Whether you need a computer designed to be durable because it’s crucial for your work or you just know someone will be particularly clumsy, the latest portable from Pana has drops, falls, and scrapes in mind.
Not every computer is designed the same way, with choices of metal and plastic often dotting the material choices for making our machines durable. You mightn’t want to drop them, but depending on what a laptop is made out of, it might make you feel better if you did accidentally cause the machine to fall.
However some are designed to be different… very different.
Some laptops are rated for drops, falls, water, sand, and ice, with testing procedure for these often telling you if the phone handles shock or damage when it hits the ground, or if a free fall causes the hardware to seize up, or even if water, sand particles, and the extreme temperatures of ice and snow are going to cause things to not work.
You’ve probably seen IP ratings before, and they handle water and dust resistance when it comes to ingress, typically when devices are made to be waterproof, but durability goes beyond this. There’s also rating it for the harsh qualifications required by the military, and it’s where “MIL-STD-810” is mentioned. Also known as “milspec”, it’s the military testing approach for making sure stuff can survive, because with all the places the military needs to go, they need to make sure stuff survives.
Any other laptop doesn’t need that, but some might, and if you work in construction, the military, or just happen to be really, really bad with keeping laptops in tip-top working condition, that’s the type of tech you might be considering.
There’s a new addition to the milspec computers recently, as Panasonic unveils the Toughbook 40, a durable laptop supporting IP66 resistance to water and dust, the MIL-STD810 rating for temperature, humidity, and vibrations, and some drop-testing from 1.8 metres, as well.
Inside, there’s a choice of either an 11th-gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD, with the latter being able to be quickly released and exchanged with other options. You’ll find a Full HD touchscreen in the Toughbook 40, and aspects of the design are modular, supporting configurable ports, an extra storage choice, DVD and Blu-ray drives, or even a second battery. In fact, one battery will last up to 18 hours, while two can push the Toughbook 40 to up to 36.
“This device takes modularity and flexibility to a new level, allowing users to easily adapt its computing power, communications capabilities and security to suit their specific needs,” said Ranjit Sohoni, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Panasonic’s Mobile Solutions in Australia.
“Paired with a durable design, these qualities also improve the longevity of the device, allowing users to simply update the device as their needs change long-term,” he said.
However, getting this durable design won’t come cheap, with business and the military firmly in mind, though also people who drop things and have deep pockets.
Simply put, the Toughbook 40 will have a starting price of $6099 in Australia, making it pricey, but obviously very different from what else is out there.
