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Panasonic's ToughBook CF-R1, shipping since last month, is one of the smallest and lightest laptops IT Week has seen, yet its features have not been compromised too much by size constraints.
Weighing less than a kilogram, the CF-R1 boasts a 10.4in TFT display and an impressive battery life for an ultraportable, making it well suited to users for whom portability is more important than desktop-level processing power.
However, the standard memory is just 128MB, and this can only be expanded to a maximum of 256MB.
The silver and chrome CF-R1 has dimensions of 240x182x24mm, making it much smaller than most other laptops. Despite this it has a clearly readable 1024x768 display and a keyboard that we had no difficulty typing on, though users with large fingers may find it a little cramped.
In tests, we found the CF-R1's performance was adequate for productivity tasks, with the system achieving a Business Winstone 2002 benchmark score of 14.5. More notable was the BatteryMark 4.01 battery life results of three and a half hours. This benchmark test simulates user activity while operating on battery power, and is a realistic measure of how long a user could expect to run productivity software on the system while away from the mains.
The ToughBook CF-R1 is based on an 800MHz Intel Mobile Pentium III-M processor and has a 20GB hard disk. No floppy or CD-ROM drive is fitted, due to the small size of the system, but a USB floppy is available as an optional extra. This makes the ToughBook CF-R1 similar in size and specification to Sony's Vaio PCG-SRX41P, tested by IT Week Labs last year. Sony's ultraportable had integrated wireless LAN and Bluetooth connectivity, features lacking from the ToughBook CF-R1, but it was also much heavier at 1.6kg.
Panasonic has made the ToughBook CF-R1 completely free of legacy ports, which could pose a problem if a user needs to print a document when away from the corporate LAN, for example.
Oddly for a laptop, the CF-R1 even lacks an infrared port, and I/O is limited to two USB ports, built-in modem and a 10/100Mbit/s LAN port. A Type II PC Card slot and Secure Digital card slot allow for peripheral and storage expansion.
One notable feature is the ToughBook CF-R1's battery pack, which stands proud from the underside of the case. On a desk, this holds the laptop at a comfortable typing angle. This arrangement also seems to prevent the system from tipping backwards when it is open on a user's lap.
ToughBook is Panasonic's brand for its ruggedised laptops, and though the CF-R1 is not fully ruggedised, it has a magnesium casing and a shock-damped hard disk to protect against accidental knocks.
The ToughBook CF-R1's 10.4in display is driven by a Silicon Motion Lynx3DM graphics subsystem. Its native resolution is 1024x768, but it can support external monitors at up to 1280x1024 in full colour. The graphics adapter uses 4MB of system memory for the display frame buffer.
Our review system came with Windows XP Professional installed, and we experienced difficulties when applying the Service Pack 1 update. This resulted in a system lock-up, and we were forced to restore the system by attaching a USB CD-ROM drive and making use of Panasonic's supplied recovery disk set.
Price: £1,319 + VAT
Contact: Panasonic 01344 853948
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