April/May 2003

If you're in the market for an ultra-portable lightweight notebook computer but don't want to sacrifice ruggedness, Panasonic's new CF-TL notebook could provide the solution. The CF-T1 is the second model in a range of light notebooks designed to combine portability with durability.

The CF-T1 Toughbook Light has the usual VGA and audio sockets, but adds a dedicated mini-PC slot compatible with most wireless LAN protocols. There is also a slot for the latest stamp-sized SD storage cards, which will soon be available with 1GB memory.

The CF-T1 can run for up to five hours between recharges, thanks to the low-voltage Intel Pentium III 866MHz processor, which operates at 400MHz in battery-conservation mode. There is also what Pansonic calls Deeper Sleeper Alert State to extend battery life.

The 12in XGA anti-reflective LCD TFT screen has glass 0.4mm thick, making it 20 per cent lighter, says Panasonic, than conventional 12in LCD panels. The thin screen also helps enhance the brightness of the low-power high-output backlight. There is 48Mb of VRAM.

 

The display and hard drive are shock-dampened, while the magnesium alloy case has reinforced metal screen case edges, and a convex rear upper area to enhance the rigidity of the screen mounting. It can handle 30cm drops.

The CF-T1 has the same 40GB hard drive as other Toughbooks, including a 133MHz front-side bus and 512k full-speed cache. There is 256MB of SDRAM to minimise the need for hard-drive data swaps and "Data Prefetch Logic" to anticipate and pre-load data for faster response time.