Panasonic ToughBook CF-W8
On the right edge of the chassis you'll find three USB ports, an Ethernet port and a modem socket. At the front is the eject switch for the DVD writer, another sliding switch for the wireless adapters, headphone and microphone sockets, and the all important power switch that glows green when the notebook is on. On the left is a PC Card slot - one of the key features of the ToughBook range is the support for legacy standards, and Panasonic will only switch to ExpressCard when its customers ask for it. Here you'll also find an SD Card slot, D-Sub port, the power socket and a docking connector.
So, the CF-W8 looks and feels very similar to other W series ToughBooks, but under the skin it's very different. There was a time when ToughBooks were one or two generations behind the current Intel notebook platforms, but not any more. The CF-W8 is based on the latest Centrino 2 platform, and given its business focus, comes equipped with vPro technology too. The latter means that the CF-W8 will be simple for IT managers to roll out and maintain, with a host of remote management tools built into the system.
One of the key features of the ToughBook Executive line has always been strong battery life, so it comes as no surprise to find an Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 driving the CF-W8. This is an Ultra-Low-Voltage dual core part, running at 1.2GHz and boasting 3MB of Level 2 cache. It also runs on an 800MHz FSB, while previous ULV chips had to make do with a 533MHz front side bus. Panasonic has backed up the CPU with 3GB of RAM - this kind of RAM complement is becoming more common now, with manufacturers aware that 32-bit operating systems can't address 4GB or above, so there's no point in wasting extra memory. There's a 120GB hard disk taking care of storage, which is also housed in a shock resistant caddy.
As already mentioned, the ToughBook Executive range has always boasted impressive battery life, and Panasonic is claiming over eight hours for the CF-W8. Unfortunately, being that this is a pre-production sample, I wasn't able to test the battery life or run other benchmarks, but I'll be doing that as soon as I get a full retail sample in the lab.
On the whole, the CF-W8 looks like a decent upgrade to the ToughBook Executive line, bringing Centrino 2 technology to the party, while corporate IT managers will be glad to see the vPro badge. As soon as I get a full production unit I'll run some tests and see if the CF-W8 lives up to Panasonic's battery life claims, but even if it does, I still think that the ToughBook CF-F8 will be stealing much of the CF-W8's thunder.
