(Credit: PCMag)
Panasonic just debuted the robust Toughbook 56 laptop, the newest in the company’s long line of rugged laptops, as it celebrates 30 years of the Toughbook brand.
I went hands on with the laptop at a preview event before the announcement, held aboard the suitably tough Intrepid Museum in New York City. Rugged laptops are essential for mobile workers in public safety, utilities, federal programs, first response, and many other industries. Naturally, Panasonic developed the Toughbook 56’s updated features and components with these users in mind.
The Toughbook 56 will launch this May, priced individually starting at $3,325. (Bulk purchases will be at negotiated prices.) I came away impressed by the fresh Toughbook’s new modular features, broad connectivity, and updated core components after having spent a short time with the laptop.
Design: Built to Withstand (Almost) Anything
Most regular shoppers and professionals have no need for a ruggedized laptop like this, built to withstand extreme temperatures, physical impacts, and other hazards. PCMag is plenty familiar with the category, having reviewed lots of rugged systems (including lots of Toughbooks) over the years—including the previous Panasonic Toughbook 55 Mk3 (and the Toughbook 55 launch model).
(Credit: PCMag)Panasonic's Toughbook 56 keeps its predecessor's core design while adding more versatility and updating its inner components. Starting with the design, it’s a sturdy 1.4-inch-thick laptop that weighs 4.66 pounds (up to 4.99 pounds with a touch screen). That’s not super heavy, which is key since Panasonic designed it for various environments. Of course, it's more weight than you’d see from most 14-inch laptops.
The laptop is not just thick, but Panasonic made it to withstand a huge range of punishment. Its rubberized edges and magnesium alloy chassis go a long way on that front, and the laptop is MIL-STD-810H rated for survivability against a three-foot drop, shocks, vibration, freezing, dust, sand, water splashes, and more. The laptop is rated for IP53; see an explanation of ruggedization specs.
As mentioned, the event took place at the Intrepid Museum, located on board the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, which is docked permanently in New York City. The setting cleverly complemented the "toughness" of the brand, with all the steel around us aboard the ship. I took the laptop out to an observation deck, as well as up to the flight deck. That wasn't just a gimmick: It allowed me to check out the screen in bright sunlight and get a feel for the laptop's carrying handle. Rugged machines like this tend to be used outdoors, and screen visibility in sunlight matters a lot.
(Credit: PCMag)I find the Toughbook 56 easy—and even fun—to pick up and grab from its handle, which has been redesigned for a more comfortable grip. The typical users for this and other rugged laptops include firefighters, construction workers, law enforcement officials, first responders, and military servicemembers. Easy portability and resistance to hazardous environments are, obviously, a must for these users.
Display and Connectivity: Outdoor Friendly and Unmatched Versatility
The 14-inch laptop’s default screen has a 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution and shines at up to 350 nits. The upgraded option adds capacitive gloved touch support and a 1,000-nit brightness rating. Both have an anti-glare coating, which, in combination with the high brightness, is essential for outdoor workers in bright sunlight.
(Credit: PCMag)I spent part of my time with the Toughbook outdoors in direct sunlight, and while I didn’t get a real meat-and-potatoes working session in, I could still pretty easily see videos playing on screen. I know many laptops would be a lost cause under similar conditions.
Panasonic emphasized how important connectivity is to these machines, and how user feedback went into selecting its new array of connections. The Toughbook 56 includes six modular areas, consisting of three of what it calls “xPAKs” (basically, removable port hubs), plus the externally accessible battery, the memory slots, and the SSD bays. Modularity means that these parts are easily removable and replaceable by the end user in a plug-and-play manner.
(Credit: PCMag)On the rear expansion area, you can configure your Toughbook with a variety of xPAKs that provide connections such as USB Type-A, USB Type-C, microSD, and Ethernet. The right-side expansion area supports a removable fingerprint reader, a contactless smart card reader, an insertable smart card slot, and an additional battery. On the left, the laptop supports custom-ordered xPAKs with a barcode reader or even a DVD or Blu-ray drive, for example. Being able to order what you need and swapping modules or components into these bays, rather than being stuck with specific connections, is huge for workers in the field.
(Credit: PCMag)Panasonic rates the system for 12 hours of battery life, and up to 24 hours with the optional second battery, which it claims is 36% longer than the previous edition. You can hot-swap the second battery to keep the system running while you charge the depleted battery on its own. So long as you have somewhere to plug in the battery, you can maintain virtually endless uptime in the field.
(Credit: PCMag)The Toughbook 56 combines this exceptional versatility with a 5-megapixel webcam, which comes with a privacy cover and an LED recording indicator. Panasonic also upgraded the speakers for louder sound in the field. The laptop also supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth, as well as the option for 4G or 5G connectivity, and private cellular networking. It can even support dual SIM cards.
(Credit: PCMag)Security is also crucial for a wide array of professional users, and the Toughbook 56 does not come up short here. The system is a secured-core and NIST BIOS-compliant PC that supports Intel Hardware Shield, TPM 2.0, and local platform-erase security features. On the hardware side, Panasonic included a Kensington lock slot, optional locking screws for the SSD and xPAKs to keep them from walking off, and encrypted SSD options.
(Credit: PCMag)Component Update: Core Ultra Series 2, and a Discrete GPU
While pure processing speed is less important to this category than for many PCs, efficient performance is still vital, especially away from the office or a home base.
To that end, Panasonic brought Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 processors (with vPro support) into the Toughbook 56. You can outfit the machine with either a Core Ultra 5 235H or the Ultra 7 265H, both members of the AI-ready Core Ultra Series 2 “Arrow Lake” platform.
(Credit: PCMag)Additionally, Panasonic sells a discrete GPU for this device. Many workflows don't need a GPU, but an increasing number do, particularly 3D modeling and simulation, which are increasingly common for this device's audience. The GPU in question is the AMD Radeon Pro W7500M, which has 8GB of VRAM. (Panasonic claims that this is a first for this product category.) If you don’t need that much muscle, you can stick with the Intel integrated graphics or the optional upgraded Intel Arc 140T integrated GPU.
(Credit: PCMag)On the memory front, the laptop is user-upgradable from 16GB to 64GB of DDR5-5600 RAM through two DIMM slots. The main solid-state drive can range from 512GB to 2TB, and you can add another SSD within the same capacity range.
To make a final judgment, we’ll have to put this laptop through its paces on our benchmark tests—and rough-house it to test the ruggedization—when we get a retail unit. Check back for a full review following the launch in May.