14 DAY TRIAL // Gravity has long been the bane of all breakable objects, and consumer electronics and PCs are more breakable than other things, which means that any measures meant to reduce the risk of damage are welcome. Usually.
We say “usually” because anything that makes a, in this case, laptop more rugged usually has two consequences.
The first is that the product becomes a fair bit less graceful-looking. The second is that the price rises the more rugged the device becomes.
Panasonic's AX3 somehow escapes the former side-effect, but that boon comes at the cost of less extra endurance than normal.
Which is to say, the portable computer is only guaranteed to survive falls from 2.5 feet / 0.72 meters. Useful in case you trip while carrying it, but not much else.
Then again, with the amount of care people show their technological assets, that may be more than enough.
Sadly, Panasonic did not share any pricing information or the ETA (estimated time of arrival), but at least is outlined the specifications.
The tough, white casing hides an Intel 1.8GHz Haswell central processing unit, 4 GB of DDR3 RAM (random access memory), a solid-state drive of 128 GB (SSD), and a battery that can last for 13 hours.
The fold-over display has a diagonal of 11.6 inches and a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD as it were).
All in all, it weighs 1.14kg (2.5 pounds), which helps with the drop survival rate.
In addition to surviving drops of 2.5 feet / 0.74 meters, the Panasonic AX3 Ultrabook can withstand weights of 100 kilograms. So don't panic if you or your friends accidentally step on it.
Chances are that further details will come out at IFA 2013, in August. Like in all other years, the trade show will take place in Berlin, Germany.