The trend nowadays with new PCs may be the hybrids of svelte and almost fragile-looking slabs of aluminum slash polycarbonate Ultrabooks but admit it – you can’t take those babies with you in the jungle of real-life computing. Either you’re a mom of a dozen kids madly running around the house or a scientist still searching for the real Mayan calendar in Guatemala, you may want to consider Panasonic’s Toughbook CF-02 Windows 8 laptop.Coming from the Japanese company’s Toughbook line of PCs, the Panasonic CF-C2 is a 12.5-inch convertible notebook shipping with Windows 8 Pro. Under the hood is a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U vPro processor, 4 GB of RAm (up to 8 GB),and a 500 GB storage, with options of upgrading to 128 and 256 GB solid state drives. The CF-C2 comes with an IPS display with a 720p webcam on top and a couple of USB 3.0 ports.
And since this is a convertible notebook, the display offers five-point multitouch and a digitizer for more accurate input. Rounding up the features is 802.11 a-b-g-n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0, and a choice between 4G LTE or Gobi global 3G, with the latter ideal for locations like, er, the Gobi Desert.
But the Pièce de résistance is the CF-C2′s tough features: it withstands up to a 30-inch drop and can take up to six ounces of spills on its magnesium alloy body – no more babysitting of your tech in the wild.
The Panasonic CF-C2 will start shipping in December starting at a base price of $2949.
