Panasonic Toughbook CF-T5

We were also annoyed by the screen, which is dull and suffers from poor viewing angles. We were constantly tilting it back and forth to make text readable, as the brightness dips as soon as your view moves off perpendicular. And, even though there's no glossy coating, glare was distracting under our standard office lighting.

With both keyboard and screen proving problematic in everyday use, plus the lack of an integrated optical drive, the CF-T5 certainly isn't a contender as an ultraportable for the clumsy masses. But if you need a small and light notebook that's guaranteed to survive drops and worse, it's the only choice - other than the CF-W5 - currently on the market. Fully ruggedised notebooks, such as the Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 MK4 are much chunkier, more expensive and don't boast anything like this battery life.

Author: Clive Webster