Rain or shine, the Panasonic Toughbook CF-H2 is your ideal companion

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The Panasonic Toughbook is able to withstand water, among its capabilities.

THE average road warrior will carry a tablet and a smartphone while a smaller segment prefers to fall back on a tablet. Obviously the lighter the tablet, the better it is for travel purposes, which is why the MacBook Air from Apple as well as Windows-powered Ultrabooks, have seen their popularity increased over the years.

But, what about those who have to work in a harsh environment? This is where the likes of the Panasonic Toughbook CF-H2 come in. Let’s find out whether the average road warrior here needs to be equipped with one of these toughies.

CONTEXT
Everyone has different kinds of usage patterns, so the results of this review will reflect what the standard office worker goes through. I understand that the CF-H2 has been specially configured to cater to field service workers, the military, first responders, clinicians and other mission critical professionals, so I will keep that in mind when going through the motions.

I basically hook it up to an external keyboard and wireless mouse for up to eight hours a day, which is filled with plenty of typing, watching a movie or two and having Windows Media Player play my favourite tunes in the background some of the time.

HARDWARE
What kind of hardware does the CF-H2 pack underneath the rugged hood? Running on an Intel Core i5-2557M vPro processor at 1.7GHz, it is accompanied by 4GB RAM (expandable to 8GB), has a 320GB hard drive (with an option to replace that with a 128GB SSD if you so desire), up to 6.5 hours of battery life, thanks to its twin hot-swappable batteries, a 10.1 inch XGA sunlight viewable dual touch LCD display, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, optional Gobi 2000 3G and 4G mobile broadband,  USB, Ethernet and, Serial interface support. Integrated options include a GPS receiver, a 2-megapixel camera with LED light, a RFID reader, a barcode reader, a fingerprint reader and a contactless SmartCard reader. Everything has been crammed into a magnesium alloy chassis that has been encased in polycarbonate, tipping the scales at 1.58kg in a sealed, all-weather design. Microsoft’s Windows 7 would be the operating system of choice.

DESIGN
That’s the belly. Just how does the design hold up? We have yet to arrive at an age where you can have durability in a sleek design, so the tablet is definitely not something your friends will drool over when you pull it out of your bag.
Instead, they will most probably look at you incredulously, wondering why you are carrying this behemoth around.  

The polycarbonate case, which covers the magnesium alloy chassis, is hardy enough to be able to handle drops on any surface at any angle and at distances of up to 90cm without suffering performance issues.

All ports are carefully covered, so water will not seep in even when you use the tablet in the rain. Even after I run it under  the tap, it works just fine. But do make sure the ports and openings are all carefully closed before you put the CF-H2 through its paces. These ports and openings require a fair amount of force to open and to close it, it requires enough push until you hear a loud “click” sound.

PERFORMANCE
How does the CF-H2 perform? Sure, it is great in non-traditional working environments, where it can withstand multiple drops from heights of 90cm and can work under heavy vibrations, especially when you are in a moving vehicle. It also works in rain, snow and dust without missing a beat.

One neat thing about the CF-H2 is its display that allows you to work even under bright or direct sunlight, thanks to 6,500 nits of brightness on its sunlight viewable display.

However, I rarely bring the CF-H2 outdoors, other than for testing purposes. Most of the time, I use it at home, connecting it with a keyboard and a mouse and churning out document after document with my music playlist in the background.

I manage to achieve 5½ hours of battery life, probably because I also took a break in between my work to play back a full length feature movie. The CF-H2 is no portable gaming or multimedia machine, so do not expect to use this as an entertainment machine. The speaker is cleverly concealed at the upper left hand side and resembles a circular plastic piece without a grille so the sound is rather muted. There is also no headphone jack, which further underlines the main purpose of the CF-H2 as a rugged handheld computer for those working in tough environments.

There was no integrated 3G or 4G connectivity with the review unit, so I was unable to test out this particular feature.

As for the hot-swappable batteries, they are located on both the left and right hand sides, so you can continue working on just one battery excess while you remove and replace the other. The entire exercise is painless, as it should be when you are working on an environment that needs minimal distraction.

Working from cloud would seem the ideal method of using the CF-H2 to its best capability as there are no optical disc drives to work with here. A solitary USB port means you can transfer installation files from an external drive, and I recommend using the tablet with a USB hub when at home or in the office.

To use a virtual keyboard on the CF-H2 is a slow and painful affair, unless you have a stylus, but you will positively be flying when you connect it to an external keyboard and mouse.

CONCLUSION
Obviously this is a portable workhorse, so do not expect to use the CF-H2 as a tough gaming machine or a tablet replacement. It’s strictly a mobile computing tool for a niche market. It is hard to see it as the mainstay tablet for office-based clientele. It’s a highly durable device and I can vouch for its “effectiveness” in shrugging off heat, drops, knocks, water and dust. Clearly lives up to its name, and then some.