Panasonic ToughBook T4

The Panasonic ToughBook T4 notebook computer is part of the semi-rugged line of Toughbooks; the line that includes the W4 recently reviewed by this site. The T4 is a fraternal twin of the W4 -- the more business-oriented twin. With a 12.1" 4:3 aspect screen (as opposed to the W4's widescreen), no disc drive, and a claimed battery life of 9+ hours, the Panasonic Toughbook T4 is aimed squarely at serious business use. Let's see if it delivers.

Features

• Intel Pentium M Processor ULV 753:
• Processor speed 1.20GHz
• 2MB L2 cache
• 400MHz FSB
• 40 GB Hard Drive
• 512 MB Ram, expandable to 1 GB
• 12.1" 1024 x 768 XGA anti-glare TFT Active Matrix Color LCD with Touchscreen
• PC Card Type II slot
• Secure Digital (SD) Card slot
• Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG network connection 802.11a/b/g
• Lithium Ion Battery Pack (11.1V, 7.65mAh)
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
• Standard 3 year warranty

Dimensions:

• 1.1"/2.7" (H) x 10.6" (W) x 8.3" (D)
• 3.4 lbs.

Aesthetics

If it is important to you to have a pretty notebook, then this isn't the notebook for you. Many people who saw it during my review period thought it was cool because of its size, its battery life, its low weight, or its features, but nobody thought it was pretty. The Toughbook T4's tough construction makes it blocky, and any slim chance that remained that the T4 would be attractive was killed when they glued a beige plastic stylus holder to the lid.

AC adapter bricks aren't exactly sexy, either. This small, low-power computer comes with a small adapter that's easy to toss in your bag or even a large jacket pocket. I have to give Panasonic credit for making some attempt at cord management, supplying a Velcro strip attached to the power cord that connects to the computer. It isn't great, like the rubber straps on Dell adapters, but at least they give us SOMETHING to work with. [Hint, hint, every manufacturer out there! These little things can be pretty important!]

Build and Construction

Since this is a Toughbook, let's see how tough the T4 really is. As part of the "semi-rugged" line, you shouldn't take this computer swimming, rock climbing, or on deployment with your Special Ops squad. Civilians in normal business life will rarely put their computers in such severe situations, and the T4 is built to handle anything "normal life" could dish out... and then some.

The case is advertised as entirely made of a magnesium alloy, and that alloy is some very sturdy stuff. I did not go gently on this machine over the three weeks used for this evaluation, as will be revealed in my tests of the other "Tough" aspects of the T4, but the case received my toughest (pardon the pun) scrutiny. I repeatedly dropped the machine from a height of about 2.5 feet, my guess of the average height the computer would be from the floor when pinched in a person's hand like a paperback novel. Despite being dropped from this height twice each onto a hardwood floor, pile carpet, tile, a concrete sidewalk, rough parking lot asphalt, and once on the nasty industrial carpeting at my law school (the only accidental drop of the bunch), the T4 still works flawlessly and shows no marks. There's a small black dot on the cover that was there when I received the computer, perhaps from a previous user's carelessness with a Sharpie pen, but otherwise the computer could pass for brand new.

With all that said about dropping the T4 more often over the course of three weeks than most of us would drop our computers over a lifetime, it goes without saying that stuffing the T4 loose in a bag full of case books and other odds and ends, including the T4's pointy-plugged power brick, had no effect. What would amount to abuse with any consumer notebook doesn't shake the Toughbook at all.