14 DAY TRIAL // Panasonic has pushed out a revamp of its Toughbook CF-D1 rugged tablet, which is aimed at a very specific consumer crowd, including automotive technicians and emergency personal.
The updated version has been improved to sustain increased performance and communication capabilities. Panasonic has previously stated it is eyeing 50% of the rugged device market, so providing updates to its products is a good way to go about it.
“The Toughbook CF-D1 was designed with and for technicians performing diagnostics on engines, automobiles, trucks and machines in either the workshop or field environment, as well as emergency services command and response teams that need large and clear screen visibility to display technical drawings and maps,” explains Panasonic’s Rusell Younghusband.
The Toughbook CF-D1 boasts a 13.3-inch widescreen HD LCD with LED backlighting and draws power from a productive third-gen Intel Core i5-3340M vPro processor clocked at 2.7GHz processor fitted with either 500GB hard drive and optional 256GB SSD.
Other effective functionalities for professionals working in the fields outlined above are the latest Gobi 500 4G module (optional), Bluetooth 4.0, Wireless LAN IEEE802.11 a/bg/n, GPS, USB 3.0 and 2 x USB 2.0.
For emergency personnel working in health-care, the two cameras (5MP on the back and 3MP in front) will prove quite useful for capturing diagnostic documentation, for example.
Panasonic also made sure the information stored on the tablet is kept secure, bundling the product with AMT (Active Management Technology), vPro, Kensington lock and Panasonic security utilities.
The CF-D1 can be carried around by virtue of a handle and weighs approximately 2.25 kg / 4.9 lbs, so it shouldn't be so hard to have it almost everywhere (it has been designed for semi-mobility).
Like any respectable professional tablet these days, the new Toughbook ships with Windows 8.1 Pro out of the box. The rugged tablet will be available starting March 2014 for £1,827 / $2,981 / €2,209 a pop.