Panasonic introduces a 20 inch 4K tablet - get ready to take out a second mortgage

By Michael Archambault
last updated

Sometimes size does matter, at least for Panasonic; the company has just introduced a brand new 20 inch 4K tablet running Windows 8.1. The new tablet is under the company’s Toughpad branding and is aimed at bringing a high resolution experience to professional creative types.

The Panasonic Toughpad tablet will be available with expandable RAM up to 8 GB and a solid state drive up to 256 GB. There will be two variations of the tablet, a standard model and a pro model – both will house an Intel Core i5 processor.

While the tablet is sure to be an exciting product, our wallets begin to shake and cry at the $6,000 price tag (and that’s not even the Pro model). If you want to add on the optional digitizer pen, it is going to cost you another $370.

So, will you be diving in, selling your house, and buying the new Panasonic Toughpad?

PS. Panasonic, if you send us a unit for review, please bubble wrap it (seriously, we don’t want to break it).

Source: Engadget

75 Comments
  • That price!!!
  • Bro, its a toughpad. You can drop it, block bullets with it, smack people with it.......
     
    Panasonic is one of the few companies out there that makes apple's stuff look cheap. Their build quality can only be matched by Nokia. But their computers are the choice of military men, oil rig workers, mercenaries, and gun runners everywhere.
  • Damn right!
  • I understand that but still, the price is just really high. I'll be happy to stick to my HTC Flyer. Although I would like a touch screen for my desktop.
  • Actually more like game designer 3d car designers etc artist would use this.....
  • +820 most definitely, Matsushita ( who own Panasonic and Technics ) have the best quality standards ever. ( imho ). Practically all of my A.V setup is either Panasonic or Technics. :)
  • Considering it's a toughpad, it doesn't look that bad.
  • Its a decent price for graphic designers
  • Its obviously for people that make $5k+ in a week or for those who are lucky enought to get their employer to cover the cost.
    Everyone whining about the price needs to realise that its not for normal consumers, just like a $5k+ gaming laptops aren't.
     
  • Is it April fools yet? 
  • Shit that price
  • THIS!!!
  • Wow.. anyone need a kidney?
  • No thanks. However, I'm really diggin Dell's 19" tablet/desktop combo machine.
  • Looks like a big Lumia 920..
  • Does it come in yellow or cyan?
  • And would that be a Microsoft 920?
  • And will it ever get the GDR2/Amber update?
  • not if it's on EE it won't lol
  • Nope, not unless you bought it at TMo.
  • Hell, my wallet shakes and cries at $20
  • I know right I haven't seen 20 bucks for months now
  • Wow.. 6k? Not gonna sell too much I think. It's not the time for 4k yet..
  • This is the exact reason Microsoft needs to manufacture their own products. Companies like this are over pricing win 8 cause people not to buy it creating bad press.
  • Time for 4k was a year ago and time for 8k yeasterday, kind of tyred waiting for new technology for 10 years after it is invented and by that time its old news.
  • Damn thats expensive - when i saw these being shown off earlier in the year i was thinking 3K tops but 6K is ridiculous for the base model.
  • Who the hell is Panasonic???? Hell, does anyone even purchase their televisions anymore??
  • Panasonic do currently make the top rated LED, LCD and Plasma televisions
  • I believe they are similar to Elite TVs
  • They are good, no dispute. But I've always preferred Samsung for my home electronics, except for a blu-ray player, which I will get with my X1. But in the end, brand preference comes down to personal tastes. And both of them are rock solid!
  • OK to give you an idea of the quality of Panasonic products the first TV I ever bought was Panasonic in 1978 and it's still works fine and the only part to be replaced was the on/off switch! now on my 5th Panasonic tv and all are still working perfectly.
  • Plasma FTW!!!
    Edit. I have to agree your comment is pure ignorance. Panasonic has consistently made some of the best televisions in the world year after year after year. Do a search online and you'll see why people rave about their televisions.
  • Seriously juvenile comment, I have a Panasonic microwave, one blu ray player, one DVD, and one of their plasma tv's. They also make top notch projectors among many other items. Tablet looks amazing.
  • 4k resolution on a 20inch screen!?! Is that necessary?
  • Probably not needed for regular use, but in the medical field having a very high-res screen would be helpful reading xrays/MRIs/CTs, etc.
  • 6K for a work machine at a graphic art firm is fine. And those are the people that would actually take advantage of a 4K display.
     
    This is not for the consumer.
     
  • 8MB ram 256 SSD and an i5 wont get you far running graphics packages
  • the combination of 8GB RAM and SSD is actually pretty good, at least compared to having 16GB and 1TB regular HDD, you will need an external HDD for archiving though... wonder if you can stick 2 HDDs in there
     
    on a side note, i5 is more than enough for graphics work, the problem arises when there is no graphics card which is wayyyyy more important in their case, that better danm well be in there
  • +1, I hate when OEMs disregard putting in a GPU and then people whine that an i5 is slow when processing graphics (or games for that matter).
     
  • every computer has a graphic card... so it will be there (really didnt understand what you meant by "there is no graphic card".
    but this thing is supposed to have a nvidia graphic card anyway. so its not supposed to suck like if it was an intel videocard. maybe it will be able to be personalized in the end, so you can pay a little more for nvidia or save some money for an intel one. who knows.
  • Not true... Every computer has a graphics chipset onboard, but a graphics card is a separate peripheral, needed to render high end graphics as a dedicated GPU, rather than using the CPU to render. These are cards made by Nvidia and AMD... Intel doesn't make graphics cards, only chipset's. Totally different.
  • Discreet and Integrated are the right terms. Card and chipsets are so yesterday!
  • +6000
  • Well, maybe it shouldn't be spoke about here because member cry about $349 here.
  • .
  • That's just stupid. Lol...
  • I can think of a lot better things to spend $6000 on
  • Toshiba also released an 8 inch Windows tablet: http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2013/09/05/...
  • You know what kind of PC I can build at that price and still have money left over to by a car? Holy crap!
  • not one that can go into a war zone :P
  • The price l......
  • I can think of a lot of other things to buy for $6000.
  • It looks cool, but Wacom also has a Windows 8 tablet now. I'm also not confident about how good this will be for creative. It's 4k resolution, but is there a string enough graphics card? Or is it just the integrated graphics?
  • Too bad Frank Loyd Wright is dead, obviously a device he would love.
  • Will I sell my house for it NO ,but kids YES lol (don't have any)
  • Do they accept buttons and belly button lint, or Nuka bottle caps as payment
  • The price is like that because it's 4K. That price will drop in 6 months.
  • 4k is relatively new so wait a while and prices will begin to drop as more 4k devices make there way to the market. Remember Plasma TV's were like $10,000 when the first came out.
  • Agreed, but unless 4k gets very close to the 1080p price point, I think it will be a niche thing and doomed to fail. Don't DVDs still outsell blurays?
  • Maybe they do, but that is probably because most people don't have an HDTV yet anyway, and those who have an HDTV but watch DVDs on it are the other ignorant fools.
     
  • We watch DVDs on our HDTV, because that's what's in the Xbox. Haven't bothered with Blu-Ray yet, because we haven't saw the need to rebuy all our movies. Guess that makes me an ignorant fool. Tevs.
  • Um, no.
  • um its a toughbook, the toughbook line has always been expensive because they are built to militar ygrade and can usually be run over by a hummer without a scratch on the screen.  Thats why its expensive.
  • No its the 4K display that makes it that expensive. It probably doesn't hurt being in that line, but I would estimate 90% of that price is the display being 4K resolution.
  • Nobody uses the word tablet after the screen size is >12"
  • I can remember when high-end PCs always cost that much.
  • SECONDED!!!
  • If anyone's seen Ventrilo Harassment - Over 9000 and seen the cacophony of destruction after Vegeta does the "9000" bit, the "what the---" moment was my reaction to the price.
  • 4k for $4k seems reasonable right now! Year from now it should not cost more than $400.00.
  • I'll. Take 2
  • Couldn't they have come up with a digitizer pen that wasn't shaped like a pre-schooler's fat crayon? But it's industrial strength, so you can probably use it to jack up your car and change the tire.
  • Shut up whiny peasants! This is the tool for pros with a pro price tag. It is not a tablet for you to take on a train to watch YouTube videos.
  • Holy motha fucka!!!! Sorry guys! :D
  • I thought Panasonic were losing money, and then they make this.
  • The military market and friends would buy several of these and they would be profitable again. That is how much the profit margin for this product really is. Hahaha