When it comes to churning out rugged devices, no other name seem to do it better than Panasonic of Japan. In fact, they do provide updates to previous Toughbooks in the past, and their latest effort involves the Panasonic Toughbook SX2, touted to be one of the more rugged notebooks around. Panasonic claims an unprecedented 14.5 hours of battery life on the road – although we do wonder just how it will perform when placed in our hands.
An Intel Core i5-3320M vPro processor runs underneath the hood (3MB cache, up to 3.3GHz), sporting Intel Turbo Boost Technology, where it is accompanied by a 12” LED display, a 720p webcam, USB 3.0 ports, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in optical drive that is cleverly integrated in an unusual manner as seen above, all crammed into a lightweight, drop-resistant magnesium alloy design that is said to be able to shrug off a 30-inch drop to base while on/off, as well as a 12-inch drop on all other surfaces when turned off. The Panasonic Toughbook SX2 will be available later in the month from $2,649 upwards, depending on the configuration of your choice, but that will come with a standard three-year limited warranty.