Today, Panasonic added three new business-rugged notebooks to their Toughbook laptop line: the CF-W5, the CF-T5, and CF-Y5. These new next generation models are designed for maximum reliability and durability courtesy of magnesium-alloy bodies and shock-mounted hard drives, but with a new, lightweight design.

The Panasonic Toughbook CF-W5 ($1,899) is a 10.6 x 8.3 x 1.8-inch, 3.1-pound ultraportable sporting a 12.1-inch anti-glare LCD, 60GB hard drive, low voltage Intel Core Solo processor. Panasonic is claiming more than eight hours of battery life. The 10.6 x 8.3 x 2.7-inch CF-T5 ($1,899) looks like a traditional notebook but with a touch sensitive 12.1-inch LCD, image rotation software, a 60GB hard drive, weighs 3.5 pounds, and has an impressive ten hour battery life. The CF-Y5 ($2,199) attempts to replicate the desktop experience with a 14.1-inch display, six hours of juice, Bluetooth, and an integrated DVD/CD-RW optical drive while maintaining 3.5-lbs. All three models have RAM expandable to 1.5GB.

All three models incorporate a "wireless-ready" design that allows users to purchase, or upgrade to, high-speed broadband connections from the major wireless carriers. The notebooks will ship with optional radio modems to access Sprint and Verizon's EV-DO networks or Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA.

The CF-W5 and CF-T5 will be available in October, with the CF-Y5 arriving in December.
 

Price: CF-W5 and CF-T5 ($1,899); CF-Y5 ($2,199)