Affordable Panasonic Rugged Notebook Computer Without Compromise; Award-Winning Panasonic Toughbook(R) 51 Now at Cost-Effective Pricing.

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, the leading provider of ruggedized portable computers in the U.S., announced today that its award-winning Toughbook 51, is now available at affordable pricing.

The June issue of Laptop Magazine said, "The system survived three drops from 30 inches onto a concrete floor without any damage. Try that with your run-of-the-mill notebook....actually don't," and went on to say, "the clear and bright 15-inch UXGA screen is one of the best we've seen and battery runtime was an excellent 5 hours and 20 minutes." Mobile magazine gave the 51 a Mobile Choice Award achieving four and half stars out of five, calling it, "Best for the Rugged Individualists with a Heart of Silicon." Presentations magazine's prestigious Standing Ovation award was also bestowed on the Toughbook 51 with the accolade, "Built to handle the hazards of travel and everyday use...a capable road warrior presentation companion that's easy on the shoulder."

The Toughbook 51 offers today's mobile professional a full-featured, presentation-class rugged notebook PC with a legendary heritage of reliability through durability. Industry analyst firm Technology Business Research, TBR, recently commented, "Panasonic's brand of rugged notebooks, the 'Toughbook', continues to benefit from the company's brand superiority, well-established customer relationships and a lack of substantial competition. The brand also benefits from a gradual shift of 'white-collar' corporate customers toward ruggedized notebooks, as well as a global security climate that continues to demand ruggedized products."

The Toughbook 51 is based on Intel Corporation's revolutionary new Centrino(TM) mobile technology platform, and includes the Intel Pentium(R) M processor 740 at 1.73GHz, a full magnesium-alloy case, an internally shock-and-drop resistant 40GB removable hard drive, 1GB Ethernet NIC 10/100/1000 support, Intel Pro/Wireless 802.11a/b/g connectivity and a 15-inch UXGA (1600x1200 pixel) TFT active-matrix color display mounted in a shock-and-vibration hardened encasement.

Rance Poehler, president of Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, recently commented, "The Toughbook 51's hard-drive implementation significantly expands the definition of the term 'ruggedized' computer. With the 51 we have expanded the ruggedization process out of the box and applied it to specific individual components which are likely to be repeatedly removed and reinstalled," he said.

"The Toughbook 51 was specifically designed for customers with critical data-security requirements such as government employees who are required to pull their hard drives whenever they leave their computers unattended," he said. "They -- and we -- were rightly concerned about what might happen when a bare drive is accidentally dropped or subjected to some other shock. Our response to those concerns is the Toughbook's proprietary hard drive, which can withstand a three-foot drop to a solid surface.

"Some of our competitors may have hard drives that will take that kind of impact when they're safely tucked up in the computer case, but none of them have a bare drive that can survive that kind of abuse.

"The only core manufacturer in the rugged computer market, Panasonic designs and manufacturers such durability optimized Toughbook components as cases, display screens, system boards, and advanced heat-transfer systems," further notes Poehler.

The Toughbook CF-51 LCMDDBM is powered by an Intel Pentium(R) M processor 740 running at 1.73GHz, a 400MHZ front-side bus and 2GMB L2 cache. It ships standard with 256MB of DDR RAM (expandable to 2GB), a 15-inch TFT active-matrix UXGA display with 64MB VRAM, a 40GB hardened hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW combo drive which can be user-replaced with a second battery for extended runtime of up to seven hours, a modular floppy drive, wired, wireless and analog modem support, and Windows(R) XP Professional Service Pack 2. The Toughbook 51 is also available with a Smart Card reader. Panasonic's Toughbook 51 has a limited 3 year parts and labor warranty.

Toughbook CF-51LCMDDBM
      Intel Pentium(R) M processor 740 1.73GHz, 15" UXGA, 256MB RAM,
      40GB HDD, 64MB VRAM, 56K, 1 gig Ethernet NIC 10/100/1000,
      Intel 802.11a+b+g, COMBO drive, FDD, Windows(R) XP SP2
    Estimated street price $1,499

Panasonic Computer Solutions Company

Panasonic Computer Solutions Company is the leading provider of ruggedized notebook PCs for mobile professionals in the USA. The company is a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan (NYSE: MC), which recorded annual sales of $71.30 billion in its most recently reported fiscal year. Matsushita Electric is one of the only manufacturers today that directly controls the process of design, manufacture and quality assurance of its notebook PCs. Many key components, including LCD panels, Lithium-Ion batteries, DVD and CD-ROM drives, and board-level electronics are the products of its divisions. The products, people and business of Panasonic Computer Solutions Company are entirely dedicated to the needs of the professional user, including Fortune 1000 business and government professionals. Panasonic also supplies mobile computing solutions to over 4,000 police departments in the United States.

Note to Editors:

Intel, Intel Centrino and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other brand and company/product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies. All specifications are subject to change without notice.

Information on Panasonic's full line of notebook PCs for the mobile professional can be obtained by calling 800 662 3537 or at http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook