Panasonic Connect launches Toughbook 40 rugged laptop

Panasonic Connect this week announced the launch of the Toughbook 40, the highest-performing device in the family of fully rugged laptops, featuring LTE-Advanced and CBRS connectivity, and a lighter total weight, despite  boasting a 14-inch touchscreen display that is larger than the previous model in the Toughbook portfolio.

In addition to all of its improved performance features, the Toughbook 40 is the first Toughbook device to achieve an IP66 rating, according to Aidan Clifford, national sales manager for Panasonic Connect, which is a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America.

“This is our first laptop that’s IP66 rated, and it has all of the same extreme certifications that you’d expect out of a Toughbook, like MIL-STD-810H and Class 1, Division 2—being certified for use in flammable areas—and in extreme temperatures. It can [operate at temperatures] down to -20 or up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit.,” Clifford said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

Craig Jackowski, Panasonic Connect’s group manager of product management, noted that the Toughbook 40’s ability to operate at such a broad range of temperatures is important to its targeted consumers, including frontline personnel in the public-safety, military and utility sectors.

“It gets pretty darn hot in a vehicle when that vehicle is baking in the sun in Arizona, Florida or any of those very warm states,” Jackowski said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We also have customers in Alaska, Wisconsin and other incredibly cold areas, as well. They don’t have the luxury of getting into the vehicle, flipping open the Toughbook and have it not perform the way it’s expected to.

“This is absolutely our most rugged ever, in terms of durability.”

Even when used in these extreme environments, the Toughbook 40 is designed to deliver unprecedented performance for a fully rugged device, powered by 11^th gen Intel Core i5 or i7 vPro processors that  enable support for integrated graphics—like Iris Xe Graphics—Clifford said.

Jackowski said the Toughbook 40 supports LTE-Advanced services provided across carrier bands and the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) frequencies—supporting data-throughput speeds of as much as 2 Gbps—and a model supporting 5G services will be available in the near future.

“This particular device is launching right now with advanced 4G capabilities and CBRS,” Jackowski said. “Our 5G version will be available later this year, [supporting] both millimeter-wave and sub-6GHz [spectrum] with AT&T and Verizon.”

As with other recent Toughbook devices, the Toughbook 40 supports broadband connectivity on the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum for FirstNet.

Toughbook 40 laptops are scheduled to begin shipping this summer, as soon as the end of June with a base suggested retail price of $4,899, according to Jackowski.

Although Panasonic Connect is not immune from the supply-chain factors that have impacted the global economy, the fact that the Toughbook 40 has been in development for more than two years and all manufacturing is done within Panasonic in Japan, supply-chain issues are not expected to be problematic in the near team, Jackowski said.

Entities purchasing Toughbook 40 laptops can customize and update the device by making changes to eight module areas integrated in the device and 20 accessories, resulting in more than 6,000 potential configurations for the Toughbook 40. However, Panasonic Connect officials noted that one aspect that cannot be changed on devices is the internal modem, so direct connectivity options are limited to those selected as purchase.

Anthony Mungiello, Panasonic Connect’s senior product manager of laptops, said some features of the Toughbook 40 include better heat dissipation, better graphics capabilities, a larger touchscreen display and a refreshed docking platform with updated connectors.

“This device is physically larger than the predecessor device—the old device had a 13-inch [display] and this has a 14-inch [display],” Mungiello said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “What’s impressive is that we were able to make larger but make it 1.2 pounds lighter and three-quarters of an inch thinner when compared to the last generation.”

In addition to these capabilities, the Toughbook 40 is backed by the company’s service and support, according to Jackowski.

“You don’t just buy a piece of hardware from Toughbook; you’re buying a relationship,” Jackowski said.