The CF-W4 is the latest Panasonic rugged notebook to run on the Intel 915 platform. However, the incremental changes made to this model may not warrant an upgrade from the previous ToughBook CF-W2. ...

Read first take of the Panasonic ToughBook CF-W4 »

First Take

The CF-W4 is the latest Panasonic rugged notebook to run on the Intel 915 platform. However, the incremental changes made to this model may not warrant an upgrade from the previous ToughBook CF-W2.

Upside: With the latest mainboard from Intel, the front bus speed has been bumped to 533MHz, up from the previous 400MHz. The design is similar to its predecessor, with magnesium alloy case and shock-mounted harddisk for greater protection from hostile environments, yet lightweight and stylish enough to bring into the office. The touchpad is no longer part of the optical drive cover, and has been moved from the left side to starboard which should make it significantly sturdier. The battery has also been increased by about 20 percent and gives the new model 38 minutes more mobile time compared to the already impressive 6-hour battery life of the ToughBook CF-W2.

Downside: Instead of optimizing the components to take advantage of the new platform, the ToughBook CF-W4 retains the same 1.2GHz processor and uses the slower 400MHz DDR2 RAM. So despite the upgrade we do not expect any increase in performance. With the expected price of close to S$4,000 (US$2,850.02), only those with a real need for a rugged notebook will make the purchase, especially since the optical drive is merely a DVD/CDRW unit without the possibility of an upgrade.

Outlook: We expect this notebook to remain in the niche market for professionals working in hostile or dusty places. Despite the upgraded platform, it's hard to understand why Panasonic continues to stick with an older processor and RAM. The improvements made are insufficient to recommend upgrading from its predecessor.

Rate It Now

Rating guidelines

Panasonic ToughBook CF-W4 (Pentium M Processor ULV 753 1.2GHz, 512MB RAM)

Rate this product:
1 - Abysmal 2 - Terrible 3 - Poor 4 - Mediocre 5 - Average 6 - Good 7 - Very good 8 - Excellent 9 - Spectacular 10 - Perfect

Need help? Read our guidelines for what each number rating represents.

Submit your opinion

• Most Popular

• Upcoming

Latest Downloads

What's Hot