Panasonic Updates Toughbook Laptops with Colorful Cases

With their latest refresh, Panasonic has added a splash of color to their brawny Toughbook line. As opposed to its plain-old silver predecessor, the Toughbook W4, the 2.7-pound Toughbook W5 comes in seven hues with fancy names: Steel Gray, Merlot, Glacier White, Blueprint, Rosehip, Crown Blue, and Galaxy Black (pictured). Same goes for the 3.4-pound Toughbook Y5, which will come in six similar shades like Skylight Blue, Firehouse Red, Deepsea, and Bronze Brown. Both notebooks feature the same crush-resistant, magnesium alloy case that earned the notebook its name, as well as shock-mounted hard drives. Panasonic also did away with the aging Pentium M and outfitted the W5 with a 1.2GHz Core Solo U1400 ULV processor (a move they should have made when the W4 was hot). The Y5 will use a Core Duo CPU, though we won't know which until the 14.1-inch laptop goes on sale in December for $2,569. You can buy the 12.1-inch Toughbook W5 for $2,339 today on Panasonic's website.