CES2014: Panasonic Announces Toughpad FZ-M1 Fully Rugged 7” Windows 8.1 Pro Tablet

Panasonic adds to its range of Toughpad rugged tablets today with the unveiling of the FZ-M1 at CES 2014, which Panasonic is touting as the world's thinnest rugged 7-inch Windows 8 tablet (although how many of those can there actually be?).

I’ve had a lot of fun with Panasonic Toughbook PCs, including some torture testing. It’s great to have a PC that you can take almost anywhere and use in almost any environment. Today, Panasonic has introduced an exciting new fully ruggedized 7” Toughpad tablet running Windows 8.1. This new Toughpad is the FZ-M1.

The Toughpad FZ-M1 was designed with “can-do” in mind. This tablet is both small and portable, and ruggedized to take on almost any situation. Because the Toughpad FZ-M1 is built on a 4th generation Intel Core i5 vPro processor, it can run any Windows app you want to throw at it. With a claimed 8 hours of battery life, you can take this rugged PC with you anywhere and work with it all day without charging.

Here are some specs for the Toughpad FZ-M1: (detailed specifications available HERE)

• Operating System: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit 
• Processor: 4th generation Intel Core i5 vPro 
• Durability rating: MIL-STD-810G, 5’ drop, IP65 fully sealed fanless design 
• Screen: 7” daylight-readable 1200 x 800 10-point multi-touch, optional stylus 
• Storage: 128GB SSD (256GB SSD optional) 
• RAM: 8 GB 
• Weight: 1.2 LB 
• Thickness: 0.7” 

That’s a lot of capability that Panasonic has built into a 0.7” thick package weighing just 1.2 LB! The specs are impressive on the Toughpad FZ-M1, but there are some great options that make this rugged tablet highly customizable as well. Some of the options include dedicated GPS, barcode reader, NFC reader, SmartCard reader, 10’ range RFID, magnetic stripe reader and multicarrier embedded 4G LTE wireless connectivity. Just like other Toughpad and Toughbook PCs, the Toughpad FZ-M1 can be optimized for a wide variety of tasks and scenarios.

The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 will be available early Spring 2014 with a street price of $2,099. If you demand both extreme portability and extreme ruggedness, this Windows 8.1 PC will be one to check out! If you can’t wait until spring, you can check out the Toughpad FZ-M1 at CES 2014 in Central Hall at Booth #9806 with the rest of the Panasonic PCs.

Panasonic also plans to launch a cheaper model with an Intel Atom Bay trail processor that should be available later this year. Both versions will be available with Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 7 Professional.

Follow the Toughpad™ Brand (#Toughpad):

The Panasonic Toughpad brand can be followed on various social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and our blog, Panasonic for Business.

*World's lightest and thinnest rugged 7-inch fanless tablet with a 4th generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor as of Jan. 6, 2014 (standard configuration)

***First rugged 7-inch 4th generation Intel® Core™ i tablet with a fanless design as of Jan. 6, 2014