Panasonic ToughBook CF-W7: Baby terminator

By Rory Reid on 30 January 2008, 12:18pm

Ever wondered what would happen if you combined a laptop with a Hummer H2, a Yorkie chocolate bar and a first-generation Nintendo DS? No, we haven't either, but the guys at Panasonic have -- and they ended up with the Panasonic ToughBook CF-W7.

The CF-W7 is a 12.1-inch ruggedised laptop, which we've affectionately dubbed the baby terminator. Okay, so it might not chase innocent waitresses to murder their unborn children in order to secure the future of machine-kind, but it does look like it could give you a serious Chinese burn.

For a laugh, we thought we'd try to kill it -- for the sake of humanity. First we dropped it from a height of 76cm -- about lap height -- but the shock-resistant hard drive soaked up the punishment. Then we upped the ante and poured water over it, but the rubber membrane beneath the keyboard meant it lived. Curses!

We were about to stand on it, but a little voice from the internal speakers said it could withstand 100kg of force and our puny geek bodies would be no match for its magnesium-alloy frame. Then it threatened to rip our throats out.

The brain inside this beast is a Core 2 Duo U7500 chip clocked at 1.06GHz. It has 1GB of RAM, which is pretty pants these days, an 80GB shock-resistant hard drive, flip-up DVD rewriter, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi and an optional HSDPA module.

We'll review it fully soon, and it'll be available to buy shortly for around £1,300.

Update: A full review of the Toughbook is now available on the site. -Rory Reid