Panasonic has made a real business out of its ToughBook line, now offering the new CF-U1 model. The MIL-STD ruggedized UMPC weighs in at 2.3 lbs. and features Intel’s new Atom CPU clocked at 1.33GHz. Its also rather packed with a 1D and 2D barcode scanner, 5.6″ 1024×600 touchscreen LCD display, a backlit keyboard, 2MP camera, options for 16GB or 32GB SSD, an optional fingerprint scanner, optional 3G and GPS, and a claimed 9 hour battery life with dual hot-swappable modules. It ships with Vista Business Edition (downgradeable to XP Pro for a fee), but if that sounds like the shiz to you, it can all be yours for a mere US$2,500.

written by Tyler Regas