back to article Panasonic whips out MONSTER fondleslab for serious S&M sessions

Panasonic’s monster tablet – an 18-inch big boy with a 4K Ultra HD display – will come to market in November, the Japanese colossus has promised. The price? A beefy £3,335. The tablet now known as the Toughpad 4K UT-MB5 was first shown off, kind of, in January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Panasonic said it would “ …

COMMENTS

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  1. JDX Gold badge

    Niche but cool

    I can see some uses for this, in specific situations. I even sure a MS Surface (the table not the tablet) used in a restaurant recently.

    In my field - medical visualisation - I could definitely use one of these. Maybe I'll have to try and get a demo unit ;)

    1. Professor Clifton Shallot

      Re: Niche but cool

      "I even sure a MS Surface (the table not the tablet) used in a restaurant recently."

      Surface was very impressive when it first, um, surfaced - and my first thought for this megatablet was that it might make a good coffee table. Install an emulator, connect a joystick and run Moon Cresta or whatever and for only way too much money you've got that 80s seaside cafe experience back again (with better coffee but smaller Wagon Wheels).

      1. qwarty

        Re: Niche but cool

        2.4kg and 18" is portable enough for me, fits into a shoulder bag so handy enough when away from base so long as carrying a smaller tablet too. No reason not to get prices down to close to AIO levels in which case an easy purchase for me, shame no manufacturer has the confidence yet to launch something non-niche.

  2. Pen-y-gors

    It won't last long

    if they use whiteboard markers on it (as in the piccie) - flipchart paper is a lot cheaper.

    1. andreas koch
      Coat

      @ Pen-y-Gors - Re: It won't last long

      Panasonic makes whiteboard markers? Or do we need glasses?

      ;-)

      Friday!

  3. Tim Roberts 1

    S&M

    You'd have to be an "S" to buy one for someone else and an "M" to buy one for yourself .....

    1. frank ly

      Re: S&M

      I'll wait for the M&S version - cheap and bland but does the job.

  4. Elmer Phud

    I still expect some dickhead to whip one out the tube home.

    1. John Bailey
      Happy

      To take a picture of his sandwich?

  5. Mystic Megabyte
    Flame

    Someone has to say it

    It was all sounding good until the Win8 part.

    In view of latest revelations you have to assume that this device is compromised.

    So unless your presentation is for the latest range of cat litter trays you would be better off with pen , pencil and an open fireplace in which to burn your plans.

    Is it just me or is that the main objective of the NSA industrial espionage and blackmail?

    You cannot object because that makes you a supporter of terrorism.

    1. Shrimpling

      Re: Someone has to say it

      If you are worried about the NSA having a back door in to your system then stop using all computers connected to the internet.

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Someone has to say it

      It'll be really annoying to have a tablet that I can run all my existing applications on.

      1. qwarty

        Re: Someone has to say it

        Even worse, a computer that can be used for software development, how annoying is that,

  6. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    Pros & Cons

    On the plus side, we have a device that has a decent screen resolution at last!

    On the minus side way to expensive.

    I can't see CAD folk using this without a mouse and keyboard, in which case it is not really that attractive compared to a powerful desktop with 2 * 30" monitors, which is about the same price.

    1. Eradicate all BB entrants

      Re: Pros & Cons

      Or a powerful desktop with the addition of a Wacom Cintiq.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pros & Cons

      Computer Aided Design doesn't just refer to modelling and drafting, but to collaboration too. This is could be a useful, albeit niche, bit of kit for discussing and marking up changes to a design.

    3. Tom 38

      Re: Pros & Cons

      I cant see a CAD driver wanting this, but I could see his engineer using it to check and sign off drawings.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Pros & Cons

        I can see an illustrator, graphics designer, painter or photographer (of digital kind) wanting this.

        In fact, if I had this much pocket money lying around, it might be ideal Christmas gift for the missus. Oh, and the home office where to keep it.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pros & Cons

      If i recall correctly, Argos were selling a 24" Android fondle slab for £350 around Xmas last year. Can't see the point of a £3.5K with an 18" screen. Does android run wine?

  7. BorkedAgain

    Could also be really handy for some unrealistic adverts in which a cute poppet uses it to create finger-painting-style "art" for her doting-but-distant Daddy.

    'cos the first thing I'd do with a £3.3k monster like this would be prop it up on an easel and release the toddlers...

  8. A Known Coward

    Photographers

    Panasonic have been touting this as far back as January to the professional and enthusiast photographic communities for viewing and post-processing their work. They seem to think that there is a market there and they've designed it to be powerful enough to run Lightroom and Photoshop which is certainly also the reason why it runs Windows and not Linux.

    I'm not sure where this presentation stuff is coming from, maybe some last minute nerves from the marketing team, as it was made clear early on that Photographer/CAD Users/Artists etc were the target market. I believe it offers full size usb ports so that a mouse can be used.

  9. Buzzword

    Close but no cigar

    What CAD users really want is a giant touchscreen that can tilt from 0° to 90° and everything in between, just like a traditional architects drafting table. Something like the Samsung SC770, only more rugged and able to withstand coffee spills and bashes from claw-handed engineers.

  10. Andrew Garrard

    Could be worse...

    Well, it's cheaper than the T221 was, and it's only taken twelve years (I think) to get a higher resolution display than the one sitting in my study. I second the Cintiq comment - as a graphics tablet, great idea. As a content consumption device with finger input? Not so much.

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