is a reasonable rationale for charging such a premium but, as justified as that may be, they're still pretty dear pieces of equipment. But that W7 I had was sure nice.