Light and easy, Panasonic's newest subnotebook has touch-screen support
A mobile computer can be highly portable only at the cost of performance. The larger the screen, the shorter the battery life and so on. For subnotebooks, the big trade-off is usability.
By Jason ByrneGCN StaffA mobile computer can be highly portable only at the cost of performance. The larger the screen, the shorter the battery life and so on. For subnotebooks, the big trade-off is usability. Small screens, tiny keyboards and quirky pointing devices add up to a tricky user experience. But the big plus, of course, is the ultralight weight.The GCN Lab recently looked at a subnotebook that, at least in usability, makes few compromises. Panasonic's CF-M33, the smallest member of the rugged ToughBook family, is no cream puff. Its magnesium case protects an 8.4-inch LCD display, and the rest of the computer is encased in Fiberglas-reinforced plastic. As with other computers in the ToughBook line, the hard drive rides in shock-absorbing gel.The biggest advance over the earlier CF-M31 model is touch-screen support, which greatly improves usability. A keyboard and tracking ball pointer are always nice to have in a notebook this size, but the ability to select an item on screen by touch is a huge improvement. In a way, the CF-M33 combines the best of a notebook with the best of handheld computers such as a Palm from 3Com Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., or a Microsoft Windows CE device. The Panasonic unit runs full Windows 95 with notebook power and compatibility but handheld portability.The only downside is that 800- by 600-pixel resolution on an 8.4-inch screen makes selecting onscreen items or clicking buttons difficult without a stylus. The nonwriting end of a pen might do, but a stylus would be better.The 266-MHz Pentium MMX processor, not a superfast chip, handles office applications easily. Standard RAM is 32M; the unit accepts as much as 96M. Also standard are a 4G hard drive, an external floppy drive and a port replicator. Two options that I consider essential are an extra-long-life battery for up to six hours of operation and an external CD-ROM drive. Office software generally is loaded from a CD or the network. The included floppy drive is inadequate. Panasonic's best choice might be an external floppy and CD-ROM combination, much like the internal combos in larger notebooks. Even a high-capacity floppy replacement, such as the LS-120 SuperDrive from Imation Corp. of Oakdale, Minn., would be better.In overall usability, the CF-M33 is a gem. Performance is less sparkling. When I ran the Ziff-Davis Business Operation's Winstone 99 and WinBench 99 benchmarks, the results were about average for a notebook with a 266-MHz MMX processor. When I ran the standard battery under the lab's maximum-drain test, it lasted a little more than an hour and a half. The optional long-life battery reached three hours, 10 minutes. Both batteries are lithium-ion. Considering that there is no CD drive to power and only a smallish LCD, I was surprised the batteries did not last longer. Where the CF-M33 does shine is in weight: only 2.6 pounds with the standard battery onboard and 3.2 pounds with the long-life battery.The diminutive CF-M33 is a better computer than any handheld, more portable than most notebooks and as easy to use as a desktop system.
 | Panasonic's CF-M33 subnotebook, at just 2.6 pounds, runs full Windows 95 and office apps. |
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| ToughBook CF-M33 Subnotebook with full notebook features Panasonic Personal Computer Co.; Secaucus, N.J.; tel. 800-662-3537 www.panasonic.com/computer/notebook Price: $1,732 GSA
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