Panasonic has persisted for many years with its Toughbook line. If ever there were a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, the Toughbook would be it. First, this is because the Toughbook was done well in the first place; but second, because it’s extraordinarily hard to break. And that is, after all, the point.

We can’t, in good conscience, offer any prizes in terms of looks, but this is a practical machine first and foremost, built to withstand inclement conditions, and it’s armoured to the hilt. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to dunk it in water and get away with it, but its MIL-STD-810 certification means it’s built to withstand splashes and spills, vehicle vibration, the occasional drop, and harsh extremes of temperature.

The chunky magnesium alloy shell makes it a good 2in thick while closed, and you’ll be thankful for the carrying strap if you’re putting this loadstone to any sort of practical use. To say its weight matches its bulk is something of an understatement, and although it’s not the heaviest laptop in the world, you would expect something with a diminutive 10.4in screen to be a little more vertebrae friendly. Squashing up the form factor also means a forced threequarter sized keyboard, which isn’t easy to get used to.

This is, however, about the only machine we’ve seen in the last few years where we can appreciate the practical usefulness of its tablet screen. The Toughbook is designed specifi cally for use on the move and in conditions that might be less than ideal. Sitting down to type at a keyboard isn’t the fi rst thing you’ll be considering if the rain is whipping you from all sides, but scribbling on the extra bright transmissive screen – clearly readable in daylight – is easy enough. It’s just as sturdy as the rest of the machine, too; even pressing as hard as possible with both thumbs, it’s diffi cult to get any sort of image bleed. That’s tough. It’s worth noting that we looked at the stylus edition, which utilises a magnetic pen for screen input, but a second version of the CF-19, with a finger-sensing touchscreen, is also available. Which you choose will depend entirely on your needs. Do you require quick and dirty button pressing or the extra accuracy that the stylus provides?

Safe and sound

Despite the impenetrability of the machine as a whole, the Toughbook’s components are relatively easy to remove. Rubber-sealed slide-lockable doors cover the battery, shockmounted hard drive and a few expansion ports, and are opened easily in a hurry. The SD card slot – the only removable storage you’ll fi nd – is cleverly tucked away with the PCMCIA slots behind one such door, and there’s just enough room to seal the door backup with a card inserted. This design does preclude you from using extended-length PCMCIA cards if you want to retain the CF-19’s water-resistant nature, though. The USB ports, network port and power connector are covered by stiff-fi tting hinged covers, with the power in particular recessed to give an almost water-tight fit. That said, we couldn’t suggest charging this in the rain.

Thankfully, you’re not going to need an awful lot of charging while on the move. Panasonic is one of the first to plump for an ultra-low voltage chip, the Intel Core Duo U2400. In terms of battery life it’s a winner, but for all its toughness on the outside, the CF-19 is something of a weakling where it counts. The processor only squeaks out a miserable 1.06GHz – still leaps and bounds ahead of the previous generation of laptop chips, but puny by comparison with the current crop. It does its job perfectly, though. The expandable 512MB RAM means you’ll barely notice the slower chip, and if you’ve purchased this machine for any kind of gaming or cycle-hogging high end task you’ve made the wrong choice anyway.

There’s a specific market for this type of machine. This and the vast majority of its tablet brethren are, to put it mildly, utterly frivolous in all but the most specifi c of situations. If it’s sitting on your desk, all that tablet functionality rears its head as an easily avoided nuisance, which isn’t the best way of thinking about a feature that adds such a premium to the price. At least the CF-19 is suitable for outdoor use, and if you’re a fi eld operative who needs to frequently reproduce notes scrawled in pencil on damp paper, you need look no further for the ultimate time saving device. For the rest of you, though? Only the clumsiest need apply, because this is a luxury purchase at the price.