ToughBook 8 Made For Mobile Butterfingers

Good news for the klutziest mobile workers among us: Panasonic Friday unveiled its latest ToughBook model, one Panasonic claims is not only the most durable business notebook available, but also the lightest 3G-ready one.

The ToughBook 8 Series (W8, T8 and F8) offers 802.11a/b/g/draft-n and Bluetooth 2.0. The PCs will also ship with optional embedded GobiTM 3G technology, which helps enable seamless selection between mobile broadband carriers and simplified international roaming within a single embedded device. It packs Intel's Core2 Duo processor, comes with up to 4 GB of RAM and a 160-GB shock-mounted hard drive.

According to the manufacturer, the 8 Series business-rugged Toughbook notebooks survived "Mil-spec" testing: in this case, drops of 12 inches for the unit itself and 30 inches for the shock-mounted hard drive. The vendor itself requires that 8 Series notebooks survive a 30-inch drop to the base of the unit while it is operating. That distance replicates the fall a notebook might take if it were pushed off a table or desktop.

For those careless with drinks, the unit's spill-resistant keyboard design protects against liquid spills of approximately 6 ounces--almost a full cup.

The ToughBook 8 comes with a 14.1-inch wide LCD display, an internal optical drive and the ToughBook's distinctive integrated handle. It weighs in at 3.7 pounds, only slightly heavier than, for example, the MacBook Air but far lighter than a Dell Vostro.