Skip to main content

Panasonic expands Toughpad line, includes Win8 and Android tablets.

Check out our review of the Panasonic ToughPad FZ-G1 tablet.

CES may get its reputation for being all about the common man, hence the consumer part of the Consumer Electronic Show name, but that doesn’t stop companies like Panasonic from using the opportunity to showcase their latest corporate and enterprise products. On Tuesday, Panasonic unleashed two more tablets into their Toughpad line of immortal electronics, one of which is a 10-inch device featuring Windows 8, and the other is a 7-inch featuring Android. The two compliment their recent launch of a 10-inch Android Toughbook late last year.

Recommended Videos

The first one, above and on the left, is the Toughpad JT-B1, a 7-inch Android tablet running Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0.) With a 1.5Ghz dual-core TI OMAP processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 16GB of space, you certainly get plenty of backend hardware for the WSVGA, daylight-readable display. Some interesting hardware also includes an impressive 13-megapixel camera with flash on the back, 1.3-megapixel camera on the front, 5,720mAh user-serviceable battery with 8 hours of life, and optional LTE. The unit comes with a 5-foot drop rating, IP65 rating for dust and water, and operates anywhere from 14 to 122 degrees. Where you choose to read books with this tablet is up to you, but there’s a good chance that it will have a better chance of surviving than you will. 

The second new model, in the picture above on the right, is the first Windows 8 tablet by Panasonic, and is the 10.1-inch Toughpad FZ-G1. Featuring a 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processor, up to 256GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM, you’re sure to have plenty of computing power wherever you may go with this Toughpad. It also features a 10.1-inch sunlight-readable display with active digitizer (really just a stylus,) 8 hour battery life, USB 3.0, HDMI, GPS, and also LTE. The FZ-G1 in particular can withstand 4-foot drops, has an IP65 rating for rain and dust, and can operate anywhere from 14 to 122 degrees. As you have probably guessed, it’ll survive anything from construction sites to your three-year-old nephew.

Panasonic has introduced some impressive devices, and these two complete the trinity of Toughpads for those looking for Windows 8 or Android. Sadly there has yet to be any announced pricing, but Panasonic says they’re now available for order, so feel free to drop them a line. You can also watch the video below that they sent us showcasing the tablet trio. No word on Jelly Bean updates for either of the Android tablets.

Joshua Sherman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Joshua Sherman is a contributor for Digital Trends who writes about all things mobile from Apple to Zynga. Josh pulls his…
You can now try out ChatGPT Search for free
The ChatGPT Search icon on the prompt window

As part of its "12 Days of OpenAI" event, OpenAI has yet another update for ChatGPT, this time bringing its Search feature over to the free tier. The Google Search alternative was previously only for paid subscribers in the ChatGPT Plus or Pro tiers.

"We rolled it out for paid users about two months ago," Kevin Weil, OpenAI's chief product officer, said during Monday's livestream. "I can't imagine ChatGPT without Search now. I use it so often. I'm so excited to bring it to all of you for free starting today."

Read more
No, the Nvidia App isn’t killing your PC’s performance
The Nvidia app on the Windows desktop.

When I heard that the new Nvidia App could reduce performance by up to 15%, I was shocked. If this is the first you're hearing about it, I'm sure you're shocked, too. The news stems from Sebastian Castellanos, who posted on X about a big performance drop with the Nvidia App installed in both Black Myth: Wukong and The Talos Principle 2. Some news outlets ran with the claim, including Tom's Hardware and Dark Side of Gaming, showing original testing that backed up the performance loss.

The only problem? The Nvidia App isn't to blame.

Read more
This gaming PC with RTX 4070 is on sale for less than $1,000
The iBuyPower Y40 gaming PC with a keyboard and mouse.

A budget of $1,000 usually isn't enough for a fantastic gaming machine, but Walmart is making it happen with this offer for the iBuyPower Y40. The gaming desktop, which is powered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, is currently available for only $999, following a $601 discount on its sticker price of $1,600. This is one of the most attractive gaming PC deals that we've found in recent memory, even with Black Friday less than a month behind us, so you're going to want to take advantage of it before the stock is sold out.

Why you should buy the iBuyPower Y40 gaming PC
The iBuyPower Y40 gaming PC is packed with components that will let you play the best PC games without any issues. In addition to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, it's equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 processor and 16GB of RAM, which is the best place to start for a gaming desktop according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. The gaming PC also comes with a liquid-cooling system, so it won't suffer from overheating if your gaming sessions last for several hours at a time.

Read more