Panasonic Toughbook 40 Slims Down, But It's Still A Rugged Beast

Panasonic has been making tough, durable laptops for well over 25 years now having launched its first Toughbook back in 1996. The Toughbook lineup has had several firsts to its credit. For example, the CF-M34, introduced in 1999, was the first mobile computer to offer Bluetooth connectivity. Then came the CF-18 in 2007, which was the first device to feature a pivoting touchscreen that let it transform into a tablet. More recently, this lineup from the company is also known for offering modular features.

While Toughbook consumers do not generally associate these laptops with portability, with the newest Toughbook product for 2022, Panasonic seems to be wanting to change that long-held perception. This morning the company announced the launch of the Panasonic Toughbook 40, complete with several feature upgrades over its predecessor.

Apart from incremental feature upgrades, the Toughbook 40 is lighter than its predecessor (by over a pound), even as it delivers a larger display. The product specifically targets customers working in areas like law enforcement departments, federal agencies, and utility companies. Panasonic claims that users and businesses switching to the Toughbook 40 from competing devices will go a long way in improving the efficiency in these departments while also enabling them to reduce operational expenses.

The Panasonic Toughbook 40 offers consumers the option to configure systems based on Intel's 11th Gen vPro processors. Consumers have the option to equip the laptop with dedicated graphics from AMD or stick to the onboard graphics prowess of Intel Iris Xe. The Toughhbook 40 claims to offer the first 5 MP webcam in its class. Other features include the option to equip the machine with either a 4G or 5G modem with support for mmWave, C-band, and Sub-6 connectivity. The Toughbook 40 also allows consumers to use a physical SIM or eSIM for data connectivity.

The 14-inch display used on the Toughbook 40 claims a brightness of 1200 nits and supports full HD resolution as well. In addition, consumers get the option to equip the notebook with NVMe SSDs anywhere from 512GB up to 2TB capacity. The modular design ensures that the SSDs are easily user-replaceable. Even the memory modules that offer anywhere between 16GB and 64GB of DDR4 RAM are of the quick-release type and user-replaceable.

The Toughbook 40 also supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, and physical connectivity options include support for USB-A and USB-C ports. The Toughbook 40 also has a claimed battery life of just over 36 hours. Thanks to the modular nature of the product, consumers also get the option to use a second battery.

The Panasonic Toughbook 40 was announced with a release date in late spring 2022 and a price starting at $4,899.