Panasonic Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6)

When he first showed off the Panasonic's Toughpad 4K at CES, we were gobsmacked. Incredible 4K resolution on a big screen! A portable tablet design! It was exciting because the Panasonic Toughpad 4K is not like anything we saw: a large-screen tablet, built with rugged utility business in Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves a bit stymied for many of the same reasons. The Panasonic Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6) ($ 6,999 as tested) is ostensibly made ​​for professionals, but it is a strange product that does not fit neatly into any category with a product.

In a sense, the Toughpad is a business tablet, a giant 20-inch tablet with a gorgeous display 4K resolution. In size, it is probably more of a portable all-in-one desktop PC, but it does not have a built in stand to prop it like a monitor, no keyboard or mouse included. With premium components, the ToughPad 4K Performance can also be considered a workstation PC, although it is not like anything we've seen previously workstation. It is all these things at once. Beyond its business focus, though Panasonic is not sure how it should be categorized, responding to a chuckle and quite telling that "D, all of the above" when asked about it. The Panasonic Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6) has it's own thing, an odd duck that is wonderful, but puzzling.

design
Panasonic will market ToughPad 4K as a portable solution for everything from retail displays to video production, giving users a large display with crystal-clear detail. There are two versions of 4K Toughpad tablet available, the Toughpad 4K Standard (UT-MB5) ($ 5,999 list), and the Toughpad 4K Performance (UT-MA6), which is reviewed here. Our review unit is equipped with a dual-core Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA graphics K1000M, making it as much of a mobile workstation as a simple tablet. That means it is well suited for use as bedside healthcare in hospitals, where the Ultra HD display lends itself well to look at the X-rays and MRIs, or for traveling architect building sites , who want to review or change the details on blueprints, and need to be able to see the big picture.

Measuring 0.5 by 18.7 by 13.1 inches (HWD), the tablet is technically portable, but mobile usage will surely be limited by the size and weight (5.6 pounds). The ratio of the size and weight is actually quite remarkable, given that most 20-inch monitors weigh considerably more, and do not offer the same kind of interaction or hardware processing capabilities. It is also not much heavier than the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (2013) (£ 4.46) or the Toshiba Satellite P50T-BST2N01 (5.1 pounds), despite having a larger screen. Panasonic calls it "the largest tablet in the world," and while there is much truth in the claim, for our purposes, it more closely resembles a portable all-in-one desktop PC, such as the Sony VAIO Tap 21 (SVT21217CXB) or the Lenovo IdeaCentre Flex 20. Granted, these are very different devices, which have significantly different use cases, but the screen size and the semi-portable design offers several analogy.

The large tablet wrapped in layers of fiber glass pinagtagpi looks a lot like carbon fiber. The materials are actually quite similar, although glass fiber is more brittle. Beneath it is a magnesium alloy frame, and Panasonic has built in some of the expected Toughpad ruggedness. The Toughpad 4K is built to handle drops of up to 30 inches (2.5 feet) behind it, and up to 12 inches from any other direction, including face-down into the flow of the display. That ruggedness is important for a 20-inch display that is less toted around, anything and want to risk damaging the display just by setting it down too hard, but that's as far as design goes rugged, no additional protection against damage or the elements.

The 20-inch screen is the real star of the show, boasting a 3,840-by-2, 560 razor-sharp resolution with 230 pixels per inch (ppi), which has 9.83 million pixels, a 15:10 aspect ratio. We 4K displays in other devices such as monitors from Dell UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD UP3214Q laptops, such as Toshiba 4K equipment P50T-BST2N01, but it is particularly impressive, since its both resolution and its size. Toshiba Satellite laptop as P50T-BST2N01 and the Apple MacBook Pro with Retina offers 282ppi and 220ppi, respectively, but make it smaller display. The Apple iPad Air, with its 264ppi actually has a slightly higher pixel density, but the sheer size of the display Panasonic offers almost four times the viewable area.

I tested the display using some of 4K video and a dozen or so giant images with high resolution. The display is really what you pay for the device, and it did not disappoint. Colors are bright and colorful, with a wide gamut, and the viewing angle is superb, allowing excellent visibility from almost any direction. While the 20-inch display is too big for regular use tablet, it is uniquely suited to serving as a portable presentation device, with Panasonic's In-Plane Switching (IP) display technology offers Alpha nearly 180 degrees of crystal-clear viewing from any angle, both horizontally and vertically. The screen has a 15:10 aspect ratio, which is proportioned so that it can display large-format documents (11-by-17-inch), such as blueprints and schematics, nearly full-size. Offer display The 10-point touch functionality, but also supports optional Panasonic's Toughpad stylus pen ($ 260).