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The Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 is designed for in the field use and will be available in April.

Panasonic on Tuesday introduced the latest in its line of semi-rugged Toughbook notebook computers. The new Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 will have a starting price of $2,999 and should be available in April.

The Toughbook CF-74, said Panasonic, is built with a magnesium alloy case, integrated handle, spill-resistant keyboard, daylight-readable 13.3" screen and battery life of approximately seven hours. Features, depending upon the configuration, can include the Intel Core Duo Processor T2400, an 80GB shock-mounted hard drive, SDRAM (DDR2) expandable to 4GB, Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2, a DVD-ROM/CD-R/RW combo drive, Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Network Connection and finger print scanner.

"The Toughbook-74 is the ultimate road warrior PC--built from the ground up for mobility," said Rance Poehler, president, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, in a statement. "As one of the world's leading suppliers of batteries, Panasonic continues to push the limits of unplugged computing, setting a new competitive standard with the CF-74. This next-generation business-rugged notebook is a no-compromise solution. It is more rugged than our ultra-light executive notebooks and lighter than our products designed for the most extreme computing environments and situations; yet, the Toughbook-74 incorporates the same engineering principles that make the Toughbook name synonymous with durability and reliability--with the lowest failure rates in the industry."