Since mobile computers in this class spend a lot of time on the road and away from electrical outlets, the V200 has a very powerful 90 watt-hour battery. Manufacturers often configure such notebooks with low-power processors to stretch battery life, but Getac gave the V200 a muscular 2GHz Intel Core i7-640LM CPU. More on that later.

On the display side, the V200 has a nicely-sized wide format 12.1-inch LCD with an exceptionally bright LED backlight. It can be boosted up to a stunningly bright 1,200 nits. That's compared to about 200 nits in a standard consumer notebook. Getac offers the V200 with either a pressure sensitive touch screen, a multi-touch screen that can be operated even with gloves on, and also a dual mode touchscreen that combines pressure sensitivity with an active digitizer. Our review unit came with Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, and Getac offers numerous configurations and options.

Overall, the V200 is a niche/combination product that addresses multiple needs. It offers ruggedness, fairly small size, the touch screen, and the ability to use it as a tablet.

Like the V100, the Getac V200 is a ruggedly handsome device. Its case is made of magnesium alloy with hardened plastics along the edges and small rubber bumpers in the corners for extra impact protection. The plastic parts are black, the magnesium alloy finished in a military-style dark gray. Form very much follows function on this machine. Small black Philips screws are left visible, structural elements likewise, and it all comes together in a design that exudes toughness and purpose but also looks good enough to win design awards. Getac did an excellent job here.

Good industrial design also means attention to detail, ergonomics, ease of use, and applying common sense, and of that the V200 displays plenty.

An example is the V200's cover latch. Most rugged notebooks have some sort of latch or mechanism that makes sure they doesn't open inadvertently. That can be done via springloaded latches, levers, snaps, guides or bolts. With a convertible notebook it gets more complicated because you need to be able to secure the display whether it faces up or down. Here. Getac used a very clever tension-loaded latch that, once secured, reliably keeps the LCD lid in place. The latch works the same way whether the screen is facing up or down. Securing the latch is a manual operation; it doesn't just happen automatically. That's good because sometimes you may not want the lid to be secured, like when you need to open and close it frequently or when you wear gloves that would make it difficult to operate a small latch or release.

Getac also did a nice job protecting the V200's ports and connectors. Many rugged devices use a single door to cover a whole bank of connectors. That makes little sense as you often need just one, so why expose the rest? The V200 has separate rubber/plastic covers for almost every port. An ear on top serves to open a cover. To close one you push it in and friction keeps it in place. Each is clearly marked with a large white icon. Should one break or rip off, it is easily replaced. Just undo two Philips screws to take the old one off and replace it.

Next on the list of well-designed details is the rotating display hinge. The hinge needs to be tough and sturdy, and it is. But it also needs to solve a vexing characteristic of this sort of hinge: if you use a pen or stylus to navigate or tap the display while the computer is used as a notebook, the display must not flex back or else using the pen becomes an exercise in frustration. Almost all convertible notebooks suffer from that syndrome. The V200 does not. Somehow the Getac designers found a way to make the hinge stiff enough to preclude virtually all flex. A drawback is that you can only turn the hinge counter-clockwise. That means you can't rotate the display so someone sitting to your left has a better view, and often you try rotating the wrong way.

Yet another good design solution is the stylus that comes with the touch screen version of the V200. It telescopes from 2-1/2 to 5 inches, can be tethered to the computer so you don't lose it, and it neatly fits into its own garage below the LCD. That way you can see it and, if it isn't tethered, the likelihood of losing it is much lower.

One area where the V200 has it all over the V100 is the keyboard. That's because the V200's ever-important QWERTY part of the keyboard is 100%-scale, and not just 94%-scale as is the V100's keyboard (that one used to be 100% also, but was changed in a recent revision). Touch typists and even those who hunt-and-peck will be thankful to Getac! We also like the large white letters on black, the excellent tactile feedback, and the clear markings that provided all the necessary information without looking cluttered. We also liked the keyboard backlight. An optional backlit waterproof mechanical membrane or rubber keyboard is available as well.

And below is a look at the V200 from the top and from all four sides:

Note that the V200 has a 2-megapixel camera that's cleverly integrated into the top of the LCD case and can rotate by 225 degrees so you can point it forward or backward (though it's primarily designed this way for easy adjustment while video conferencing). There's a front-facing speaker and five physical pushbuttons. The pushbuttons have the following functions:

• Launch the Getac utility
• Toggle the backlight between full bright and manual/light sensor control
• Turn radios on and off
• Alt-Ctl-Del
• Bring up the onscreen keyboard

Note that screen rotation does not automatically reconfigure the touch pad as well (no biggie as you won't use the touchpad in tablet mode).

The backside (above) has, from left to right, separate audio output and microphone connectors, a USB port, a Kensington lock, and standard VGA and serial connectors.

Above is the left side of the V200, with ports opened. From left to right are the power connector, a USB 2.0 port and a combo USB/eSATA port, RJ11 modem and RJ45 gigabit LAN jacks, and the card slot compartment that can accommodate a PC Type II card and an ExpressCard 34/54 or one PC Card and one Smart Card slot. Below that is a SD Card slot.

The right side provides access to the battery and hard disk compartments. Both of those doors have push levers that can be locked in place so they do not open inadvertently.

Performance

Getac V200 Benchmarks and Comparisons

PERFORMANCE COMPARISON	Getac	Getac	Getac	Dell	Fujitsu	GD-Itronix	GD-Itronix	Panasonic
Model	V200	V100	B300	Latitude XT2	Lifebook 4410	GD6000	GD8000	CF31
Processor Type: Intel	Core i7	Core i7	Core i7	Core 2 Duo	Core 2 Duo	Core 2 Duo	Core 2 Duo	Core i5
Processor Model	620LM	640UM	620LM	SU9400	P8700	T9400	SL9400	540M
CPU Speed	2.00GHz	1.2GHz	2.00GHz	1.40GHz	2.53GHz	2.53GHz	1.86GHz	2.53GHz
Turbo Speed	2.80GHz	2.27GHz	2.80GHz	NA	NA	NA	NA	3.06GHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	25 watts	18 watts	25 watts	10 watts	25 watts	35 watts	17 watts	35 watts
BatteryMon min draw	10 watts	12 watts	9 watts	9 watts	10 watts	14.5 watts	9.6 watts	12 watts
CPU Mark	962.5	768.6	926.6	864.0	1,579.8	1,538.8	1,185.5	997.3
2D Graphics Mark	269.2	208.9	258.3	182.0	256.3	294.8	102.1	263.1
Memory Mark	646.0	493.3	629.5	356.3	615.9	696.8	559.0	727.0
Disk Mark	1,431.2	543.4	575.1	465.4	493.8	378.0	372.6	590.4
3D Graphics Mark	265.1	250.1	272.7	107.9	170.4	180.7	52.7	487.5
Overall PassMark	731.9	462.2	547.4	428.9	716.6	679.5	518.8	613.5
ALU	26,366	20,247	26,187	13,795	24,573	24,808	18,527	34,258
FPU	26,235	19,347	25,170	13,171	27,529	26,781	19,617	37,321
MEM	22,755	16,130	21,810	9,677	12,402	16,651	14,381	24,657
HDD	25,272	9,419	8,668	17,344	9,572	6,920	7,109	8,950
GDI	8,062	6,742	8,560	4,811	7,720	7,966	6.947	6,300
D2D	1,670	1,450	1,819	1,027	1,738	3,566	3,100	1,530
OGL	2,155	1,734	2,208	1,210	2,126	1,936	1,552	11,318
Overall CrystalMark	112,515	75,069	94,422	61,035	85,660	88,628	71,233	124,334

What do the benchmark results show? In essence that the Getac V200 is a superb performer. It scored the best overall PassMark result of any machines in the lineup, besting even the Panasonic Toughbook 31. It also beat Getac's own B300 rugged notebook, primarily on the excellent performance of its speedy 320GB hard disk.

The V200 also scored exceptionally well in the CrystalMark benchmark suite where it was only beaten by the Toughbook 31, a machine with a very fast standard voltage (35 watt) processor that also includes discrete graphics. Judging by our benchmark results, the V200 scores about 40% higher than the V100. That is a very noticeable difference.

Note that benchmarks are only guidelines. They are influenced by processor architecture, graphics subsystems, storage subsystems and numerous other factors, and they always seem to favor certain configurations over others. The overall scores, however, are usually very good indicators of real life performance. While the V200 was doubtlessly aided by its superfast disk, this is a very quick and well implemented and optimized machine.

High performance and long battery life?

The big question when comparing the V100 and V200 is how the V200's significantly more powerful processor will affect battery life. In general, that's one of the difficult tradeoff decisions rugged systems designers must make.

The V200 has a very high capacity 86.6 watt-hour Li-Ion smart battery, and we used Passmark's BatteryMon to test battery draw under different conditions and see what battery life users may expect.

First we set the machine to all-out economy mode (ECO mode on, Windows power management to Power Saver, the screen turned down as much as possible, and Bluetooth and WiFi off). This way, idle battery draw was pretty consistently around ten watts. That's an excellent result for such a powerful machine. It's in line with the Getac B300 we tested, but actually lower than the minimal draw we observed on the V100. This would translate into battery life of almost nine hours. Interestingly, setting the Windows power scheme to Balanced or High Performance didn't make much of a difference in idle power draw, which remained at around ten watts. Even turning WiFi on hardly made a difference.

Setting the V200's very powerful backlight to maximum via push button, on the other hand, boosts draw to about 24 watts (or a theoretical battery life of 3.6 hours), showing the tradeoff between strong backlight and battery life, and how important it is to keep an eye on backlight settings when using the computer outdoors. This is why Getac wisely offers both the hardware button to instantly set the backlight to its full 1,200 nits, and also programmable light sensor control.

To see maximum power draw, we set brightness to maximum, all systems on, and then ran 1080p video. That way, the V200 needs 30 watts, which translates into just under three hours of battery life. Note that real world performance, of course, varies.

Also worth mentioning is that Getac now offers a "LifeSupport" battery swapping system where you can put the machine into standby mode and then replace the depleted battery for a freshly charged one within two minutes.

Communications

Like most modern mobile computers, the V200 is a well connected machine. For wired network connectivity there is gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000base-T). On the wireless side you get Class II Bluetooth EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) Version 2.1 and the Centrino Advanced-N 6200 chipset that provides 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi.

A GPS module is optional (and it's now possible to have both GPS and the camera; in older versions of the V100 platform it was either one or the other).

The V200 can be ordered with a Gobi 2000 module for complete wireless technology and carrier independence. The V200 has room for internal antennas for those Wireless Wide Area networks inside the black protective end caps to the left and right of the LCD case.

Gobi stands for Global Mobile Internet technology, and is a Qualcomm wireless technology that supports the various wireless networking standards around the world, so users can select whatever carrier is available to them (see Qualcomm page on Gobi). Gobi 2000, in addition to current wireless technologies, also supports emerging 4G standards. With a Gobi module installed, there is no more need to physically switch out various single-module, carrier-specific modems to select a different carrier. With Gobi, V200 users in the US can access AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks with one wireless device, and select or change to the best carrier for any geographic area.

Ruggedness

Getac classifies the V200 as "fully rugged" and states it is "performing flawlessly under extreme working environments where weather conditions and physical abuse are unavoidable." On its website, Getac offers a series of videos that show ruggedness testing being performed on its machines. The V200 isn't up yet, but the V100 is, and the testing is the same (see Getac's ruggedness testing video page).

But let's take a look at individual ruggedness testing categories:

IP ratings refer to Ingress Protection standards for electrical enclosures, with the first number describing the protection level against solids and the second protection against liquids. The V200's IP65 rating means total protection against dust and protection against low pressure water jets from all directions.

In terms of temperature resistance, the V200 can operate between temperatures of -4 to +140 degrees Fahrenheit, in accordance with MIL-STD-810G, 501.5 Procedure II and 502.5 Procedure II. The computer also passed non-condensing humidity testing up to 95% per MIL-STD-810G, 507.5 Procedure II, and can operate in altitudes up to 15,000 feet (and obviously in aircraft with pressurized cabins) per MIL-STD-810G, 500.5 Procedure II.

The device is RoHS-compliant. RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances and regulates the use of certain hazardous substances in electronic equipment. The RoHS standard is fully implemented in Europe, with lesser restrictions applying in the US.

Shock, vibration, drop and ESD resistance are all tested according to MIL-STD-810G and other relevant regulatory procedures. Not all results are in the promotional literature or owner's manual, so inquire with Getac for specifics and also check Getac's MIL-STD-810G compliance testing table (see here).

With respect to the ever important drop spec, the situation isn't clear. Getac's web page specs don't mention a particular drop height, Getac's certification page states that MIL-STD-810G Method 516.6 requires 26 drops from four feet, but the testing video specifically shows drops from three feet. Getac's MIL-STD-810G compliance testing table also indicates a drop from three feet, but also states the unit passed "Transit Drop Total 78 continuous drops, 516.6 Procedure IV from 48 to 72 in height." And the V200's manual states a "100cm drop 26 times onto plywood plate surface," and that would be 3.3 feet. Why would we suggest a more definite and consistent answer? Because when designing the drop tests, the US military figured that if you drop something while standing, it'll drop about four feet, as opposed to something that falls off a table or counter, which is 2.5 to three feet. Since users will carry the V200, survival drop height is important.

Finally, note that GETAC offers optional UL 1604 certification that allows safe, spark-free use of the V200 in potentially explosive environments typically found in the oil and gas, petrochemical, aviation and related industries.

Security

Security is addressed via a combination of hardware and software measures, including a finger print reader (optional), a Smart Card reader, TPM 1.2, a cable lock slot, Intel security technologies available through the new i7 chip, as well as BIOs, password and software utility settings.

We're not sure if Getac implements it, but one of the most useful technologies available through the Intel Core i7 processor is vPro, an Intel technology platform that allows remote access to a PC regardless whether the computer is booted up or the power is even on. It is intended to allow remote management, monitoring and maintenance while maintaining strict security measures.

Super-bright 1200 nits "QuadraClear" display

Most rugged notebooks will be used outdoors and sometimes in bright, direct sunlight. Standard transmissive LCD displays, however, wash out in daylight, and that's why over the past few years, sunlight-readability has become a major selling point in the rugged notebook sector. RuggedPCReview's former technology editor, Geoff Walker, explained:

"There are really only two practical methods of making a notebook screen readable outdoors: (a) crank up the brightness (measured in nits, which is display-industry slang for "candela per meter squared", or cd/m²) to the point where the light emitted by the screen is sufficiently greater than the ambient light reflected by the screen, or (b) treat the surface of the screen so it reflects much less light, which again allows the emitted light to exceed the reflected light."

As a result, all major rugged notebook makers have introduced their own sunlight-viewable technologies. Getac calls theirs QuadraClear (see brochure). The term "QuadraClear" stems from the four elements that comprise the technology: a very bright backlight, anti-reflective coatings, linear polarizer, and circular polarizer. All the major players use those technologies, and the difference boils down to a) backlight brightness and b) the extent to which the expensive optical coatings are applied and how the various layers are bonded (the fewer reflective surfaces, the better).

It's difficult to objectively quantify the impact of all those optical treatments but Walker stated that the best currently achievable compound reflectivity is about 0.9% for a touch screen display, meaning that about 0.9% of incoming ambient light is reflected. Assuming this is so, all else being equal, display backlight power then determines the all-important effective contrast ratio which then translates into the degree of real world outdoor readability.

GETAC's solution for the V200 employs both methods—QuadraClear and increased screen brightness—for superb sunlight viewability. A super-bright 1,200 nits LED-based display backlight replaces the older CCFL illumination still occasinally found in rugged hardware. There are several advantages to an LED backlight: LEDs are less diffused, they are power-efficient, they are flexible and more reliable, and they allow mercury-free solutions. And 1,200 nits is incredibly bright compared to the 200 nits or so of a standard consumer notebook.

The pictures below highlight the considerable outdoor qualities of the V200's display compared to an older standard Gateway notebook that we use around the office.

The first picture below shows the two machines side by side outdoors on an overcast, but bright California spring day. Even though the V200 isn't even set to its highest brightness whereas the Gateway is at max brightness, its substantially more powerful backlight is instantly noticeable. The biggest difference is in the reflections off the screen. The Getac has none whereas the Gateway's "gloss" display becomes a mirror. The picture below shows the same scenario, but with the V200's backlight set to full 1,200 nits brightness. It's so bright that it was actually too much for that overcast day, but it shows just how bright the V200 display is.

The two pictures below show the machines viewed from angles. The V200 display is completely unaffected and perfectly readable whereas the glossy Gateway display becomes useless due to all the reflections and the much weaker backlight.

The situation is no different from the other side: again the V200 dislay is rock-solid and totally readable whereas the comparison display is only marginally viewable.

The horizontal and vertical viewing angle of a display represents a very important property. If the angle is too small, you constantly have to reposition the computer for best viewability. The V200 has a near perfect horizontal viewing angle. The vertical viewing angle is much narrower, and varying the vertical angle results in color shifts that can be distracting when using the computer.

Getac offers a night vision option that wasn't installed on our system. It lowers brightness to a near-imperceptible 1.7 nits, meeting MIL-STD-3009 requirements. That option comes in handy when the computer must be operated in situations where you do not want to be seen or attract attention.

Optional: Multi-touch that works with gloves on

Standard touch screens only recognize one input at a time, which is exactly what's needed for tapping or writing with a stylus. Today's smartphones and media tablets, however, use capacitive multi-touch technology that recognizes multiple inputs to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate things. With tens of millions of those phones and tablets in use, many now expect multi-touch functionality. The problem is that projected capacitive touch technology as used on the Apple iPad can neither be used with pens (which are often useful/required in Windows-based systems) nor does it work with gloves on (and gloves are often needed on the job).

On the V100 and V200, Getac offers multi-touch that works with gloves on. The way they do it is by using a modified resistive touch technology that subdivides the display into a matrix with a total of 154 zones, and the system can recognize input from two of those zones at a time. That makes the Getac system dual-touch without losing the inherent advantages of resistive touch, i.e. the ability to use a stylus or even operate the display with gloves on.

For a more detailed description of the Getac "glove-friendly" multi-touch system, check here. Implementing multi-touch with resistive rather than capacitive technology has its limitations, but it does work. It can be used for both single and dual-touch gestures, and may work best with vertical market custom apps specifically designed for the technology.

Utilities

In the field, quick and easy access to often-used functions and applications is imperative. To make this possible, Getac included a variety of useful utilities. Below are screen shots of four of those utilities. They are, clockwise from the top left:

• G-Manager -- a control panel that provides a system overview, complete battery stats, ECO mode info and settings, light sensor configuration, ignition configuration for systems using vehicle power, status monitoring, and GPS information.

• Button Manager -- lets you configure/re-configure the V200's five hardware buttons and assign either standard or user-define functions.

• Getac Utility -- a full-screen quick status and configuration utility that lets you turn wireless on and off, adjust brightness and sound, do one-touch access to major apps, and brings up some of the Windows control panels.

• Getac Camera -- a handy and very simple app that lets users control the V200's integrated rotating camera. You can set image storage location and naming conventions, brightness, contrast, hue, night mode, capture mode, shutter sound, white balance, and more. You can also get GPS information (if the computer has GPS), view stored images, etc. One thing we'd like to see here is the ability to flip the image vertically so you don't have to look at the picture upside down when you rotate the camera from facing from you (like for video conferencing) to away from you.

Summary: Getac V200

The Getac V200 is a compact rugged mobile computer with a very bright 12.1-inch wide-format display. It can either be used as a standard laptop or, by rotating the display, as a tablet PC.

Equipped with a fast 2GHz (up to 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost) Intel Core i7-620LM processor, the Getac V200 provides excellent performance in this class while still offering very good battery life. It also has a large 320GB serial ATA hard disk that's both fast and very quiet, gigabit Ethernet, USB and eSATA ports, fast wireless PAN and WAN implementations, SD Card reader and an integrated camera.

Like all Getac units, the V200 uses advanced thermal design to keep heat buildup at an absolute minimum. Heat pipes and the sturdy magnesium alloy case keep the computer cool and alleviate the need for a noisy fan—a remarkable accomplishment in a machine this powerful.

Customers can specify an optional Gobi 2000 module for technology and carrier independent wide area wireless communication, add an integrated GPS receiver, and an optional Smart Card reader.

The "QuadraClear" sunlight-readable technology with its 1,200 nits LED backlight and circular polarizers offers excellent outdoor viewability, though we'd like a better vertical viewing angle. Depending on the type of deployment, there are several touch and digitizer options (pressure, multi-touch, pressure and digitizer).

In everyday use, the V200 excels thanks to an optimal balance between performance, long battery life, good ergonomics, silent operation, a very good display and a high quality feel.

GETAC V200 highlights:

• Excellent industrial design with quality look and feel
• Excellent performance
• Convertible design allows use as notebook as well as tablet PC
• Fanless design for silent running, yet does not heat up
• Various display and digitizer options with superbright QuadraClear sunlight-readable technology
• Compact size
• Each port and interface has its own protective cover
• Rugged enough for tough jobs
• Useful options: adjustable camera, Smart Card, fingerprint scanner, data networks
• 5-year warranty

But keep in mind:

• Somewhat complex cover latch
• A bit heavy
• Narrow vertical display viewing angle
• Some environmental specs not clear

– Conrad H. Blickenstorfer

Getac V200 Specifications Type Rugged convertible notebook Introduced Fall 2010, full review April 2011, Updates 05/2013 Processor Intel Core i7 620LM with 4MB L3 cache Intel Core i7-3520M, 4MB L3 cache, or Core i5-3320M, 3MB L3 cache CPU speed 2.0GHz (up to 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost) 2.9GHz (up to 3.6GHz Turbo), 2.6GHz (up to 3.3GHz Turbo) Thermal Design Power 25 watts Both 35 watts Chipset Intel QM57 Graphics Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD with maximum of 1024MB dynamic shared memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000 Display Chipset Integrated into processor OS Windows 7 Professional Memory 2GB/8GMB DDR3 1066/1333MHz 4GB DDR3-1333MHz, expandable to 8GB Display 12.1-inch/1024x768 pixel sunlight-readable "QuadraClear" TFT with 1,200 nits LED backlight; 1.7 nits night vision option available Digitizer Pressure sensitive touch screen; optional glove-type multi-touch touch screen, optional dual mode touchscreen (pressure sensitive touchscreen and digitizer) Keyboard Integrated, 88-key 100%-scale waterproof mechanical keyboard; optional backlit waterproof mechanical or rubber keyboard Storage Shock-mounted SATA 320GB HDD; optional 80 or 160GB SSD; optional -4F low-temperature for hard disk, optional SSD 500GB SAT HDD; optional SATA 128/256GB SSD Expansion slots 1 PC Card Type II, 1 ExpressCard 34/54, 1 SD Card, SIM (in RAM compartment); optional smart card reader can replace ExpressCard slot Housing Magnesium alloy, sealed ports Size 12.4 x 8.7 x 1.9 Weight 6.8 lbs. as tested, with battery Operating temperature 0° to 140°F (-20° to 60°C); low temperature option with -4° to 160°F (-20° to 71°C) Ingress protection IP65 Drop 3.3 foot (100cm) drop 26 times onto plywood plate surface Vibration According to IEC 68-2-6 / MIL-STD-810F, Method 514.5 ESD Air discharge: 0~8 KV (included) no error; 9~15 KV allow soft error Contact discharge: 0~6 KV (included) no error; 7~8 KV allow soft error EMC FCC part 15, subpart B, class B, CE, CCC, BSMI Intrinsic safety Optional UL1604 certification available for units that will operate in potentially explosive environments typically found in the oil and gas, petrochemical, aviation and other industries. Power 86.6 watt-hour Li-Ion smart battery (11.1V, 7,800mAh), hot-swappable Interface 1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 2.0/eSATA combo, RJ11, gigabit RJ45, 1 Serial RS232, dock, audio in/out, video (VGA), integrated 225 degree reversible 2-megapixels camera, fingerprint scanner Wireless 802.11q/b/g/n WiFi (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200) with two internal antennas (pass-through for external antenna option) Triple band support 2.3~2.7, 3.3~3.8, 5.1~5.8 GHz; Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR Class 1, optional: GOBI 2000 and GPS Price Starting at high US$3,000s Contact GETAC us.getac.com Brochure Getac V200 Warranty 5-year bumper-to-bumper