(EMAILWIRE.COM, November 25, 2002 ) Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, the leading provider of ruggedized portable computers, today announced the release of the Toughbook 50 the world's first semi-rugged 1.9GHz notebook computer with an ultra-high-resolution, 15-inch active matrix screen, durable and removable hard drive, firewire (IEEE 1394) support, and optional Smart Card reader.
Engineered to meet the graphically intensive needs of military and federal civilian agencies requiring a notebook computer with no-compromise performance, rock-solid reliability and security compliant, the Toughbook 50 offers significantly better performance than previous Pentium 4 models without any sacrifice in the Toughbook line's legendary durability.

"I'm very proud that our first 15-inch-screen model is everything that our public and private sector customers have come to expect in a Toughbook," said Rance Poehler, president of Panasonic Computer Solutions Company. "The extra real estate required by that size display creates all kinds of design problems that most of our competitors-married as they are to their no-name, third-party manufacturing partners-largely ignore."

"Their marketing analysis runs something like this," Poehler noted "Does the screen flex and wobble? Add an extra half-pound of plastic to the screen case. Does the extra-heavy case over stress the clamshell hinges? Yes. So, who looks at hinges? Panasonic looks at hinges. Panasonic engineers and builds its own notebooks--including the cases and related hardware--and we have never released a Toughbook that didn't have heavy-duty, dirt-and-dust resistant hinges. And we consider things like weight. Despite having a higher-output Lithium Ion battery, the 15-inch Toughbook 50 weighs exactly 1/10 of a pound more than the 14.1-inch Toughbook 48 and the Toughbook 50's cast-magnesium screen case is every bit as wobble and flex free as the Toughbook 48's."

Supercharged Performance

Panasonic's Toughbook 50 utilizes Intel's newest Mobile Pentium 4 - 1.90GHz-M processor with Enhanced SpeedStep Technology and Deeper Sleep Alert State for maximum performance with minimum battery drain. The Mobile P4's superior ability to handle graphics-intensive applications, and processor-intensive background tasks such as compression, encryption, and virus scanning makes it the ideal processor for security-conscious public sector and corporate initiatives. A standard 256MB DDRAM-expandable to 768MB-keeps disk swapping to a minimum during demanding operations (512MB standard, expandable to 1024MB available for volume purchases).

Work Station-Quality Video

Whether the task is mission planning or desktop replacement, the Toughbook 50's video performance more than equals that of the average desktop workstation with a high-output TFT active-matrix UXGA (1600 x 1200 pixel) LCD screen, Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics accelerator, 64MB of video RAM, and 2048 x 1536-pixel external video support at 4 billion colors.

Secure, Shock-Mounted Hard Drive

Conventional wisdom says the best way to secure the data on a notebook computer is to remove the hard drive whenever the computer is left unattended. For once, conventional wisdom is right. Many notebook vendors make their so-called removable hard drives so hard to reach that end user compliance with security directives is almost nil. The Toughbook 50's shock-mounted 40MB Ultra ATA HDD can easily be extracted and replaced with one hand (60GB HDD standard available for volume purchases).

Integrated Smart Card Reader

A clear advantage over an external reader that can be broken or a reader occupying a PC Card slot needed for other applications is the optional, integrated Smart Card reader built-in to the Toughbook 50. Panasonic's GemPlus reader is on the approved list certified by Army SET D as well as meeting standards of Defense Department's Common Access Card (CAC) mandate.

Connectivity

The Toughbook 50 features a robust suite of connectivity options to facilitate effective communications in all computing environments. Included are internal combo card (56K fax modem LAN 10-Base-T/100-Base-TX Ethernet), optional integrated 802.11b wireless LAN (Cisco Aironet), Firewire (IEEE 1394) support, PCMCIA card slots (2 Type II, 1 Type III) as well as ports for serial, ECP parallel, external video, external PS/2 keyboard/mouse, USB (x2), audio input and output ports, and port replicator connector.

Form Factor

1.85" (H) x 10.9"(D) x 12.8" (W); 7.7 lbs., including battery (3.5 hours)

Full Three-Year Warranty

The Toughbook 50 comes standard with a three-year limited warranty including parts and labor and free overnight in/out shipping.

Pricing & Configuration

Toughbook 50 (Part No. CF-50Y5KNUDM): Mobile® Intel® Pentium 4 1.90GHz-M processor, 15.0" 1600 x 1200 UXGA TFT Active-Matrix Color LCD, 64MB VRAM, 256MB RAM, 40GB HDD, FDD, DVD/CD-RW drive, Win 2000 Estimated Street Price: $3,714.

Panasonic Computer Solutions Company

Panasonic Computer Solutions Company is the leading provider of ruggedized notebook PCs for mobile professionals in the USA. The company is a unit company of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan (NYSE: MC), which recorded annual sales of $51.70 billion in the most recent fiscal year. Matsushita Electric is one of the only manufacturers today that directly controls the process of design, manufacture and quality assurance of its notebook PCs. Many key components, including LCD panels, Lithium Ion batteries, DVD and CD-ROM drives, and board-level electronics are the products of its divisions. The products, people and business of Panasonic Computer Solutions Company are entirely dedicated to the needs of the professional user, including Fortune 1000 business and government professionals. Panasonic also supplies mobile computing solutions to over 2,000 police departments in the United States.

Note to Editors: All brand and company/product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies. All specifications are subject to change without notice.

Information on Panasonic's full line of notebook PCs for the mobile professional can be obtained by calling 800 662 3537 or at http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook.

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Produced for Panasonic

CONTACT:
Jeffrey Ayers
Tel 516 609 9500
jayers@p2c2.com

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