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Toughbooks are traditionally fairly large, but very resilient beasts - we've even buried one in the snow, trying to kill it, to no avail! The ToughBook CF-U1 takes a slightly different approach, applying the ToughBook design philosophy to a small, portable Atom-based MID.

A 1.33GHz Atom Z520 powers the CF-U1, backed up by 1GB of RAM and 16GB of SSD storage. A 5.6in, 1,024 x 600 touch-sensitive screen takes up most of the device's front, with a full QWERTY keyboard situated below it.

Draft-N wireless, Bluetooth and Ethernet make up the connectivity side of things. An SD card-reader is sported along with a single USB 2.0 port. The CF-U1 is, as expected, pretty rigid, able to withstand a 1.2m drop and rubber seals on all the ports make it dust and water resistant and the weight is a pretty reasonable 1.06Kg.

Battery life is very promising. A clever dual-battery system allows users to switch on-the-fly without turning the system off. Panasonic claims up to 10-hours of power in the field, so a full day's use should be easily achievable. Especially if carrying a spare battery pack.

The only downside is the price, which in the US is listed at $2,499 (~£1,250). As ever though with ToughBooks, you'll either need the survivability or not, and if you do you'll pay whatever Panasonic asks for it.

Link:
Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1 product page (Google translated).

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