Stefan Mileschin

Panasonic's launching a pair of Toughpads that'll take none of your nonsense -- no matter what you throw at it. The FZ-G1 is a 10-inch version that runs Windows 8 Pro, while the seven-inch JT-B1 runs Ice Cream Sandwich. Both are following in the footsteps of the Honeycomb-running A1 and B1 that arrived back in 2011. Both are ruggedized to MilSpec standard 810G and should withstand immersion in water, have daylight viewable screens and the larger of the pair can even use a stylus with third-party apps.

The FG-Z1 10-inch Windows Machine has a 1,920 x 1,200 display and is packing a 1.9GHz Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5-3437U vPro CPU, a 128GB SSD (upgradeable to 256GB), up to 8GB of RAM an eight-hour battery and an optional microSD slot. Connectivity-wise, there's USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and optional Verizon LTE or 3G. The JT-B1, on the other hand, has a 1,024 x 600 display and runs a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4660, 16GB storage and 1GB RAM, built-in microSD slot, 13-megapixel rear and 1.3-megapixel forward facing cameras and an eight hour, 5,720mAh battery.

The larger of the pair will be available in March and will set you back $2,900, while the smaller one will arrive in February and will cost $1,300. Interested in knowing more, or just curious if you can use the hardware to knock down a few walls? Head on past the break for some PR.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/p...oughpads-2013/