Panasonic is preparing to break the boundaries when it comes to resolution on a tablet, but they need a little more time before they release the Panasonic ToughPad 4K, with the latest delay setting the tablet back till mid-February.
The Panasonic ToughPad 4K has taken a long journey, first shown off at CES the tablet was an idea of how professionals could use a Windows 8 tablet to utilise professional apps with a killer display and large screen, instead of all the 7 and 10-inch displays clouding the market.
Since the CES introduction, Panasonic has continued updating the ToughPad 4K to match the technology available. It now will come with an Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce GT745M and 256GB of SSD storage.
On the software side, the Panasonic ToughPad 4K will come with the latest version of Windows 8.1 Pro. This will not be the average consumer tablet and Panasonic will market this to professionals in the field, with prices starting at $4400 for the 20-inch 4K tablet.
For what Panasonic is pushing out, the ToughPad 4K is a pretty impressive buy. The magnesium and steel design has plenty of weight and quality and the size of the tablet makes it perfect for some professional applications, taking advantage of the mobility may be crucial in a hospital environment, for example.
The biggest problem for the Panasonic ToughPad 4K is the operating system, in our view, Windows 8 is still pretty foreign to businesses and the public sector, who are still running Windows XP or Windows 7.
When buying for business, it is normally bought in bulk and we doubt the Panasonic ToughPad 4K will see this kind of recognition, simply because it is expensive and isn’t on an operating system the industry feels incredible familiar with, especially considering the changes to applications on Windows 8.