Panasonic Debuts Toughbook UMPC

By Nick Mokey Published July 25, 2014

Panasonic Debuts Toughbook UMPC

Panasonic’s Toughbook line of fully rugged notebooks is about to get a tiny new addition, in the form of an ultra-mobile PC (UMPC). The company took the wraps off its latest resilient piece of PC hardware at CeBIT this week.

The new Toughbook UMPC features a 5.6-inch LCD wrapped in a bulky case (we’re guessing magnesium based on previous Toughbooks), with a full QWERTY keyboard stretched under the screen. Oddly enough, the numberpad has been placed in the center – presumably to stay out of the way of your thumbs at the edges of the keyboard where it would normally fall.

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Not surprisingly, the Toughbook UMPC will use Intel’s new Atom processor, which Intel claims offers ultra-low power consumption, though it will also feature hot-swappable batteries for extended use. Vista will be the native operating system.

Panasonic hasn’t yet released pricing information for the new Toughbook UMPC, but it will most likely see a Japanese release in fall of this year.

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