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2019 Speed Demon Top 10: Rugged Tablets

Performance matters. And here are the fastest rugged tablets to ever make it through RuggedPCReview's benchmark testing
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

By and large, performance matters in computers as much as it does in vehicles and a lot of other machinery and items we use in our daily lives. Performance, of course, isn't everything. Unless you're a race car driver and need so and so much performance to be competitive, the extra cost of the highest possible performance is a luxury rather than a necessity. What it boils down to is getting as much performance as is needed. Or, depending on the application, perhaps a bit more than is needed, as long as there's still an acceptable balance between cost and performance.

With mobile computers, there must always be a balance between performance, cost, battery life, and size and weight. Some devices are designed to be as affordable as possible and exactly powerful enough to do the job. Others are designed to handle much more demanding jobs, or they are designed to handle whatever may come their way. The latter cost more and may also be bigger and weigh more (though not necessarily).

So on this page we're listing the "speed demons" among the rugged tablets we've tested over the past several years. Many hundreds of devices make it through the RuggedPCReview.com testing lab, and these are the fastest tablets of them all. We can't actually say "all" as we cannot possibly test every major rugged tablet on the market (or the manufacturers have not sent us their products for testing). Getac, for example, alerted us that their F110 and V110 rugged tablets are now available with 8th gen "Kaby Lake Refresh" processors. Those two products would doubtlessly perform well, but we haven't had a chance to benchmark them yet. So, again, there's a standing invitation to all manufacturers to submit their latest and greatest for benchmark testing.

The Top 10 listings with gold, silver and bronze honors below are as of the end of December 2019. We'll update them as new speed demons come along. And note that making it into the Top 10 is pretty excellent; we're testing A LOT of tablets.

PassMark Overall — Every Windows-based rugged device that comes to RuggedPCReview's lab for detailed testing must pass Passmark Software's PerformanceTest v6.1 software that includes about 30 tests covering CPU, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, memory, and disk and then computes scores for each category and an overall PassMark score. Since benchmark software changes all the time, we've standardized on version 6.1 so as to make scores as comparable as possible (the problem with this approach, of course, is that old tests may not be able to pick up performance enhancements they may not be able to detect or measure). Each machine runs through the full benchmark suite three times, with the best overall result used for publication.

RuggedPCReview Lab: Top 10 Tablets PASSMARK OVERALL
Rank Company Model Year OVERALL PASSMARK Chip Class Chip Model
1 DT Research DT301X 2019 6,233.4 Intel Core i7 8550U
2 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2019 5,979.5 Intel Core i7 8665U
3 Zebra xSlate L10 2018 5,962.9 Intel Core i7 8650U
4 MobileDemand xTablet T1270 2018 5,094.8 Intel Core i7 7500U
5 MobileDemand xTablet T1680 2019 5,002.0 Intel Core i7 8550U
6 DT Research DT340T 2019 4,381.6 Intel Core i7 8550U
7 Zebra xSlate R12 2017 3,978.3 Intel Core i7 7600U
8 Zebra iX104 XC6 2014 3,081.7 Intel Core i5 4300U
9 Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet 2017 3,028.8 Intel Core i5 7300U
10 Winmate M133K 2019 2,506.5 Intel Core i5 7200U
7 Zebra xSlate B10 2015 2,364.7 Intel Core i5 5350U

PassMark CPU — CPU type, clock speed and expected performance play a bit role in many purchasing decisions, especially with Intel marketing their i3/i5/i7 Core processors as "good/better/best." For the most part, however, there is often not much of a difference between i5 and i7 chips (with i3 chips there is, because they do not have the "turbo" mode) and it's just a matter whether certain features available only in a higher end chip are actually needed. Of much greater importance for performance is the thermal design power (TDP) of a processor. If the chip is allowed to draw more wattage, it will be more powerful. Mobile system designers, therefore, must decide what tradeoff between speed and battery power is optimal for their clients' use and applications.

RuggedPCReview Lab: Top 10 Tablets PASSMARK CPU
Rank Company Model Year PASSMARK CPU Chip Class Chip Model
1 Zebra xSlate L10 2018 10,289.7 Intel Core i7 8650U
2 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2019 9,925.1 Intel Core i7 8665U
3 MobileDemand T1680 2019 8,519.0 Intel Core i7 8550U
4 DT Research DT301X 2019 8,182.9 Intel Core i7 8550U
5 DT Research DT340T 2019 6,441.3 Intel Core i5 8550U
6 MobileDemand T1270 2018 5,352.7 Intel Core i7 7500U
7 Trimble Yuma 7 2019 5,275.0 Intel Pentium N4200
8 Trimble Ranger 7 2019 5,264.9 Intel Pentium N4200
9 RuggON PC601 2018 5,259.7 Intel Core i5 7300U
10 Dell Tablet Extreme 2017 5,245.9 Intel Core i5 7300U

Of note here is the excellent CPU scores of tablets equipped with Intel 8th generation "Kaby Lake Refresh" processors. That's because those CPUs are quad-core deigns in contrast to earlier generation Core processors with dual-core configurations. Also of interest the excellent performance of the two Trimble tablets with their Pentium N4200 processors.

PassMark Disk — PassMark's disk test benchmark runs a variety of tests exercising a tablet's mass storage subsystem. Most people think that CPU performance and clock speed is most important when assessing a tablet's overall speed. While CPU certainly matters, the type and performance of the mass storage subsystem is as important and often more so. Rotating disks are much slower than solid speed storage, and have virtually vanished from rugged tablets (none of the current top 10 tablets still had one). Do note that there are significant performance differences between different types and makes of solid state disks. Finally, there is a large performance difference between older SATA and newer PCIe NVMe solid state disks. Depending on the application, using a PCIe NVMe SSD may have a larger impact on overall performance than even the processor.

RuggedPCReview Lab: Top 10 Tablets PASSMARK DISK
Rank Company Model Year PASSMARK DISK Disk Interface Disk Model
1 DT Research DT301X 2019 17,808.6 PCIe Samsung NVMe MZVLB512
2 MobileDemand xTablet T1270 2018 15,429.8 PCIe Samsung NVMe 960PRO
3 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2019 13,505.2 PCIe Unknown PCIe NVMe
4 Zebra xSlate L10 2018 12,791.2 PCIe SanDisk SD9SN8W512G
5 DT Research DT340T 2019 11,386.2 PCIe Samsung MZVLB1T0HALR
6 MobileDemand T1680 2019 10,633.7 PCIe Unknown PCIe NVMe
7 Zebra xSlate R12 2017 10,230.9 PCIe SanDisk SD8SN8U256G1122
8 Zebra iX104 XC6 2014 8,780.7 SATA Toshiba THNSNH128GMCT
9 Dell Tablet Extreme 2017 5,980.5 SATA Unknown SATA/600 SSD
10 Zebra xSlate B10 2015 4,946.9 SATA Toshiba THNSNJ128GMCU

Note the huge difference in performance between older SATA-based solid state disks and the newer PCIe NVMe-based designs! Test machines with PCIe-based SSDs were so much faster than SATA-based units that we cannot see a single reasons why any manufacturer would stay with ATA. Since PCIe NVMe solid state disks can use the same M.2 interface as SATA SSDs, and since the price difference between SATA and PCIe NVMe is not very large, we definitely recommend going with PCIe NVMe solid state storage on performance tablets!

PassMark 2D Graphics — PassMark's 2D test suite measures the speed at which lines, rectangles, shapes, fonts and text, and graphical user interface elements are drawn and handled. A high bottomline score in the 2D graphics tests generally means that the device is pleasant to use because the graphical user interface is quick and responsive and doesn't lag behind.

RuggedPCReview Lab: Top 10 Tablets PASSMARK 2D GRAPHICS
Rank Company Model Year PASSMARK 2D CPU Graphics
1 Zebra xSlate R12 2017 646.9 Core i7-7500U Intel HD Graphics 620
2 Getac F110 2015 514.7 Core i7-5500U Intel HD Graphics 5500
3 MobileDemand T1270 2018 496.9 Core i7-7500U Intel HD Graphics 620
4 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2019 490.7 Core i7-8665U Inel UHD Graphics 620
5 DT Research DT301 2016 473.4 Core i7-6500U Intel HD Graphics 520
6 DT Research DT311 2016 468.6 Core i7-5500U Intel HD Graphics 5500
7 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2017 454.7 Core i5-7300U Intel HD Graphics 5300
8 Durabook Americas R11 2016 423.7 Core i5-5200U Intel HD Graphics 5500
9 Zebra xSlate L10 2018 423.2 Core i7-8650U Intel UHD Graphics 620
10 DT Research DT301X 2019 419.3 Core i7-8550U Intel UHD Graphics 620

What baffles here is the lack of 2D performance progress in tablets equipped with Intel's latest Core processors. The highest performing 2019 tablet didn't even crack the top three. An older version of the Getac F110 we tested four years ago (!) remains in second place. Are Intel integrated graphics performing that poorly, or is it perhaps a benchmark issue?

PassMark 3D Graphics — Passmark 3D graphics tests measure how well the system handles 3-dimensional shapes and their manipulation. 3D graphics exercise different parts and features of a computer's graphics subsystem. Considerable processing power and optimized algorithms are required for smooth 3D manipulation and, especially, frame rates sufficient for a given task. Note that this is an area where discrete graphics subsystems still have a significant advantage over Intel's integrated graphics.

RuggedPCReview Lab: Top 10 Tablets PASSMARK 3D GRAPHICS
Rank Company Model Year PASSMARK 3D CPU Graphics
1 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2019 810.4 Core i7-8665U Intel UHD Graphics 620
2 Zebra xSlate L10 2018 805.9 Core i7-8650U Intel UHD Graphics 620
3 MobileDemand T1680 2019 775.1 Core i7-8550U Intel UHD Graphics 620
4 DT Research DT340T 2019 703.6 Core i7-8550U Intel UHD Graphics 620
5 MobileDemand xTablet T1280 2018 686.7 Core i5-7500U Intel HD Graphics 620
6 Zebra xSlate R12 2017 598.6 Core i7-7500U Intel HD Graphics 620
7 DT Research DT311 2016 545.2 Core i7-5500U Intel HD Graphics 5500
8 RuggON PX501 2018 518.8 Core i7-7300U Intel HD Graphics 5300
9 Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet 2017 496.5 Core i7-7300U Intel HD Graphics 5300
10 DT Research DT301 2016 468.9 Core i7-6500U Intel HD Graphics 520

PassMark CrystalMark Overall — In addition to PassMark, we always run the CrystalMark benchmark suite on every machine that passes through our lab. Although CrystalMark is old, we use CrystalMark as a crosscheck to PassMark, as an indicator of single core performance, and also to get a better idea of particular strengths and weaknesses of a given system. CrystalMark, for example, produces separate results for ALU (arithmetic logic unit) and FPU (floating point unit), and also breaks down graphics performance into the GDI Microsoft Windows API, the 2D2 Windows 2D graphics API, and the OGL Open Graphics Library API.

RuggedPCReview Lab: Top 10 Tablets CRYSTALMARK OVERALL
Rank Company Model Year OVERALL CRYSTALMARK Chip Class Chip Model
1 Dell 7220 Rugged Extreme 2019 332,183 Intel Core i7 8665U
2 DT Research DT340T 2019 324,314 Intel Core i7 8550U
3 DT Research DT301X 2019 311,547 Intel Core i7 8550U
4 MobileDemand xTablet T1270 2018 274,281 Intel Core i7 7500U
5 MobileDemand xTablet T1680 2019 260,918 Intel Core i7 8550U
6 Dell Rugged Extreme 2017 252,851 Intel Core i5 7300U
7 Zebra xSlate R12 2017 250,548 Intel Core i7 5500U
8 DT Research DT301 2016 227,789 Intel Core i5 4300U
9 Zebra xSlate L10 2018 226,276 Intel Core i7 8650U
10 RuggON PX501 2016 222,361 Intel Core i5 7300U