When Panasonic first showed off the Toughpad 4K at CES, we were gobsmacked. Incredible 4K resolution on a huge screen! A portable tablet design! It was exciting because the Panasonic Toughpad 4K was unlike anything else we had seen: a large-screen tablet, with rugged business utility built in. Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves a bit stymied for many of the same reasons. The Panasonic Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6) ($6,999 as tested) is ostensibly made for professionals, but it's an odd product that doesn't fit neatly into any one product category.

In one sense, the Toughpad is a business tablet, a giant 20-inch tablet with a gorgeous 4K-resolution display. At that size, it's perhaps more of a portable all-in-one desktop PC, but it has no built in stand to prop it up like a monitor, and there is no keyboard or mouse included. With premium components, the ToughPad 4K Performance can also be considered a workstation PC, though it's unlike any workstation we've seen before. It is all of these things at once. Beyond its business focus, even Panasonic is unsure of how it should be categorized, responding with a chuckle and essentially saying "D, all of the above" when asked about it. The Panasonic Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6) is it's own thing, an odd duck that is impressive, but puzzling.

Design
Panasonic is marketing the ToughPad 4K as a portable solution for everything from retail displays to video production, giving users a large display with crystal-clear detail. There are two versions of the Toughpad 4K Tablet available, the Toughpad 4K Standard (UT-MB5) ($5,999 list), and the Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6), which is reviewed here. Our evaluation unit is equipped with a dual-core Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia K1000M graphics, making it as much a mobile workstation as a simple tablet. That means it's well suited for uses like bedside healthcare in hospitals, where the Ultra HD display lends itself well to viewing X-rays and MRIs, or for architects traveling to building sites, who want to review or change details on blueprints, and need to be able to see the big picture.

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Measuring 0.5 by 18.7 by 13.1 inches (HWD), the tablet is technically portable, but mobile use will definitely be limited by the dimensions and the weight (5.6 pounds). The ratio of size and weight are actually quite remarkable, given that most 20-inch monitors weigh considerably more, and don't offer the same sort of touch capability or processing hardware. It's also not much heavier than the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (2013) (4.46 pounds) or the Toshiba Satellite P50T-BST2N01 (5.1 pounds), despite having a much larger screen. Panasonic calls it "the world's largest tablet," and while there's plenty of truth to the claim, for our purposes, it more closely resembles a portable all-in-one desktop PC, like the Sony VAIO Tap 21 (SVT21217CXB) or the Lenovo IdeaCentre Flex 20. Granted, these are very different devices, with significantly different use cases, but the size of the screen and the semi-portable design do offer some similarity.