Panasonic showcase new Windows 8 Toughpad

Panasonic have earned a reputation for their ‘Tough' Series of laptops, sold to professionals with specialized demands in the field. In keeping with this range of systems, the company have just announced their new Windows 8 Toughpad. A new tablet designed to withstand abusive conditions.

This 10.1 inch tablet computer runs Microsoft Windows 8, an operating system which has met with underwhelming interest from the enthusiast audience. The FZ G1 tablet is designed for the business user, however it will be sold to the general public when it releases in March this year. Pricing is said to be around the $2,900 point however the company are said to be releasing a cheaper Android version of the tablet this year.

Hardware specifications are impressive. The Toughpad will be based around a Core i5 3437U vPro processor with options to choose between 4GB to 8GB of ram and a 128GB or 256GB SSD. There will be USB 3.0 ports and HDMI ports on the tablet, along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4 support. SIM card slot will also be included.

According to reports, an Android version of the tablet will be much cheaper, around $1,300 but will feature lower cost hardware as well. Android 4.0 is the OS of choice with a TI OMAP4460 1.5ghz processor with 16GB of internal storage and 1GB of memory.

Both of these tablets will have passed the MIL-STD-810G test which includes 4 foot drops, fluid ingress and temperature testing.

Kitguru says: An impressive pair of tablet computers, but the asking price will surely alienate a wide portion of the potential audience.

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