14 DAY TRIAL // PC suppliers and hardware makers will often describe their new devices as the first to bear a certain trait, but sometimes they will even go as far as proclaiming their supremacy among all others of their type. This is exactly what Panasonic has done with the Toughbook 31, an Intel-powered rugged mobile system that promises to address all the needs of military personnel, field workers and first responders in the fields of energy, utilities and telecommunications, among other things.
Panasonic built upon its own experience and used vast customer input as a guideline towards making the Toughbook 31 not only highly capable, but also sturdy and long-lived.
As such, it focused less on making it compact, deciding, instead, on a strong, dust- and water-proof magnesium alloy case capable of withstanding drops from up to six feet. This also allowed the developer to safely include components of a higher quality.
The mobile PC runs on an Intel Core i3 or Core i5 CPU and boasts up to 8GB of RAM and 250GB of storage space. The configuration also includes a 13.1-inch, LED-backlit, 1024 x 768 screen (brightness of 1,100 nits), Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and optional 3G. Furthermore, purchasers can also choose to settle for the integrated graphics or add a discrete ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics card.
“The Toughbook 31 combines the best of three worlds – mobility, performance and ruggedness,” Erik Reid, mobile client marketing director, Intel Corporation, said. “This is achieved by combining the high performance of the Intel Core i5 and i3 Processor technology with the ruggedness of the Panasonic design which enables users to perform compute intensive applications in almost any kind of conditions.”
Panasonic's Toughbook 31 is pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows 7 and has a starting price of $3,799. It is accompanied by a three-year warranty and, depending on user preference, may also come with the less feature-rich Windows XP operating system.