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It's June 2024 and Panasonic wants you to buy an ultraportable laptop with a round touchpad: let's keep in mind that it has a 14th generation Intel Core Ultra CPU, 5G connectivity but also a 1987 VGA and a LAN port.

It's June 2024 and Panasonic wants you to buy an ultraportable laptop with a round touchpad: let's keep in mind that it has a 14th generation Intel Core Ultra CPU, 5G connectivity but also a 1987 VGA and a LAN port.

Anyone looking for the best laptop or business laptop will probably have come across some of Panasonic's expert-designed models, including the Let's Note series, which is extremely popular in Japan.

The last time we saw the Panasonic Let's Note was in 2023, specifically the Let's Note SR 12.4, which launched in October 2023 with many very interesting features, in particular a circular trackpad that breaks many of the conventions of Western laptop designs .

And now Panasonic is introducing a new update (Japanese website) to the iconic Let's Note line, taking it straight to 2024.

(Image credit: Panasonic)

New cards, new colors, same circular trackpad

The new models, called Let's Note FV5, Let's Note SR4 and Let's Note QR4, will be available from June 14 in Japan and will cost around £1,500 (or $1,900).

Availability outside of Japan is usually very limited, especially for new models. However, older models appear on eBay and other third-party sellers, although the default version of Windows 11 is in Japanese.

All Let's Note models come with Windows 11 Pro as standard, something you would expect from a business-focused device. In terms of design, Panasonic has retained the square chassis and circular trackpad that make the laptop so iconic.

Inside the device, everything has been updated: all models get the new Intel Core Ultra 7 processors (except the low-end model, which gets Core Ultra 5) and the included Intel Arc GPU. Users can choose between 16GB and 32GB of RAM, and there are 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB SSD configurations.

Panasonic has retained the 14-inch 2160 x 1440 resolution display for all models and as such the weight of the laptops is kept relatively low at around 1.1kg. There's also Wi-Fi 6E, a nano SIM card slot, and an SD card slot, which are nice additions to our MacBook-dominated lives. 5G connectivity is also available for the ride.

The company says users can expect battery life of around nine hours of typical use, which is pretty good, and given that most users are likely to use a Let's Note in the office and occasionally in a car or on a train, that is. It's probably enough. Battery life varies depending on each model and their respective CPU and GPU versions.

As a final touch, Panasonic is also launching two new colors: Floral Gold and Matte Violet, to complement the old, very professional gray color.

In Japan, Panasonic is offering a variety of discounts (Japanese website) at launch, offering cash discounts to those who complete a questionnaire and discounts on the price of Microsoft Office.