Panasonic ToughBook U1 Ultra (CF-U1)

When your workplace is a construction site, warehouse, or field hospital, a regular laptop or netbook just won't cut it. Even business-rugged laptops can be rendered useless by blowing dust, splashing water, and heavy vibrations. When you need a computer to survive everything from bumps and bashes to storms and seawater, the Panasonic Toughbook U1-Ultra ($3,676.29 direct) is just the rugged ultraportable you'll want in your hands.

Design
As we've come to expect from the Toughbook brand, the U1-Ultra has some seriously rugged construction. It sports a magnesium alloy skeleton (a tough material to manipulate), enclosed in heavy-duty polycarbonate plastic case, with an ABS and elastomer bumper adding another layer of protection. The U1-Ultra is tested to meet MIL-STD-810G and IP65 specifications, a stringent list of environmental conditions that the unit must go through and remain functional after its completion.

These tests run the gamut: repeated six-foot drops onto concrete, 12-hour sessions of simulated rain exposure, 3-hour sessions of shock and vibration testing, sand, dust, humidity, and temperatures ranging between 160 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 60 degrees. You can even watch a video of the testing. For most ultraportable computers, that list reads like an assortment of ways to torture and kill a computer; for the Toughbook U1-Ultra, it's just Monday.

Within the U1-Ultra, the main printed circuit board (PCB) is enclosed separately in its own magnesium-alloy cage, suspended by shock-dampening materials that protect against impact and vibration. Ports are protected from water and dirt behind heavy, plastic, locking port covers. With all these internal components, the U1-Ultra manages to be compact and incredibly chunky at the same time, though it's still easy to carry. The U1-Ultra has an integrated adjustable hand strap that allows you to securely carry the laptop with one hand. The entire thing measures just 2.2 by 7.2 by 5.9 inches (HWD), but those dimensions don't quite convey the tiny feel of the screen.

The Toughbook U1-Ultra has a 5.6-inch display with a maximum resolution of 1,024 by 600. The display is designed for visibility under a variety of circumstances, with anti-reflective and anti-glare coatings and an LED backlight and ambient light sensor that adjusts brightness up to 6,000 nits for full visibility in direct sunlight. Instead of a mouse, the screen of the U1-Ultra is touch-sensitive, with a stylus for navigation. In true Toughbook fashion, the stylus is tethered to the device with a heavy-duty plastic lanyard, and an integrated stylus holder. It may be the only stylus-dependant device you won't lose the stylus for.

Below the screen is a unique thumb-friendly keyboard. The glossy buttons may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but the keyboard, like the rest of the U1-Ultra, is sealed to keep out moisture and dust, meaning that the keyboard will keep working through rain, shine, dust-storm, or what have you. The keyboard has a unique layout, with the traditional QWERTY keyboard split down the middle, with arrow buttons and a numeric pad set between the two halves. The resulting layout puts all of the letters within easy reach of your thumbs, so you can hold the slate with both hands, and type without much difficulty ? even while wearing gloves. On a traditional computer this set-up would be bizarre, but on the Toughbook it's a simple solution to one of the many unique problems presented by the rugged construction and handheld form factor.

To provide constant power, the Panasonic Toughbook U1-Ultra has a unique setup, with two hot-swappable batteries. That hot-swappable feature lets you remove and charge one battery while continuing to power the U1-Ultra with the other, or to run the ultraportable on both batteries for all-day battery life. The batteries are secured behind two locking panels on the back of the unit and are included with the U1-Ultra at no extra charge.

Features
The Toughbook U1-Ultra comes with a variety of features and add-ons designed to provide users in the field with whatever functionality they may need. Some of these functions are simply rugged versions of traditional laptop and netbook features, like an SD card reader and 2-megapixel webcam. Locking port covers protect a USB 2.0 port, and headphone and microphone jacks, and the sliding lock used for the covers are easy to open, but stay securely closed. Others are clearly included to meet the unique needs of military and businesses that require some extra functionality, like GPS, an integrated barcode reader, and optional RFID reader. A unique 19-pin docking port lets you connect to a docking station, which is available for around $450 through various retailers. The U1-Ultra has features for the security-minded as well, such as an integrated fingerprint reader, Computrace BIOS-level theft protection, and dual Kensington lock slots.

Gobi 2000 Mobile Broadband is available on most configurations (including our review unit), allowing you to sign up with numerous GSM (AT&T) and CDMA (Verizon) 3G wireless providers. It's not your only wireless connection though, with Intel 802.11a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and GPS available.

The U1-Ultra has a 64GB solid-state drive (SSD), which offers twice the capacity offered in the previous model, the U1-Essential. Still, 64GB is very small, and will severely limit what programs you can install. The inclusion of an SSD instead of a traditional spinning hard drive provides better performance speeds and durability.

The U1-Ultra is completely free of bloatware. Panasonic does include a utility called "U1 Experience," but it's simply a tool to help users navigate the many tools and features unique to the Toughbook. Aside from this, there are no extra or unwanted programs pre-installed on the U1-Ultra. What Panasonic does include, however, is a generous 3-year warranty covering parts and labor.

Performance
The U1-Ultra comes equipped with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, a step up from the 1.3GHz Atom Z520 used in the previous iteration, now called the U1-Essential ($2,500 street, 2 stars). Even with the speed bump, it's not the newest model by a long shot; the last system we reviewed with the Z530 was the Nokia Booklet 3G back in 2009. The presence of a dual-core Atom processor also puts the ToughBook ahead of other handheld PCs on the market, such as the Motion Computing F5 ($3,446 direct, 3 stars) or the Sony VAIO VGN-UX180P Micro PC ($1,799 direct, 3.5 stars), both of which use an Intel Core Solo U1400, a 1.22GHz single-core processor. The U1-Ultra also benefits from 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, double the 1GB used in the U1-Essential. This increase provides enough memory to support Windows 7 Professional (32-bit), a big step up from the U1-Essential's Windows XP. In fact, it's a significant step for any handheld PC, rugged or otherwise, as the majority of these systems are still shipping with XP installed.

In our CineBench R11.5 rendering test, which serves as an indicator of processor speed, the U1-Ultra managed 0.24 points. This speed falls short even when compared with Atom-equipped netbooks, but offers more than enough oomph for the single task software offerings that the handheld U1-Ultra will be used for. If on the go processor power is a must-have, consider full-sized rugged alternatives, like the Getac V200 ($5,177 direct, 3.5 stars) or the Panasonic Toughbook CF-52 ($3,300 street, 4 stars).

Due to the custom version of Windows used on the U1-Ultra, we were unable to run our two primary benchmark tests, BAPCo's SYSMark 2007 and MobileMark 2007, which measure overall performance and battery life. Though we don't have the exact numbers these tests would provide, we were able to gauge approximate battery life by running a looped video file. This anecdotal testing puts the U1-Ultra's battery life at roughly 9 hours with both 21Wh batteries. This puts it ahead of the U1-Essential, which has an estimated battery life of 4 hours 31 minutes. This 9 hour battery life is also a significant improvement over past handhelds, especially when compared to the Motion Computing F5, another handheld PC aimed at vertical markets, which struggled to top three hours. It even surpasses Panasonic's own ToughBook CF-52, a full-sized semi-rugged laptop that tops out at 5:15. Plus, those hot swappable dual batteries can be alternately used and charged, letting you stay in action for as long as you need.

The Panasonic Toughbook U1-Ultra may not win any prizes for speedy performance or stylish design, but those factors aren't always important. This rugged handheld PC is designed primarily for business and military use, in circumstances that would cripple a lesser PC. If you need more processing power, but still require an uncompromisingly rugged machine, take a look at the Getac V200 or the Panasonic ToughBook CF-52. When you need basic PC functions that will work under the most extreme circumstances, the Panasonic Toughbook U1-Ultra is the handheld computer you'll want by your side.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Panasonic ToughBook U1 Ultra (CF-U1) with several other laptops side by side.

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