AMD has announced that Panasonic will be equipping the new Toughbook CF-54 with its AMD FirePro M5100 mobile professional graphics. Panasonic claims the Toughbook CF-54 is the world's thinnest and lightest 14-inch semi-rugged laptop.
AMD says that the FirePro M5100 graphics solution, built-into the CF-54 'Performance Model', is ideal for professionals on the go in industries such as automotive, telecommunications, construction, manufacturing, mining and defence or anyone who works in a "semi-harsh indoor or outdoor environment".
Combining the Toughbook's legendary portable ruggedness with AMD's FirePro M5100 GPU is expected to be a boon to professionals who need 3D acceleration in a durable, portable package. It is suggested that architects, project managers and engineers will be particularly enamoured by the new laptop.
The specifications of the Panasonic Toughbook CF-54 are as follows:
- CPU: Intel Core i5-5300U vPro Processor, 2.3GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz, 3MB cache (Intel Core i7 vProTM Processor is available as an option)
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5500 (all models), AMD FirePro M5100 (Performance model), Dual monitor support
- Storage: choice of HDD and SSDs and optional DVD multi-drive
- RAM: between 4GB and 16GB of DDR3L-1600MHz
- OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit (with Windows 7 downgrade option)
- Durability: Semi-rugged, MIL-STD-810G design (3' drop, shock, vibration, dust, altitude, high/low temperature, temperature shock, humidity), IP5x dust protected design, Magnesium alloy case with handle, Hard drive heater, Shock-mounted flex-connect hard drive with quick-release
- Display: 14.0-inch HD & FHD with optional 1000 nit gloved multi-touchscreen
- Battery: 11 hours (8 hours Lite model), optional 2nd battery (+7 hours; hot-swappable)
- Ports & Expansion: USB x 3 (optional 4th USB), Optional Rugged Fischer USB, SDXC, Optional DVD Drive, Ethernet, Optional 2nd LAN (Ethernet), HDMI, Optional VGA, Optional Serial, Optional PC Card, Headphone/Mic, Dock Connector
- Network: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, optional antenna pass through, optional 4G LTE multi carrier, optional dedicated GPS (u-blox), Contactless SmartCard/NFC reader, 10/100/1000 Ethernet
- Sound: Intel HD audio, volume twice as loud as the Toughbook 53
- Keyboard: spill resistant backlit keyboard, Electrostatic touchpad with multi touch support
- Warranty: 3-year limited warranty, parts and labour
Karl Freund, general manager, Professional Graphics at AMD said of the new laptop; "With the AMD FirePro M5100 GPU powering the Panasonic Toughbook CF-54 (Performance model), we can help deliver workstation-class performance in an industry-leading semi-rugged package that combines the best features of a desktop workstation for users on the go."
Looking specifically at the AMD graphics part equipped in the Toughbook CF-54 Performance Model the AMD FirePro M5100 is a GCN architecture GPU offering OpenGL, OpenCL and DirectX Support, ISV Certified Reliability, AMD Eyefinity, AMD Enduro and AMD app acceleration. It has a maximum engine clock of 775MHz with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM on a 128-bit interface running at up to 1.125GHz, offering a memory bandwidth of up to 72GB/s. Peak single and double precision compute throughput is 992GFLOPS and 62GFLOPS respectively.
If you are interested in the Panasonic Toughbook CF-54, configurations will be available from the end of this month starting from £1142 +VAT (HD screen plus 500GB HDD). Unfortunately Panasonic hasn't at this time revealed pricing for the AMD FirePro M5100 equipped 'Performance Model'.
