that match other solutions built
around the same platform. The
only numbers that disappointed in
our tests were those associated
with the storage. The review
machine was fitted with a SATA
M2 SSD, not an NVMe model,
reducing the read and write
speeds to 540 MBps and 500
MBps respectively.
It turns out that this machine
can’t use NVMe drives, and this
is probably the only major mistake
that Panasonic’s engineers made
when they designed this system.
Where this machine truly shines
is its battery life. Panasonic quotes
20 hours of life from a single
battery, a wildly optimistic figure,
but even in our PCMark 08 Home
test we managed more than 10
hours. That’s continuous use, so
unless you can work that long
without a break, it should last
even longer in the real world. And,
when you can potentially add
another battery, and carry more,
that could extend usable running
time into days or even a week.
For those that can’t easily access
mains power for prolonged
periods, this could revolutionise
their computing use.
It does many things well, but
the two standout aspects are the
modularity of the design, and
what that enables from a security
perspective. It enables customers
to customise the hardware in a way
that doesn’t involve the maker
having an inordinate number of
different SKUs and allows the
machine to be smartly repurposed
during its working life.
The combination of protection
and flexibility is a winner.An amazing piece of engineering,
the Toughbook 55 is a go-
anywhere computing platform.VGA, extra USB and a second
Gigabit LAN port, while the
Universal bay can take an optical
drive, another Smart Card reader
and even a discrete GPU. In terms
of customising the Toughbook to
meet the needs of a project, this
approach allows for more flexibility
than we’ve come to expect from a
laptop. Of course, all these need
paying for, adding yet more to
the already high cost.
Panels on the underside allow
easy access to the RAM slots and
the single M2 storage module,
enabling those to be easily
swapped for larger capacity parts.
For those IT staff concerned
whether so much access to the
internals would be a good thing,
Panasonic engineers cleverly
included holes for security bolts to
be installed to stop the curious
from unfettered exploring.
Our review model came with a
touchscreen, and hidden in a
spring-loaded silo is a stylus for
those that don’t like oily
fingerprints on their display.
In use
Normally a laptop that weighs 2.1kg
wouldn’t be easy to carry, but the
integrated handle makes
transporting this one easy. That’s
helpful, because if you add the
second battery the complete
package is 2.47kg, and that doesn’t
include the power supply or any
other accessories.
For those wanting a long time
away from power, Panasonic makes
a battery charger that can take four
batteries. The cells are hot-
swappable, and with two bays free,
the machine doesn’t need to be
shut down while a fresh one is
switched in.
In retrospect, it might have been
smarter to build the fingerprint
reader into the machine and leavethe bay it occupies for other things,
but how much you agree with that
is probably dependent on how
important the security aspects of
this design are to you. For those
who need a highly secure system,
there are plenty of options
available here.Performance
The 8th generation Intel Core
i5-8365 vPro processor is a
stalwart for laptop makers,
delivering good performance
without undermining the
battery life with superfluous
cores or crazy boost clocks.
The numbers revealed by
benchmarking show that it doesn’t
do anything extraordinary in this
machine, but it delivers solid scores“There’s a level of upgrades and options that would
make an Ultrabook hang its head in shame”
Upgrade
Panasonic Toughbook 55
March 2020 | |^79
Specs as reviewed
Panasonic Toughbook 55
Supplier http://www.panasonic.com
CPU Intel Core i5-8365U vPro
GPU Intel UHD Graphics 620
RAM 8GB
Storage 256GB SSD (SATA only)
Screen 14in 1080p
Connectivity Wi-Fi 5, Ethernet,
Bluetooth 5.0, 4G LTE