Panasonic Toughbook R1

Panasonic Toughbook R1 ... With this creation Panasonic is giving today's mobile generation even more mobile computing enjoyment: the Toughbook CF-R1 with its bright 10.4-inch display is hardly larger than a sheet of A5, and at 990g it's an absolute lightweight in its class and also provides a particularly long running time with up to six hours before it needs recharging. And in spite of its refined finish in contemporary silver, it is robust enough for mobile use thanks to its "semi-ruggedized" design.

CF-R1's design combines low weight with high strength. This enabled Panasonic to reduce the already very thin 0.7 mm magnesium casing to 0.4 mm in places thanks to a new recess structure. The use of new lightweight components also enabled Panasonic to save weight. A two-layer structure to the notebook, a convex, impact-resistant design to the display casing, a free-moving mounting for the LCD with special dampers and a very strong frame make the CF-R1 very robust. A hard disk mounted on shock absorbers with a flexible circuit board complete the "semi-ruggedized" concept, such that the CF-R1 will withstand a drop of 30 cm without damage.

Despite the compact size and its robust construction the CF-R1 is very easy to use. The 83 keys on the ultra flat keyboard have a width of 1.7 cm, hardly narrower than conventional notebooks. The bright LCD display is particularly impressive, with its backlight technology giving a particularly luminous image. In operation the Toughbook is a marathon champion: up to six hours can be achieved without recharging. What makes this outstanding performance possible is an energy-saving display technology, the economic 3.3 Volt hard disk and the ultra low-voltage CPU. The capacity of the newly developed Lithium-Ion batteries is also about 10% higher than conventional batteries.

The CF-R1 also has innovative communications connections: in addition to mini VGA and audio sockets, the Toughbook also has a slot for the new stamp-sized SD cards which are increasingly becoming the standard for storage cards.