Panasonic announced the launch of a new line of products from the family of Thoughbook rugged notebooks that are coming equipped with the Intel Santa Rosa mobile computing platform, while also featuring enhanced protection against drops, spills and other potentially damaging encounters.

The new Panasonic Thoughbook rugged notebooks are now available under the CF-T7, CF-W7, CF-Y7 and CF-R7 designations and they all come equipped with an ''irrigation system'' that is hidden beneath the keyboard and can route water and other liquids away from the vital hardware components and to a ''drain'' situated in the lower part of the notebook.

According to the news site laptoping, the new Panasonic notebooks are rated to survive a fall from an average height of 76cm, the typical height of a desk, even when they are switched on, unlike the current generation of mobile computing systems that are only protected against a 30cm fall.

The lowest end model from the new line of Panasonic offerings is the CF-T7 laptop that comes with a 12.1 widescreen display but has no optical drive, while the next in line is the CF-W7 that uses the very same display but also comes with a DVD burner drive. The high end offering is represented by the CF-Y7 version that comes with a 14.1 inch widescreen display while also sporting a DVD burner.

All these rugged notebooks from the Panasonic Thoughbook line are based on Intel's Santa Rosa mobile computing platform and they are powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors, while also featuring 1GB of random access memory and 80GB hard disk drives. While all the new laptops are offering integrated support for the 802.11 a/b/g wireless networking standard, the newest 802.11 draft-n variant is not supported.

The CF-T7, CF-W7 and CF-Y7 models of Panasonic rugged laptops from the Thoughbook line of products, will be launched in Europe on November 27th, while the launch date in the United States and in Asia is expected to be around the same time. The low end T7 model is expected to cost around $1,909, while the W7 will go for $2,169 and the Y7 will be priced at $2,343 while also being available from the 19th of October.