Laptop Magazine reviewed Panasonic Toughbook CF-W5 and writes: “The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up Panasonic’s new Toughbook CF-W5 will likely be its matte-silver finish, super-light weight, and pop-up optical drive. You won’t, however, need to pay much attention to the battery meter, since this system lasts a staggering eight hours on a charge. Throw in a durable design and an optional Verizon Wireless EV-DO card for anytime, anywhere connectivity and you have a pricey but highly recommended ultraportable.

Without the mobile broadband option, this refresh of the Panasonic CF-W4 sports a lower base price tag of $1,899 but is a little heavier at 3.1 pounds versus 2.8 pounds. That’s because the wireless WAN antenna is built right into the lid. With a thickness of 1.8 inches, the CF-W5 has a higher profile than most other ultraportables. This extra girth is put to good use, however, providing super-rigid support for the W5’s 12.1-inch display. Other business-rugged features include a full magnesium-alloy case designed to withstand a one-foot drop and a shock-mounted hard drive that’s rated for a fall of 30 inches.

The 12.1-inch display is bright and performed passably well in direct sunlight. Side-to-side viewing angles were generous, but vertical viewing was more challenging. That’s not much of a concern, however, since this system is compact enough to use on an airline seat tray without having to lower the lid.

This CF-W5’s 1.2-GHz Intel Core Solo U1400 processor mustered a relatively low score of 169 on our MobileMark 2005 test, just one point better than the W4 equipped with a Pentium M CPU with the same clock speed. But the strength of the CF-W5 is its endurance. On our battery tests, the W5 lasted a remarkable 8 hours and 28 minutes with Wi-Fi off, besting its predecessor by two full hours. With the power-hungry EV-DO connection turned on, we were able to surf the Web periodically while doing other work for over three hours, and the battery meter said we still had nearly two hours of juice left.

The system doesn’t possess the dual-core power that multitaskers crave, and we’d like to see a widescreen and DVD burner option, but otherwise this ultraportable is ideal for road warriors and field workers who are hard on their notebooks and who don’t want to bother with hotspots. ”

The standard configuration of Toughbook CF-W5 includes a 60GB hard drive and just 512MB of memory. Given that Microsoft Vista is coming soon, it is strongly recommended to upgrade the RAM to 1GB ($130).

Toughbook CF-W5 quick specs:

CPU: 1.2-GHz Intel Core Solo U1400
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Memory: RAM/Expandable to 512MB/1.5GB
Hard Drive: 60GB/5,400 rpm
Optical Drive: 8X DVD-ROM/CD-RW
Display: 12.1 inches/1024 x 768
Graphics/Video Memory: Intel 945GMS /128MB shared
Wireless Networking: 802.11a/b/g
Ports: Two USB 2.0, VGA, Ethernet, modem, mic, docking station
Card Slots: One Type II PC Card, SD Card
Weight: 3.1 pounds
Size: 10.6 x 8.3 x 1.8 inches

LaptopMag

This entry was posted on November 19, 2006 and is filed under Panasonic.