With sleek laptops such as the MacBooks and Surface Pros currently being released, announced, and teased, we found a needle in a haystack. Panasonic just announced the Toughbook 55, a huge bulky laptop that looks more at home in the middle of a battlefield than an office.
In a season when a new MacBook is being teased and Surface Pros are expected to be announced, releasing the Toughbook 55 is a bold choice. It's everything that those devices are not.
Built Like a Tank
It’s built unlike any other popular laptop nowadays. It prioritizes durability over aesthetics. Suffice it to say that you won’t be buying this for its slim profile and sleek James Bond-like design.
Aesthetically, it's going for the rugged look. This means exposed easy-to-reach screws and solid-looking surfaces. Other than the silver lid, everything on this device is matte black.
It looks and feels like it could take a few drops and it’s got a MIL-STD 810H certification to back this claim up. It is, therefore, immune to small This also means that it's IP53 dust and water-resistant. This should make it resistant to little drops of water, or coffee, occasionally. Which, if you're using this in the field, would likely happen.
Its casing is made from magnesium alloy so it won’t bend or dent as easily as aluminium. The texture of which might remind you of the in-hand feel of modern pistols.
Its casing is made from magnesium alloy so it won’t bend or dent as easily as aluminium. The texture of which might remind you of the in-hand feel of modern pistols.
Modular Customizable Design
Speaking of pistols, the battery kind of resembles a magazine. This metaphor is further helped by the satisfying click that it gives when you pop it in.
This same satisfying click is what you hear when you pop in other modules on the other areas of the laptop as well. Yes, you read that right. It’s a modular laptop. This means you can switch out components according to your current needs.
There are two battery compartments. Yes, you read that right. There are two battery compartments that you can take advantage of on both palm rests at the side of the touchpad. If you’re to fully take advantage of these battery compartments, you’d have up to 40 hrs of screen time. On the other hand, you can switch one of the battery modules out for other modules. One of the more useful ones, we found, is a fingerprint scanner that enables you to use Windows Hello features.
On the side, you can also swap the output ports that you can use with the device. This enables it, for example, to use any kind of modern or legacy display out monitor or projector. Suddenly, find yourself in a facility that only has VGA? No problem for the Toughbook 55. It has a module for that. Need a USB-C to USB-C display interface? It’s got a module for that as well.
It also has more compartments for modules underneath as well. There’s one for a GPU, RAM, storage, and even for an optical drive.
A surprising customizable part of this laptop is the keyboard. You can swap it out to any language you choose. This means you can swap it out if you're going overseas and let locals use it if the need arises.
Brightest Screen Out There
The Toughbook 55 easily has one of the brightest screens out in the market. At 1000-nits, it easily outclasses a lot of the most popular laptops. If you’d like to use it in the park on a sunny summer’s day, you’d still be able to see it.
But, that’s not all this incredible laptop has to offer in terms of brightness. It can also go down to 2-nits. It’s not a feature that one might expect. But, if you find yourself in a dark room while developing photos, then this thing has got you covered too.
Decent Internals
It’s one of the only laptops that the internals are probably the most uninteresting part to write about. You get i5 or i7 Whiskey Lake processors to choose from. Basically, that’s the only thing you can’t customize.
The rest of the components you can swap out depending on your needs.
Function Over Form
The Toughbook 55, I recognize, is made for a small niche market. But for that market, it's going to be at the top of the list.
It's currently the only one of its kind that that enables the user to swap out modules even when on the fly. For a worker whose requirements for his laptop changes from one moment to the next, this feature can prove to be a dealmaker.
In a lot of sense, the Toughbook 55 is the ultimate corporate laptop.
In a season when a new MacBook is being teased and Surface Pros are expected to be announced, releasing the Toughbook 55 is a bold choice. It's everything that those devices are not.
Built Like a Tank
It’s built unlike any other popular laptop nowadays. It prioritizes durability over aesthetics. Suffice it to say that you won’t be buying this for its slim profile and sleek James Bond-like design.
Aesthetically, it's going for the rugged look. This means exposed easy-to-reach screws and solid-looking surfaces. Other than the silver lid, everything on this device is matte black.
It looks and feels like it could take a few drops and it’s got a MIL-STD 810H certification to back this claim up. It is, therefore, immune to small This also means that it's IP53 dust and water-resistant. This should make it resistant to little drops of water, or coffee, occasionally. Which, if you're using this in the field, would likely happen.
Its casing is made from magnesium alloy so it won’t bend or dent as easily as aluminium. The texture of which might remind you of the in-hand feel of modern pistols.
Its casing is made from magnesium alloy so it won’t bend or dent as easily as aluminium. The texture of which might remind you of the in-hand feel of modern pistols.
Modular Customizable Design
Speaking of pistols, the battery kind of resembles a magazine. This metaphor is further helped by the satisfying click that it gives when you pop it in.
This same satisfying click is what you hear when you pop in other modules on the other areas of the laptop as well. Yes, you read that right. It’s a modular laptop. This means you can switch out components according to your current needs.
There are two battery compartments. Yes, you read that right. There are two battery compartments that you can take advantage of on both palm rests at the side of the touchpad. If you’re to fully take advantage of these battery compartments, you’d have up to 40 hrs of screen time. On the other hand, you can switch one of the battery modules out for other modules. One of the more useful ones, we found, is a fingerprint scanner that enables you to use Windows Hello features.
On the side, you can also swap the output ports that you can use with the device. This enables it, for example, to use any kind of modern or legacy display out monitor or projector. Suddenly, find yourself in a facility that only has VGA? No problem for the Toughbook 55. It has a module for that. Need a USB-C to USB-C display interface? It’s got a module for that as well.
It also has more compartments for modules underneath as well. There’s one for a GPU, RAM, storage, and even for an optical drive.
A surprising customizable part of this laptop is the keyboard. You can swap it out to any language you choose. This means you can swap it out if you're going overseas and let locals use it if the need arises.
Brightest Screen Out There
The Toughbook 55 easily has one of the brightest screens out in the market. At 1000-nits, it easily outclasses a lot of the most popular laptops. If you’d like to use it in the park on a sunny summer’s day, you’d still be able to see it.
But, that’s not all this incredible laptop has to offer in terms of brightness. It can also go down to 2-nits. It’s not a feature that one might expect. But, if you find yourself in a dark room while developing photos, then this thing has got you covered too.
Decent Internals
It’s one of the only laptops that the internals are probably the most uninteresting part to write about. You get i5 or i7 Whiskey Lake processors to choose from. Basically, that’s the only thing you can’t customize.
The rest of the components you can swap out depending on your needs.
Function Over Form
The Toughbook 55, I recognize, is made for a small niche market. But for that market, it's going to be at the top of the list.
It's currently the only one of its kind that that enables the user to swap out modules even when on the fly. For a worker whose requirements for his laptop changes from one moment to the next, this feature can prove to be a dealmaker.
In a lot of sense, the Toughbook 55 is the ultimate corporate laptop.