Rugged design gets very portable with the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 ($2,899 as tested), a compact, 7-inch tablet that's tough enough to survive nasty weather, harsh conditions, and the most violent accidents, all while being small enough to slip into a coat pocket. With an Intel Core i5-4302Y processor and a variety of add-on modules and function-expanding accessories, the Toughpad FZ-M1 is a versatile little device that's built to survive the worst. While it doesn't have the performance chops or long battery life to replace the larger Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 as our Editors' Choice rugged tablet, it's still a potent little system.
Design
The Toughpad FZ-M1( at Amazon) is has the same rugged features seen on the larger Panasonic FZ-G1, such as a magnesium-alloy chassis, rubber bumpers, and sealed port covers that keep out dirt and moisture. The standard model measures just 0.71 by 7.98 by 5.2 inches (HWD) and 1.3 pounds, though our review unit came with two additional modules attached (a magnetic stripe reader and laser barcode reader) adding an extra 0.58-inch in thickness and only a few ounces of weight. It meets MIL-STD-810G and IP65 specifications, for protection against all sorts of hazards, from extremes in temperature and elevation, to water, dust, and more.
The 7-inch touch display supports not 
just fingertips, but also gloved hands or a stylus (not included), thanks to a resistive multitouch sensor. Unlike the average 32-bit tablet with five-finger touch capability, the Toughpad FZ-M1 has 10-finger tracking. The 1,280-by-800 pixel resolution isn't spectacular, but it's typical—the Dell Venue 8 Pro($369.00 at Amazon) has the same resolution on its 8-inch display—and the small size of the screen helps mitigate the low-resolution, keeping text readable, and making icons usable without scaling. It's designed for use indoors and out, with a sunlight-viewable display that has a special polarizing film.
An on-screen keyboard is your primary method of inputting text and numbers, but there are also six physical buttons. Four of them have set functions for Power, Screen Rotation Lock, Volume Up/Down; the other two are user-definable buttons. An integrated speaker offers some audio support, but the quality is poor, with thin sound that gets tinny at high volume, and the volume is fairly low overall.
Similar Products
Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1
Getac F110 (2015)
Xplore Bobcat
Features
There's a single USB 3.0 port, a headset jack, and a power connector, each tucked behind protective port covers. On the bottom is a docking port. All models also come with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless connectivity. The 22-watt lithium-ion battery can be removed, and inside the battery compartment is another port cover, protecting two slim card slots, on for MicroSD storage, and a second for a microSIM card for optional 4G LTE. Our review unit included a second, optional bridge battery that provides enough juice to enable hot-swapping battery packs—switching between a dying battery and a freshly charged one without shutting down the system.
The tablet may not have many ports, but it is available with a wide variety of accessories and modules that add extra functionality. Our review unit is configured with a laser barcode scanner and a magnetic stripe reader, which add $800 to the base price of $2,099. There are several factory-installed modules that can be selected for the Toughpad FZ-M1, including specialized readers, additional ports, and options for data and GPS. These different module options include a SmartCard reader, an NFC reader, an RFID tag reader, wired LAN, a true Serial port for interfacing with legacy devices, a second USB port, a dedicated GPS (Ublox Neo M8 series), and an optional antenna pass-through for WWAN and GPS. There are also a variety of hand straps, docks (both for desktop and in vehicle), and other accessories available.
Even without these extras, the 
Toughpad FZ-M1 boasts a healthy assortment of security and management features, from Intel's vPro and Anti-Theft technology to embedded trusted platform module (TPM) and Computrace BIOS-level theft protection. Our model came equipped with a 128GB solid-state drive, but for another $500, you can upgrade to a 256GB option. Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit) came preinstalled, though downgrade rights make Windows 7 Pro available as well, along with a few specific utilities and drivers, but nothing spurious has been added. Panasonic covers the tablet with a three-year warranty and business-class support.
Performance
The Toughpad FZ-M1 is equipped with an Intel Core i5-4302Y processor, a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU that offers the same performance and Hyper-Threading capabilities of standard Core processors, but is built to be energy-efficient and is tailor-made for fanless tablet designs. This lets Panasonic offer the tiny tablet with Core-level performance, significantly outpacing the Intel Atom processors offered in competing small tablets, like the Xplore Bobcat, which boasts an Intel Atom E3845 processor.
Pairing that Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM means that the Toughpad FZ-M1 offers better performance than its Atom-equipped competitor. In PCMark 8 Work Conventional, the tablet scored 1,470 points, pulling ahead of the Xplore Bobcat (1,183 points). In processor-intensive tests, like Handbrake, the performance gap was even greater; the Panasonic tablet finished in 5 minutes 52 seconds, while the Xplore Bobcat was much slower at 12:56. However, the Xplore XC6, which boasts a Core i7 processor, was considerably faster, completing the same Handbrake test in 3:08.
The system has its limitations. In Photoshop, for example, the limits of touch controls made it impossible to even run the test. With only 1,280-by-800 pixel resolution, the display didn't properly support our two gaming tests (Heaven and Valley), but we were able to run both 3DMark tests. In CloudGate (our moderate test) the tablet scored 603 points; it only garnered 33 points in Fire Strike (our extreme test). Both the Xplore Bobcat and the Xplore XC6 Rugged Tablet did better in 3DMark CloudGate, scoring 1,464 points and 4,371 points, respectively. Neither could run FireStrike, but the Panasonic tablet's paltry score doesn't really indicate superior performance. Generally speaking, this small tablet isn't suited to graphics-heavy tasks.
The Toughpad FZ-M1 lasted just 5 hours 4 minutes on our battery rundown test. Of the various rugged tablets we've reviewed in the last year, this ranks at the bottom. The larger Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 lasted longer (6:06), as did the Getac F110( at Amazon) (7:38) and the Xplore XC6 (7:56). For even better longevity, the Xplore Bobcat (6:07) added a second battery (a $189 extra), stretching its usable battery life to 10:02, nearly twice as long as the Toughpad FZ-M1.
Conclusion
With its Intel Core i5-4302Y processor, the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 offers significantly better performance than Atom-based counterparts. Its small size makes it easier to tote around, whether you're carrying it from house to house checking gas meters or accessing real-time data in a war zone. The broad array of modules and accessories that can be added to the tablet offer a robust variety of functions and uses. Compared with larger rugged tablets, however, its Y-Series processor doesn't have a lot of oomph, and the battery life is a bit short. The battery issue is solved in part by the option for a hot-swappable battery, but it's an added expense. For a fuller PC computing experience, the larger Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 remains our top pick, thanks to its superior performance and longer lasting battery.
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 is tough as nails and built like a tank, but this rugged tablet is small enough to fit in a coat pocket.
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