Some of the fastest, but also the most expensive, 10.1-inch laptops around

Jan 26, 2012 11:10 GMT  ·  By

Panasonic is getting ready to release a couple of refreshed J10 mini notebooks in the Japanese market which pretty much resemble their predecessors, but arrive with slightly improved hardware specs to make them even faster than before.

The J10 series is an interesting appearance on the notebook market since these little guys are some of the very few 10.1-inch laptops to be powered by standard voltage Intel Sandy Bridge processors.

Users have the option of choosing from two such Sandy Bridge chips, the standard version coming equipped with the 2.3GHz Core i3-2350M, while the more powerful model is powered by a 2.4GHz Core i5-2435M processor.

The fast Intel processors can be paired together with various storage options, including SSDs, while for graphics duties Panasonic has chosen to rely on the integrated HD 3000 GPU found inside Intel’s processors.

The rest of the specifications list is also pretty impressive, especially for this type of notebook design, with features ranging from built-in WiMAX support and HDMI output to optional Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity.

Another interesting addition is the support for USB 3.0, as such a port is included in both of the J10 models developed by Panasonic.

A pair of USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, a VGA video output and an SDXC card slot round up the connectivity options list.

As far as battery life is concerned, Panasonic states that the high-performance J10 model is capable of offering up to 12.5 hours of autonomy, while the standard version can deliver 7.5 hours of running time.

Both Panasonic J10 notebook models are expected to arrive in Japan in late February, the regular model being priced at $1,546 (1,179 EUR), revealed PC Watch, while the more powerful version has an MSRP of $2,192 (1,671 EUR).