Panasonic Panasonic ToughBook W7

The notebook's keyboard is supposed to be resistant to spills of up to 6 ounces, so go on--guzzle that tall cappuccino with one hand and type with the other.

Unfortunately, the W7's durability comes at a sacrifice in performance. The ToughBook slogs along with a 1.06-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 CPU and 2GB of RAM, earning a WorldBench 6 score of 52. However, it stayed alive for 6.5 hours before running the battery down, or about two hours longer than the average for the ultraportables we've tested. The message these results tell me is that this machine was built for simple single-minded tasks--data entry, for example--but in more hostile climates than your average office.

The keyboard's spacing is certainly comfortable enough, but the keys are more than a little more slippery to the touch. The W7 has a circular touchpad, which seems like a neat idea, but it doesn't work well. Perhaps it would if the buttons were spaced farther apart around the wheel--or just widened. I often found that my fingers got jammed by the hinges of the top-loading DVD tray.

One major deficiency compared with other notebooks, even ultraportables: The screen's maximum resolution is a measly 1024 by 768 pixels, so we often had to squint. It also doesn't help that the display looks relatively dim until you crank it back to a full recliner-worthy 135-degree angle.

There are plenty of good ideas at work, here--not to mention plenty of features that make the ToughBook tough to beat outdoors. But when you hunker down and actually get to work, it may take you a little longer to get things done than you'd like.

--Darren Gladstone