Panasonic Toughbook ultrabook with flip screen

A rugged ultrabook tablet

Panasonic is not known to the general public as a laptop manufacturer and the consumer will not easily think of Panasonic when he wants to purchase a tablet. However, the Japanese group has a reputation to uphold in the business market with its Tough series of products, such as the Toughbook and Toughpad line for laptops and tablets respectively. These are products that are extra sturdy and durable, which are welcome features in many industries.

The Panasonic Toughbook CF-AX2 was present at the Cebit 2013. This is a combination of a sturdy ultrabook and tablet. Panasonic has opted for a striking method to switch between tablet and laptop mode; the touchscreen can be flipped 360 degrees. The only other device that uses this method, at least as far as we know, is the Lenovo Yoga .

When you pick it up for the first time, the Toughbook doesn’t give the impression of being that sturdy at all and this is mainly due to its light weight; the laptop cum tablet weighs only 1.15 kilograms. In addition, the housing does not feel sturdy due to the material. However, this is partly apparent, because it is a magnesium alloy. The chassis must be able to withstand a weight of 100 kilos and survive a fall of 76 cm. The cover is also made of black plastic.

The thickness is 18mm and the design of the Panasonic is straightforward; the ultrabook is therefore nowhere thinner than that. The screen diagonal is 11.6 inches and the other dimensions are 288x194mm. The CF-AX2 is therefore a small business ultraportable. The resolution of the screen is 1366×768 pixels and a matte layer has been placed over the screen. The viewing angles are not great and unfortunately we do not seem to be dealing with an IPS panel.

Flipping the screen is smooth, almost too easy. In our opinion, the screen is a bit too light in the hinges and when we shake the Toughbook a bit, the screen wobbles back and forth. This is not the case with the Lenovo Yoga; the hinges of that variant keep the screen in place better. The Toughbook’s hinges themselves seem robust enough.

The touchscreen registers touches with ten fingers at a time and works properly. Strangely enough, Panasonic does not include a stylus, which can still be very useful for business use.

When the Toughbook is on the table in tablet mode, the device rests on the part where the touchpad and keyboard are. Small rubber caps hold the surface of the case slightly above the tabletop for protection. The touchpad works fine and registers all gestures excellently. The mouse buttons are not integrated; they are small buttons that can almost be regarded as touch keys. Between the two mouse buttons is a hold button to disable the touchpad. The keyboard is on the small side and typing with large fingers is therefore crampy. There is also no keyboard backlight, which would make working in poor light easier.

One of the advantages of the Toughbook is that Panasonic has made no concessions when it comes to interfaces. The company also opts completely against the prevailing trend for a replaceable battery, with which the laptop must last for 8 hours, although that time was measured with the screen brightness at the lowest setting. The connection for a docking station is also visible at the bottom.

On the front are the volume control and a button for turning off the automatic screen rotation. Also here are the status LEDs and the on/off button with LED. On the right are a button for the WiFi on and off, the audio in and out and the memory card reader. VGA and a full-fledged Ethernet port are also located here, next to the power connection. On the left are two USB 3.0 ports and HDMI. These are many interfaces for an 11.6-inch laptop in 2013, although we miss a fingerprint reader, 3G support and a smart card reader. The latter two, however, come as an option to the Toughbook according to Panasonic. Of course, a TPM is present.