Panasonic ships ‘rugged’ ultralight notebooks

Recognizing that the traveling lifestyle of an executive can be just as hard on a notebook as the life of a police officer or utility worker, Panasonic Computer Solutions Co. unveiled two new ultraportable notebooks designed to stand up to baggage claim carousels.

The Toughbook T4 and W4 notebooks are a bit of a departure from the rest of the Toughbook models in that they weigh about 3 pounds (1.35 kilograms). Panasonic’s other Toughbook models tend to weigh around 8 pounds with special materials designed to protect the system from shock, vibration, spills and other hazards associated with demanding professions.

Those so-called “rugged” notebooks are often used outdoors at construction sites, or by service technicians on house calls. Panasonic now hopes that mobile professionals logging countless hours in the air and on the road recognize the benefits of rugged design principles, such as shock-mounted hard drives, in a lightweight package that fits onto the tray mounted on the back of an airplane seat.

The T4 and W4 come with an external switch for turning off the notebooks’ built-in Wi-Fi chips. Many airlines require that wireless notebooks be switched off during the flight, at least on airlines that don’t offer wireless services.

Both models cost $2,149, and are available immediately in the U.S. through Panasonic’s resellers. The 3.4-pound T4 features a 12.1-inch touchscreen display, Intel Corp.’s Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M 753 processor, 512M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 40G-byte removable hard drive, Intel’s Pro/Wireless 2915ABG wireless chip and is rated for around 9.5 hours of battery life. The 2.8-pound W4 comes in a similar configuration, but features an integrated DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive and is rated for six hours of battery life.

Panasonic is a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., based in Osaka, Japan.