Panasonic Toughbook H1: Ruggedness for Healthcare Workers

Panasonic, maker of the rugged Toughbook line of notebooks, unveiled its latest machine for users to bump around: the Toughbook H1, the world’s first fully-rugged mobile clinical assistant.

The Toughbook H1 leverages Intel’s low-power Atom processor (a staple in the netbook category) for six hours of battery life, as well as dual hot-swappable batteries, to keep workers productive with very little downtime.

As healthcare workers can be exposed to all sots of nasty bugs, the Toughbook H1offers sealed buttons, a gapless LCD, fanless design, and non-exposed ports to help prevent the spread of germs.  In addition, the included Panasonic-designed software can be set to remind users to wipe down the device at set intervals.

Of course, as it bears the Toughbook name, the H1 is quite rugged. It’s tested to withstand three foot drops (approximately the height of a patient’s bed) while operational, and is sealed to resist water, rain, and dust.

Check the specs:

• Windows Vista Business operating system
• 1.8-GHz Intel Atom
• 80GB shock-mounted HDD
• 10.4-inch sunlight viewable LCD (1024 x 768)
• 2-megapixel camera
• Fingerprint reader
• 802.11a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• Optional Gobi mobile broadband
• Optional GPS
• 2D barcode reader
• 3.4 pounds

Interested? The Panasonic Toughbook H1 will be available in January 2009 for an estimated street price of $2,999.