Triple-Hinged Panasonic Toughbook C1 is World’s Lightest 12-inch Convertible Tablet

It could definitely take the iPad’s lunch money on the tablet playground–not that it needs to. Panasonic’s new 3.2-pound tablet, the lightest 12-inch convertible yet, is worth five times as much. But if you’re an exec or other highly mobile worker that demands durability, the Toughbook C1  may be worth the splurge. Accepting touch and pen input, the C1 can take a serious beating. Panasonic claims it can survive a 30-inch drop with the lid open to the base, 225 pounds of pressure, and 6-ounce spills. Take that, ThinkPad X201 Tablet.

To ensure you’ll be twisting and turning for years to come, Panasonic designed a unique triple hinge for the C1: two hinges are for opening and closing the lid (which no longer has that typical Toughbook bubble) and the other is for rotating the screen. Other welcome innovations include twin hot-swappable batteries and a quick-release shock mounted hard drive. The standard configuration offers up to 5 hours of battery life, which is not bad at all considering there’s a 2.4-GHz Core i5 processor under the hood. Adding a second battery will get you up to 10 hours of runtime.

At $2,500, the C1 is definitely not designed for surfing the Web on the sofa or reading eBooks. But it does offer more durability than your typical business tablet while being lighter and plenty powerful. Stay tuned for a full review when the C1 becomes available in June. And in the meantime, check out the full specs and gallery below.

Panasonic Toughbook® C1: Select Features and Specifications
OS: Genuine Windows 7® (with XP downgrade option)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-520 processor (2.4GHz)
Hard Drive: 250GB shock-mounted flex-connect hard drive with quick-release
Memory: 2GB RAM (DDR3-800), expandable to 6GB
Display: Choice of two 12.1” WXGA (1280 x 800) displays with LED backlighting
Multi-touch + digitizer screen allowing input via finger, gestures and electronic stylus
pen
Gloved multi-touch screen allowing input via finger and gestures (available Fall 2010)
Anti-glare screen treatment
Buttons: 6 backlit tablet buttons (5 user-definable)
Batteries: Hot-swappable twin batteries; 5 hour battery life (with one battery); 10 hour battery life (with two batteries)
Weight: 3.2 lbs (with one battery); 3.7 lbs (with two batteries)
Webcam: Optional webcam with built-in dual array microphone
Business-rugged features:
o 30” operating drop (to base only)
o 26 sides 12” drop (non-operating)
o 225 lb pressurized vibration
o Magnesium alloy case
o Spill-resistant keyboard (protects against 6 ounces spills)
o Triple hinge design with screen rotation lock
o Ergonomic strap and dome hand support
Embedded Connectivity
o Optional integrated WWAN / Gobi2000™ mobile broadband (EV-DO and HSPA)
o Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 802.11a/b/g/n
o Bluetooth® v2.1 + EDR (class 2)
Security Features:
o Fingerprint reader
o SmartCard reader
Dimensions: 11.8” (H) x 8.9” (W) x 1.2-1.7” (D)
Dock: Optional desktop dock with DVD multi-drive
Charger: Optional 4-bay battery charger