The Semi-Rugged Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55
Panasonic’s newest semi-rugged laptop, the Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55, was released in September 2019. It was designed to fill the void left by the discontinuation of the Toughbook CF-54.
This laptop was the first to feature Panasonic’s new xPAK expansion slot system. To date, the FZ-55 and the FZ-40 are the only laptops so far to feature these new upgrade slots.
FZ-55 Toughbooks: Design and Durability
The biggest design element of Panasonic's new line of rugged laptops: user upgradability. Their goal was to make Toughbook upgrades as easy as possible for anyone.
That’s where the xPAK upgrade slots come into play. Here’s the whole list of xPAK upgrades with different options for each slot:
Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55 xPAKs
- Rear Expansion Area xPAK's (Screws)
- VGA + Serial (True) + USB-A
- VGA + Serial (True) + LAN
- VGA + Serial (True) + Rugged Fischer USB
- LAN + Fischer USB x2
- Display Port + USB A + Serial
- Front Expansion Area (Quick-Release)
- Fingerprint (MSFT SC-PC)
- Fingerprint (Active Dir)
- Contactless Smart Card
- Insertable Smart Card
- 2nd Battery
- Universal Expansion Area xPAK's (Quick-Release)
- DVD Drive
- Blu-ray Drive
- Insertable Smart Card
- Secondary Solid State Drive
- dGPU
The Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55 has a MIL-STD-810H certification. These Toughbooks have passed rigorous testing. Trust us when we say we’ve tested it too. They are resistant to 3-feet drops, bench handling, vibration, dust, extreme temperatures, and more.
They may not be as dust and water-resistant as the FZ-40. But for a semi-rugged laptop, they boast a respectable Ingress Protection rating of IP53.
This semi-rugged laptop includes an 82-key spill-resistant emissive backlit keyboard. It features keyboard icons for things like the caps lock, number lock, scroll lock, and keyboard backlight. There is also a selectable color RGB backlight with four adjustable light levels.
Panasonic took a couple of steps in focusing on protecting this Toughbook’s screen. They raised the bezel around the LCD for greater impact protection for the screen.
Then, they included a screen protector to assist in protecting the screen from scratches. Similar to one that you would put on your phone, but more durable.
With the touch model of the semi-rugged FZ-55, there is a stylus pen, a stylus holder, and a tether. The touchscreen also comes with four different touch modes. Those modes include a glove, touch, pen, and pen/touch.
Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55 Extreme Performance Options
The latest semi-rugged laptop from Panasonic can come with one of two types of processors. The processor in the FZ-55 Toughbooks can be an Intel Core i5 or an Intel Core i7; there are no Intel i3 model FZ-55's. This semi-rugged laptop comes with DDR4 RAM to go with these processor options. It comes standard with 16GB but can be upgraded to 64GB of RAM at the most.
In terms of hard drives, you have the option to have two SSDs in the FZ-55. With the primary hard drive, you can have either a 512 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB NVMe SSD.
The second hard drive can take its place in one of the xPAK slots. The SSD features a quick-release functionality and comes with a heater for low temps.
Panasonic ToughbookFZ-55: The Ideal Semi-Rugged Option
Overall, the Refurbished Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55 is an excellent option for anyone who does not need a fully rugged laptop but still wants a more durable laptop. This laptop will be the perfect workhorse with a powerful processor, plenty of RAM, and more than enough storage.
At Bob Johnson, we employ rigorous refurbishment processes. If you need any help or assistance, you can use our tech support form or call our office at 302-659-2727. Please note that we are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday.