Designed to withstand several types of rough handling -- from drops and spills to enduring high temperatures -- Japan-based consumer electronics company Panasonic Corp. initially produced its ToughBook brand of rugged laptops for the military and law enforcement sectors. However, the company eventually expanded it to the consumer market -- particularly business-oriented users -- thus qualifying these machines as personal computers. One of the company's more popular offerings is the ToughBook 52, or CF-52. Debuting in 2007, Panasonic advertised the CF-52 as the perfect combination of the ToughBook's physical ruggedness and relative portability.
System Specifications
Running on the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional operating system, the Panasonic ToughBook 52 has three central processing unit choices from semiconductor company Intel Corp.'s flagship Core brand: the 2.53-gigahertz i5-540M, 2.4-GHz i5-520M and 2.13-GHz i3-330M. Using third-generational Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory architecture (DDR3 SDRAM), each ToughBook 52 has 2GB of pre-installed system memory, although users can expand it to 3GB.
Storage and Multimedia Specifications
Panasonic provides customers of the ToughBook CF-52 the choice of getting a shock-mounted flex-connect hard disk drive with 160GB or 250GB of storage space. Also included is a flash memory slot for Secure Digital cards. Its Super Multi-designated CD/DVD player and recorder includes "+" and "-" DVD recordable format and dual-layer disc support. The ToughBook 52's audio comes from an Intel high-definition audio-compliant sound driver. Its video/graphics, however, comes from either an Intel HM55/QM57 controller that takes up to 1GB -- or 1,024MB -- of the computer's system memory for video capabilities or a more powerful ATI Radeon HD5650 graphics processing unit with its own 512MB video memory.
Connectivity Specifications
Every ToughBook CF-52 has a 56-kilobit-per-second modem and 10/100/1,000-megabit-per-second Ethernet driver, complete with an RJ-11 and RJ-45 jack, respectively. Regarding wireless networking, the Core i5 processor-equipped versions have the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 wireless network adapter with adherence to the International Electrical and Electronics Engineers' 802.11a/b/g/n set of standards. The Atheros AR9285 on the Core i3 models eliminate the 802.11a standard. Panasonic adds Bluetooth v2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate connectivity on the CF-52s with the Core i5-540M processor. Besides the modem and Ethernet connectors, the laptop PC includes four USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, Video Graphics Array external monitor connector and IEEE 1394a port among its external interfaces.
Physical and Power Specifications
Each Panasonic ToughBook 52 measures 11.3 inches in width, 14 inches in length and 2 inches in height. Also included is a 15.4-inch widescreen with liquid crystal display technology and resolution choices between 1,280 by 800 and 1,920 by 1,200 pixels. The CF-52's weight, which ranges between 7.2 and 7.5 lbs., depends on whether the user received a lightweight lithium-ion battery or the heavier, long-life one. With a three-to-four-hour full charge from the 100-to-240-volt 50/60-hertz AC power adapter, the lightweight battery provides six hours of operation, while the long-life one provides four or nine hours depending on whether the computer has the 540M or 520M processor.
Tags: ToughBook CF-52, Also included, comes from, Data Rate, processing unit
