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Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet

A year with Dell's powerful and very rugged 12-inch tablet
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Talk about timing. A mere couple of weeks after we published our long term review of Dell's original Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet late 2017, Dell released its successor, the Latitude Rugged Extreme Tablet. RuggedPCReview has had a long-term loaner over the past year, and this review describes the second gen of Dell's rugged tablet in detail.

First, why does Dell, known for its laptop and desktop computers, have a rugged tablet in its lineup? The obvious reason is Dell's resolve to step up its presence in the rugged PC market where the company has highly competitive product offerings on the notebook side but didn't have anything in the faster growing rugged tablet and detachable 2-in-1 sector.

Why do I mention detachable and 2-in-1 right upfront? Because the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet has one of the best — and best integrated — keyboards available for any tablet. It's an option and rather pricey (US$372 for the keyboard and kickstand), but it's so good that we consider it pretty much mandatory. This is not one of those awful cardboard-thin keyboard covers that are almost unusable. This one works.

It is a full-scale, fully functional, heavy-duty keyboard that magnetically snaps onto the tablet with authority. The accompanying kickstand, likewise, is brilliant. It's small and light and never gets in the way, but it makes for a stable 2-in-1 combo that is not in danger of toppling over like many other detachable keyboard solutions. The picture sequence below shows Dell's rugged tablet concept with its optional keyboard and kickstand. The pictures show the original tablet; the new model works the same.

For a brief overview of the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet itself: It has a satisfyingly large 11.6-inch display with capacitive multi-touch. Its 12.3 x 8.0 inch footprint is roughly that of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. As a rugged Windows device with plenty of standard ports, the Dell is, of course, considerably thicker and heavier than the iPad. About an inch thick, and starting at 2.8 pounds. The Dell tablet is powered by a choice of ultra-low voltage Intel 6th, 7th and 8th generation Core processors. Pricing starts at US$1,899 (as of late 2018), but nicely equipped we're talking a good grand more. So this is a fairly high-end product.

How the Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet differs from the original

There's one thing that we should make clear. When we first learned that Dell called its 2nd gen rugged tablet "Rugged Extreme" and not just "Rugged," we thought that this referred to extra ruggedness. Just as with Dell's rugged laptops that come in "rugged" and "rugged extreme" varieties. That's actually not the case, and Dell said there was no substantial change in construction and ruggedness. This may lead to some customer confusion.

The table below shows the major differences between Dell's original rugged tablet and the 2nd generation "extreme" version:

Model Rugged Tablet Rugged Extreme Tablet
Launched June 2015 August 2017
CPUs 5th gen Intel Core-M 6th, 7th, and 8th gen Intel Core
Display HD 1366 x 768 pixel FHD 1920 x 1080 pixel
Weight from 3.6 lbs. from 2.8 lbs.
RAM up to 8GB up to 16GB
mSATA Mass storage up to 500GB up to 1TB
PCIe NVMe Mass storage NA up to 1TB
Power 2 x 26Wh 2 x 26Wh or 2 x 34Wh
Battery Life Up to 12 hours Up to 19 hours
USB USB 3.0 USB 3.0 + USB 3.1 Type-C
Handle Soft Soft or hard
Kickstand fixed angle variable angle (180°)

First, there's performance. The original tablet came with 4.5-watt Intel 5th generation Core-M processors, whereas the new tablet switched to more powerful Intel 6th, 7th and 8th generation 15-watt full Core processors.

Add to that up to twice the RAM and the availability of NVMe PCIe-based solid state disks. That's a substantial step up in performance.

Then there's weight. Dell made the original rugged tablet very solid and that meant even a stripped version weighed in at 3.5 pounds or so. The new one starts at just 2.8 pounds, a noticeable difference.

And a sharper screen. The display is now full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel instead of just 1366 x 768. Given all those super-sharp smartphones and consumer tablets, this was overdue and we're very happy. Full HD on a 11.6-inch screen means 190 pixels per inch, which is actually a tad sharper than Dell's 24-inch UltraSharp monitors.

And then there's a slew of tech updates, including faster WiFi and Bluetooth, the addition of a USB 3.1 Type-C port, and available 34Wh instead of 26Wh batteries. That means the new tablet can be equipped with 68Wh of battery power, good for up to 19 hours of operation.

Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet — design, look, and feel

All of Dell's Rugged and Rugged Extreme laptops and tablets are part of the company's Latitude line of business laptops. On the Dell website's Latitude page they are designated the "Rugged Series," and there's also a special Dell Latitude Rugged Laptop section.

This does not, however, mean that Dell's rugged laptop and tablets are simply heavier duty and better protected versions of standard Dell Latitude products. Instead, while the rugged products may share certain components and technologies from certain models in the Latitude lineup, they are unique and separate designs from the ground up. While "civilian" business Latitudes sport a sleek, elegant contemporary consumer/business laptop look, the rugged models use an entirely different design language.

As is, Dell has done a good job in visually differentiating their rugged offerings from more civilian and enterprise platforms, all the while creating a sharp, purposeful and quite elegant look. It's a look that's not as overtly utilitarian as some rugged computing gear; Dell went more for an elegant, high quality look. The tablet feels tough, solid and substantial, and there's never a doubt that this is a much heavier-duty computing machine than any standard consumer or even business tablet.

Dell's using just one color here, black. The housing is black reinforced polycarbonate plastic, with the front bezel and sides having a matte, rubberized finish. There are protective corner bumpers that are nicely integrated into the overall design. Since the tablet has a capacitive touch screen, the front glass extends flush well beyond the actual LCD perimeter, just as it should for easiest touch operation. And the actual housing bezel surrounding the glass slightly angles up, so as to provide extra protection to the screen without having your fingers bump into it. The glass surface itself is glossy but in a heavily muted way.

But let's take a closer look at the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet. Below you can see the top and all four sides of the machine, with the side views also showing the attached optional keyboard:

Below the display, which is clearly designed to be used in landscape orientation, are seven physical buttons. Their labels are very legible. The front camera is in the center where it belongs, and it has a manual shutter.

Ports and connectivity are concentrated on the right side of the tablet. To guard against physical damage, all ports are located behind protective doors that snap into place. The picture below shows the right side of the unit with all protective doors removed for a better view at the ports.

From left to right: Power, protected by a single plug; a micro serial port also protected by a single plug; USB 3.0 Type C, USB 3.0 Type A, microSD card, and 3.5mm audio protected by a combined single plug. To the right of that is the small illuminated power button. This is different from the original Dell Rugged Tablet that had ports on both the left and the right side.

Overall, the design of the Dell Rugged Tablet impresses on all fronts. While not insubstantial, this is an elegant, practical, functional solution that looks and feels just right.

Capacitive multi-touch — works with gloves

The Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet, like virtually every other modern tablet, offers 10-point capacitive multi-touch. Tapping, panning, swiping, pinching and zooming work smoothly and effortlessly with none of the slight delay that used to mar touch on Windows hardware.

Interestingly, touch is one area where the tablet differs from Dell's convertible that uses 5-point resistive multi-touch. When we reviewed the convertible, we assumed Dell had gone with resistive multi-touch because early capacitive touch screens couldn't handle gloves or rain. The resistive digitizer of the convertible indeed handled both gloves and operation in the rain very well.

As is, the capacitive touch screen of the Rugged Tablet also handles gloves quite well. And while the convertible's display surface had a bit more stiction than we liked, the tablet display surface is as smooth as we've come to expect from capacitive touch technology.

The tablet comes with a very nice 4-1/4 inch capacitive stylus with a narrow 3mm hard rubber tip. The stylus works much better than the thick, soft rubber tips so often used in lesser tablets. When not in use, the stylus, which has an almost foot-long spiral tether cord, can be parked in a special garage on top of the tablet.

In our year-long use of the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet, we almost always took the detachable keyboard with us when on the road. It snaps on so easily and so securely that it's like having a laptop. Touch was precise enough for most tablet operations, though we also often used the stylus. On the desktop we often used the device as a laptop. Having a personal preference of mice over touchpads, we used a small generic bluetooth mouse with it.

Performance: Cores galore

On the processor side of things, there's a significant difference between the original Dell 12 Rugged Tablet and the new Dell 12 Rugged Tablet Extreme version. With the earlier model, customers had their choice of two CPUs from Intel's Core-M lineup. The new model offers no fewer than five processor options, all "full" Core versions. Why does is this important?

It is important because Core-M was specifically developed for fanless tablets where silent operation, a thin profile, and low weight mattered. These chips had to dissipate as little heat as possible, and that meant running them at a very low default clock speed.

The Core-M chips in the original tablets were rated at just 4.5 watt Thermal Design Power. They could run at much higher turbo speeds, but only for a brief time. This made them suitable for low overall workloads, with just a bit of high load mixed in.

It's an interesting idea, but in our experience, Core-M chips were quite temperamental and you could never quite predict whether they would actually spool up to turbo speeds, or sit a particular assignment out. Not exactly what one needs out there in the field.

Dell apparently came to the same conclusion. Yes, tablets must be as think and light as possible, but not at the expense of consistent, reliable performance. As a result, Dell switched from 4.5 watt Core-M processor to "full" ultra-low voltage Core processors with a Thermal Design Power of 15 watts. All of these run at much higher default clock speeds, and if maximum performance is required, they can stay at full turbo speed considerably longer. That's because the tablets are built to handle the full 15 watts of heat, as opposed to just 4.5 watts with the Core-M chips.

But doesn't that mean much higher battery draw? Not necessarily. Intel has made significant progress in power conservation, and late generation mobile Core processors can have amazingly small power draws. The table below shows the five processors available for the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet, with their major specs (see the full table here):

CPU Options
Intel Core i7-8650U Core i7-7600U Core i5-7300U Core i3-7100U Core i5-6300U
Codename Kaby Lake Refresh Kaby Lake Kaby Lake Kaby Lake Skylake
Cores/Threads 4/8 2/4 2/4 2/4 2/4
Lithography 14mn 14mn 14mn 14mn 14mn
Base Clock Speed 1.90 GHz 2.80 GHz 2.60 GHz 2.40 GHz 2.40 GHz
Turbo Speed 4.20 GHz 3.90 GHz 3.50 GHz No turbo 3.00 GHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 15 watts 15 watts 15 watts 15 watts 15 watts
Windows 7 downgrade No No No No Yes
Smart Cache 8MB 4MB 3MB 3MB 3MB
Integrated graphics UHD Graphics 620 HD Graphics 620 HD Graphics 620 HD Graphics 620 HD Graphics 520
Graphics base speed 300 MHz 300 MHz 300 MHz 300 MHz 300 MHz
Graphics max speed 900 MHz 1,150 MHz 1,100 MHz 1,000 MHz 1,000 MHz
Intel vPro Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Intel TSX-NI Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Intel SIPP Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Intel Trusted Execution Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Interestingly, Dell picked their five available processors from three different generations of Intel Core processors. Why would that be? There is actually a very rational explanation.

At the low end is the Core i5-6300U. The chip was included because it's the only one that can (officially) still run the Windows 7 operating system that's still in wide use.

The Core i3-7100U is the only chip without turbo mode. This is suitable for applications where steady, predictable performance is the primary goal. No need for a turbo mode that may or may not kick in.

The Core i5-7300U and Core i7-7600U differ mostly in performance, which is likely about 10% higher in the 7600U. Core i5 and i7 chips often differ in specific Intel technologies, but that's not the case here.

On the high end is the Core i7-8650U from the Intel 8th generation "Kaby Lake Refresh" line. The big news here is that the 8th gen brings quad-core CPUs to the table. That's twice the cores and twice the threads of the other four chips. This brings up some questions.

Are four cores twice as good as two? The answer is, as in almost all things, "it depends." It depends on how much of a software application can be broken down into steps that can be run in parallel. If it's a lot, then a quad-core design might be considerably faster than a dual-core CPU.

But doesn't that also mean considerably higher power draw? Again, that depends. If a quad-core design runs at the same default clock speed as a dual-core system with the same architecture, then, yes, it'd draw much more power. So what did Intel do? They lowered the default clock speed of the quad-core chips by quite a bit. And, thanks to optimization in the 8th generation dye, managed to increase maximum turbo speed.

The result is that, theoretically, the quad-core i7-8650U can matches or exceeds dual-core performance just idling along and drawing not much power. But it has much higher peak performance.

In order to get a sense of the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet's performance, we installed Passmark Software's PerformanceTest 6.1 that runs about 30 tests covering CPU, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, memory, and disk and then computes scores for each category and an overall PassMark score. We also ran our second benchmark suite, CrystalMark, which concentrates on single core performance. For comparison, we added the results of Dell's original Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet and three tablet competitors that we had also tested in the RuggedPCReview benchmark lab.

Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet Benchmarks and Comparisons
COMPARISON Dell Dell DT Research Durabook Panasonic
Model 12 Rugged Tablet Extreme 12 Rugged Tablet DT301 U11 Toughbook 33
Type Tablet/2-in-1 Tablet/2-in-1 Tablet/2-in-1 Tablet/2-in-1 Tablet/2-in-1
Year tested 2018 2017 2016 2018 2018
Display 11.6" 1920 x 1080 11.6" 1366 x 768 10.1" 1920 x 1200 11.6" 1920 x 1080 12.0" 2160 x 1440
Processor Type: Intel Core i5 Core M Core i7 Core i7 Core i5
Processor Model 7300U 5Y71 6500U 7Y75 7300U
CPU Speed 2.60GHz 1.20GHz 2.50GHz 1.30GHz 2.60GHz
Turbo Speed 3.50GHz 2.90GHz 3.10GHz 3.60GHz 3.50GHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 15 watts 4.5 watts 15 watts 4.5 watts 15 watts
BatteryMon minimal draw 3.6 watts 3.3 watts 5.7 watts 4.4 watts 2.8 watts
CPU Mark 5,245.9 2,683.8 4,277.1 3,775.3 5,424.2
2D Graphics Mark 454.7 370.6 473.4 280.1 600.1
Memory Mark 1,628.1 952.2 1,338.3 1,720.6 2,277.6
Disk Mark 5,980.5 3,595.2 3,740.1 3,997.0 3,142.9
3D Graphics Mark 496.5 265.6 468.9 691.5 473.2
Overall PassMark 3,028.8 1,694.0 2,266.2 2,084.1 2,205.9
ALU 55,826 32,389 47,861 39,309 55,775
FPU 51,538 26,550 48,612 32,013 56,367
MEM 50,206 29,070 59,768 34,472 60,679
HDD 56,857 38,565 39,719 39,733 37,624
GDI 18,294 11,673 14,601 10,797 18,321
D2D 6,338 4,373 5,734 4,431 6,350
OGL 13,792 6,843 11,494 7,464 13,630
Overall CrystalMark 252,851 149,463 227,789 168,219 248,746

As always, the results in the above table should not be construed as an absolute comparison of which product is fastest. Each of the listed devices comes with several processor options, and products may have been upgraded since we last benchmarked them in the RuggedPCReview.com testing lab. So view the numbers as what sort of performance can be expected from different types of processors and processor generations, clock speeds, and thermal design powers.

What is immediately clear is that this second generation of Dell's rugged tablet is substantially faster than the first iteration. Our test unit came with the most powerful available dual-core processor. With the also available quad-core processor option, the tablet would undoubtedly have been significantly quicker yet.

While most customers look at the chosen processor as the main determinant of system performance, the choice of mass storage type is equally, or even more, important. That's because PCIe NVMe-based storage is much faster than the older SATA variety. Our test unit came with PCIe NVMe solid state disk, and that alone provided a huge performance advantage. Dell offers both SATA and PCIe NVMe storage. We highly recommend the former.

What it all means is that Dell's decision to switch from Core-M to full Core processors was a very good one. High, sustainable performance is crucial in many field applications, and Interl's full Core chips provide that.

Excellent performance and long battery life

The 10 hour-plus battery life of consumer tablets such as the iPad has spoiled customers who now expect full-shift battery life from their ruggedized Windows tablets as well. Microsoft Windows' steadily improving power conservation measures, Intel's impressive efforts in making their chips more power-efficient, better batteries, and tablet manufacturers' growing expertise combine to give modern Windows tablets more performance and longer battery life. Is the Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet one of them?

First a few words about the power situation of the Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet. The device has two battery bays, each accommodating either a 26 watt-hour or a 34 watt-hour Lithium-Ion battery. That's either a combined 52 or 68 watt-hours.

The dual battery system means users can hot-swap one battery for a freshly-charged one at a time. Dell claims up to 19 hours of battery life from systems with two 34 watt-hour batteries.

In our testing of the Dell 12 Rugged Extreme we measured a minimum power draw of 4.1 watts, good for an impressive theoretical 13.65 hours. How does the tablet compare to that? To find out we tested power draw with PassMark's BatMon utility.

Dell Rugged Tablet Power Draws (at idle)
Backlight level Lowest (0%) 50% Maximum (100%)
Power Saver 3.6 watts (18.9 hrs) 4.8 watts (14.2 hrs) 6.1 watts (11.1 hrs)
Max Performance 3.8 watts (17.9 hrs) 5.3 watts (12.8 hrs) 7.3 watts (9.3 hrs)
With the Windows power settings to "Power Saver" and screen brightness at its dimmest, we saw a power draw as low as 3.6 watts, good for a theoretical 18.9 hours. With the backlight at 50%, we saw 4.8 watts, good for a theoretical 14.2 hours. And with the backlight all the way up, power draw rose to 6.1 watts, good for a theoretical 11.1 hours.

With the Windows power settings to "Max Performance" and screen brightness at its dimmest, we saw a power draw as low as 3.8 watts, good for a theoretical 17.9 hours. With the backlight at 50%, we saw 5.3 watts, good for a theoretical 12.8 hours. And with the backlight all the way up, power draw rose to 7.3 watts, still good for a theoretical 9.3 hours.

Overall, we found the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet to be remarkably power-efficient. The minimum draw of 3.6 watts of our 15-watt Core i7-7300U test machine was only 0.3 higher than what we observed on a prior generation Dell Rugged Tablet with a 4.5 watt Core M 5Y71 processor. And since the second gen machine can use higher-capacity batteries, the new Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet not only lasts the 19 hours Dell claims, but also lasts over five hours longer than the first gen tablet.

A look inside the Dell 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet

If you open a premium consumer tablet (which is generally next to impossible), what you find inside is a huge battery and a tiny circuitboard and very little else. That's because the guts of consumer tablets are hyper-miniaturized and very much closed systems. A rugged Windows tablet is very, very different. In essence, it's a full PC squeezed inside a slender box. That means plenty of miniaturization, too, but everything is still recognizable as PC components, with standard connectors, components and modules. And that's what you find inside of the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet.

The other big problem makers of rugged Windows tablet face is that they also have to build this complex package so that dust and water won't get inside despite a whole complement of onboard PC standard ports, and so that things don't break or come loose when the device is dropped and rattled around. How did Dell go about making it all possible?

Well, they had a good base in the form of their existing Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme convertible notebook (see our full review), and that machine serves as the conceptual and general foundation for Dell's rugged tablet.

In essence, Dell condensed the guts of their convertible into a pure tablet form factor, retaining the same 11.6-inch display size and much of the functionality, but paring 40% of the weight and updating underlying technologies in the process.

That's not to say that the tablet and the convertible use the same internal layout. Tablets and convertibles are inherently different, with convertibles being two-box designs and tablets all-in-ones.

Unlike most mobile Windows systems, the 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet doesn't have any removable doors on its backside to provide access to RAM memory and internal expansion slots. So if you want to replace memory or one of the PCIe modules, or if maintenance becomes necessary, you have to take the tablet apart.

That's not terribly difficult. Undo a couple of dozen small Philips screws and the halves easily come apart. There are three ribbon cables between the halves and those always have fragile connectors, so care is advised.

The seal between the back and the front part of the housing — both made of impact-resistant, flame-retardant, fiber-reinforced PC-GF50(40) polycarbonate — is a hard plastic lip on the backside that presses onto a thin black rubber o-ring seal sitting in a channel on the front side. The o-ring seal is long and complex but seems replaceable. What's interesting here is that the seal doesn't just go along the perimeter of the tablet. Instead, it weaves in and out, protecting the electronics inside, but leaving anything I/O-related outside.

That's because it is quite difficult to properly seal standard PC ports and connectors. In most rugged devices those ports are not actually sealed to the inside. Instead, rubber plugs and hinged doors provide the protection. If one of them isn't closed properly, liquids can enter the inside of such devices. With Dell's design, it can't.

In the Dell tablet there are protective plugs also, but if one of them is damaged or not closed properly, liquids may enter the I/O compartment they protect but they can't get into the interior of the tablet. Doing it this way is more complex, but potential damage is limited to an I/O module and not the entire tablet. And I say "potential" damage, because Dell actually applies what they call HZO liquid protection and describe as a "nanotechnology solution that inoculates electronic components from damage and failure."

An additional advantage of separating I/O modules from the motherboard is that this makes it much easier to upgrade and/or customize I/O. No need to redesign the motherboard.

Even though the internal layout of the Dell Rugged Tablet is complex, components such as WiFi (ours had an Intel Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8265, Model 8265NGW half-card), PCIe NVMe SSD mass storage, GPS (NEO-M8N), and other wireless modules, as well as the various antenna blocks, are easily accessible once the tablet has been opened.

The modularity, of course, is in Dell's DNA, the result of decades of offering an almost infinite number of permutations of options available right on Dell's website. So almost any feature for which there might be alternatives — or of which a customer might want more or less of — is not on the motherboard but designed as modules.

One thing that's immediately obvious is that the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet packs industrial-grade thermal management. That includes a fairly sizable fan with a heavy metal enclosure that, of course, is sealed towards the interior of the device. Two copper pipes conduct heat away from the processor, ancillary electronics, and also the PCIe-based SSD.

So that's one major difference to the initial Dell Rugged Tablet that only had a tiny and nearly invisible fan and no heat pipes. Makes sense, as the original tablet's processor had a TDP rating of just 4.5 watt whereas the one in this tablet is a 15 watt design.

But 15 watts is still considered ultra-low voltage by Intel, and aren't all ultra-low voltage processors supposed to be able to operate without fans in Windows tablets?

In the past, yes, under certain circumstances. That's because in the past there was no Intel "turbo" mode, the processor's ability to briefly run at higher (and sometimes much higher) than the nominal clock frequency, as long as temperatures didn't exceed certain levels.

Turbo mode is great, but it can turn into a problem in rugged machines. When a machine gets too hot out there in the desert and there is no active cooling, performance will drop, and can drop to unacceptable levels. That's why Dell chose to use a fan in the 12 Rugged Tablet. This way, performance will not drop, no matter what.

The picture to the right shows the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet's thermal engineering, taken with our FLIR One Pro infrared camera during a performance test benchmark run.

The bright yellow areas are the hottest, and that is where the heat is conducted away from via the system's copper pipes. On the left side of the tablet you can see the fan, and the plume of hot air ot expels. As a result, even during a sustained high performance load we never saw more than 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

Overall, the interior of the Dell 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet is a complex, sophisticated affair that clearly shows Dell's experience in mobile computing technology. Components and modules are clearly marked and have their own 2D scan code. Wires that go from modules to their respective antennae located around the perimeter of the tablet for best reception are guided and held in place with little loops and guides.

Very good display

The Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet has a display that measures 11.6 inches diagonally. It offers 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, which makes for HD-standard 16:9 wide format aspect ratio and 190 ppi (pixels per inch). That's a nice step up from of the original Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet that came with lower 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and only 135 ppi. Even 190 ppi dpi is not terribly sharp by today's leading smartphone and tablet standards, but it looks nice and crisp and is also the same as what most of the direct competition offers.

But, regardless of size or sharpness, providing the right display for a system that's being used outdoors is much more difficult than for one that's mostly used indoors in an office or at home. That's because we now have incredibly sharp, photorealistic-grade displays for indoor use, displays that one can't imagine getting much better. But outdoors is a totally different story.

That's because a) it's much brighter outdoors, with even the brightest display not being a match for sunlight, and b) because there are all sorts of reflections that can quickly make a display unreadable.

With regard to LCD outdoor viewability, Dell has been a pioneer. As far back as 2007, Dell had laptop displays that had their screen cover optically bonded to the LCD, thus eliminating the reflections from the LCD surface, eliminating the need to AR-coat the bottom of the screen cover, and eliminating the air gap.

The methods Dell applied reduced overall reflectivity and resulted in a very good effective contrast ratio. At the time, we termed it "definitely readable in sunlight." That was rare back then.

Time doesn't stand still though, and good outdoor-viewable displays are now available from all of the major rugged laptop vendors. Some are offering very high screen brightness of up to 1,500 nits, and optical treatments are continually refined. Dell describes the 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet's "Direct-View" screen as "designed to reduce reflections, preserve contrast and conserve battery life."

In an article entitled "What Really Makes A Mobile Device Screen Readable Outdoors?" Dell Rugged Mobility Marketing Director Patrick Seidensticker reiterated Dell's thought process that led them to concentrate on reducing reflected light as opposed to using battery-draining super-bright backlights. That means reducing the number of layers as each surface reflects sunlight back at the user, or bonding layers together to eliminate surfaces. And it also means using anti-reflective (AR) and anti-glare (AG) coatings. These two measures combined make for impressive outdoor viewability even without a strong backlight.

How well did all this work in the 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet whose display, according to RuggedPCReview's testing, has a maximum luminance of about 560 nits? For illustration, the pictures below are a side-by-side comparison between the 11.6-inch Dell screen and that of an Apple iPad Air 2 we're using around the office for this and that.

Both screens can easily be viewed outdoors, with the Dell tablet somewhat brighter than the iPad, which is said to run at about 450 nits. The iPad's fully glossy display surface, however, reflects far more than the Dell's screen.

Both screens have almost perfect viewing angles horizontally as well as vertically, which is something we consider mandatory in a tablet. There are, however, small differences. While neither tablet loses much brightness when viewed from extreme angles, whites assume a bit of a yellow tinge on the Dell when viewed from extreme angles, whereas color remains unchanged on the iPad.

The final picture shows the 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet and the iPad Air 2 sitting on the ground and facing the open sky. Here you can see the inherent difference between the iPad's glossy display versus Dell's DirectView technology that mutes reflections as to make them almost irrelevant. In sharp contrast, the iPad screen shows harsh blueish-purple and almost mirror-like reflections.

Cameras: good enough for many jobs

The Dell Latitude Rugged Extreme Tablet can be ordered with an optional integrated 5MP video front webcam with a hand-operated privacy shutter, and also an 8MP rear camera with LED flash that also has a manual privacy shutter. Our eval unit had both, and the sample picture compilation was taken with the tablet's rear camera. Tap on the image collection to bring up a full size version in a separate window.

As is, the privacy shutters are clever low-tech solutions to guard against unauthorized snooping. You simply slide the camera window over so the lens is covered.

We used the default Windows 10 Camera app for the test pictures above. It's minimal, allowing for just two image sizes, 5.8mp (3200 x 1800 pixel) in 16:9 format, and 7.7mp (3200 x 2400 pixel) in 4:3 format. Video can be shot in five formats: 480 and 960p in 4:3 format; and 360p, 720p, and 1080p in 16:9 format, all at 30 frames per second.

Both still pictures and video were of good quality. The camera is fairly quick with stills, and video never fell behind. The Camera app offers limited manual control, and there is also touch-operated digital zoom. However, any user intending to use the cameras will have to resort to third party camera apps to really use the cameras.

Today's users are spoiled by the excellent cameras built into smartphones and also by the sophisticated camera imaging apps that are available. The Dell tablet's cameras are not at that level and the Windows Camera app is marginal. The camera are, however, good enough for many documentation tasks, and certainly good enough for decent quality conferencing.

Tough enough for the field

Ruggedness and durability are sore subjects with consumer tablets where almost universally style prevails over substance. Largely because of that, Dell points out that the 5-year total cost of ownership of a rugged solution is actually only half that of a consumer product.

When Dell initially announced the Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet in 2015, Dell product manager Umang Patel said that while there were lots of options in the rugged tablet space, fully rugged tablets are heavy and expensive, and in the lower price range there wasn't much that offered the kind of features and performance that many prospective tablet users need. So Dell aimed between those two extremes.

As a result, while the Dell Rugged Tablet, and now the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet, definitely look and feel solid and trust-inspiring, neither is a tank. Dell simply and logically designed its tablets to handle whatever conditions and eventualities would likely be encountered in the real world.

Dell considered being able to use their tablets in a wide range of temperatures, and so the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet can operate within an extremely wide temperature range of -20° to 145° Fahrenheit (-29° to 63°Centigrade), which means practically anywhere. It certainly didn't mind being used outdoors on several Winter outings in the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee.

As for resistance to dust and liquids, the tablet carries an IP65 rating, where the "6" means the device is totally dust-proof, and the "5" that it can also handle low pressure water jets from all directions, albeit with "limited ingress permitted." Using the tablet in the rain is okay, spilling liquids on it is okay, but guard against submersion.

The images below were taken during a Dell media event late 2016 at Lake Travis outside of Austin, Texas. Original model Dell Rugged Tablets with CartoPac GPS-based course tracking software were strapped onto jet skis and taken on some speedy, bumpy rides. No problem.

Drop tests were conducted in accordance with MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6, Procedure IV procedures. Closed and not operating, the unit survived 26 drops from 48 inches. The maximum height tested while operating was 36 inches. That's also impressive, but we like to see the ability to survive 4-foot drops while open and operating, because that is the height at which a laptop might be held while in a standing position.

Dell says the device is also independently tested according to MIL-STD-810G procedures for transit drop, blowing rain, blowing dust and sand, vibration, functional shock, freeze/thaw cycles, and more.

Dell generally has ruggedness testing done by SGS US and SGD Taiwan, SGS being one of the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification companies. Additional testing was done by the Taiwan and China locations of UL, a global independent safety science company. The images below were taken at a tour of Dell's own ruggedness testing facilities in Austin, Texas.

For use in hazardous locations, C1D2 certification is available. These are becoming more and more important, and they are a prerequisite for deployment in industries such as oil, gas, and petrochemical manufacturing, and many others where ignitable gases or vapor may be present.

Overall, the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet is just that, rugged. It's very well built, very sturdy, rubber bumpers provide good protection, and ports are well sealed with both plugs and sealing inside. That said, the emphasis here is on an intelligent balance of toughness and ease-of-use, not on heavy, vault-like invulnerability.

Summary: The Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet

The Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet is for those who a) want an exceptionally well designed and executed tablet for tough jobs, b) want a pure tablet, but one with a perfectly matched optional detachable keyboard, and c) prefer one-stop shopping with a world-leading provider of commercial PCs with large scale production experience and extensive support.

Its 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel display is bright and offers superior reflection control, making it easy to use outdoors and even in bright sunlight. It also provides effortless multi-touch capability that works even with gloves on. The included narrow-tip capacitive stylus works well, and there is also an active pen option. With a weight as low as 2.8 pounds, the tablet is remarkably light and handy for a device this rugged.

The Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet covers connectivity basics (USB, Micro HDMI, Micro SD card, Micro serial, audio) and can also be configured with fingerprint and standard or contactless smart card readers. Additional connectivity as well as barcode and magnetic stripe reading is available via bolt-on modules. For on-the-road use, there's a Havis vehicle dock with additional connectivity, for the office a handy desk dock with dual battery charging.

Available with a choice of no fewer than five Intel 6th, 7th, and 8th generation Core processors, the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet combines excellent performance with very good power management, making double shift operation without battery recharging possible. For best performance we strongly recommend PCIe NVMe solid state storage over the only slighly less expensive SATA SSDs.

As the name implies, this is a rugged device designed to hold up to harsh conditions in the field. All ports have protective doors, there are protective bumpers, the construction is very solid, and Dell provides comprehensive ruggedness testing data.

Overall, in our long-term testing, the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet never let us down and convinced us as an elegant, very competent tablet solution with enough performance and connectivity, very good expandability, and an excellent optional detachable keyboard that we highly recommend. – Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, December 2018

Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet Specifications
Added/changed Added 07/2015, full long-term review 08/2017
Type Rugged tablet
CPU Intel Core i7-8665U: 1.90GHz/4.20GHz, 4 cores/8 threads
Intel Core i7-7600U: 2.80GHz/3.90GHz, 2 cores/4 threads
Intel Core i5-7300U: 2.60GHz/3.50GHz, 2 cores/4 threads
Intel Core i3-7100U: 2.4GHz, 2 cores/2 threads
Intel Core i5-6300U: 2.4GHz/3.00GHz, 2 cores/4 threads
Thermal Design Power All 15 watts
OS Windows 10 Pro (64-bit), Windows 10 Pro with Windows 7 Pro downgrade (64-bit)
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 5300 (300/900MHz)
Memory 8GB or 16GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 Memory
Display "Direct-View" outdoor-readable, LED backlight, Gorilla Glass 3 protective front glass, 560 nits as tested
Display size and resolution 11.6-inch/1920 x 1080 pixel (190 ppi) 16:9
Digitizer/Pens Capacitive multi-touch, glove-capable; optional active pen
Keyboard Onscreen, optional external
Storage 128GB, 256GB or 512GB mSATA Solid State Drive, optional 256GB or 512GB mSATA Opal 2.0 SED, optional mSATA 1TB SSD, optional 512GB or 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Multimedia Pocket None
Slots 1 x microSD card
Housing Impact-resistant, flame-retardant, fiber-reinforced PC-GF50(40) polycarbonate
Temperature -20° to 145°F (-29° to 63°C)
Humidity MIL-STD-810G, Method 507.5, Procedure II, 10-90% noncondensing
Vehicle vibration ASTM D4169-04 (99), Schedule E, Truck Assurance Level II
Salt Fog MIL-STD-810G, Method 509.5, Procedure I (optional)
Enclosure Class IP65
Altitude MIL-STD-810G, Method 500.5, Procedure II (15,000 feet operating)
Shock: Transit Drop MIL-STD-810G transit drop (72/60/48"); 3-foot operating drop
HazLoc Optional: ANSI/ISA.12.12.01 certification capable (Class I, Division 2, Groups A, B, C,D), CAN/CSA C22.2
Certifications See test report here (PDF).
Size (inches) 12.3 x 8.0 x 0.96 inches (312 x 203 x 24 mm)
Weight Starting at 2.82 lbs. (1.3 kg) with single 2-cell battery; weight as tested with two 34Wh batteries: 3.2 lbs.
Power 2-cell 26Wh or 34Wh Li-Ion, optional second 2-cell 26Wh or 34Wh Li-Ion ("up to 19 hours")
Cameras Optional: 5MP video front webcam with privacy shutter, 8mp rear camera with privacy shutter and LED flash
Security Optional: Fingerprint reader, Contactless Smart Card reader
Communication Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 with Bluetooth 4.2; opt. Qualcomm Snapdragon X7 LTE-A DW5811e Gobi5000, opt. Dell Wireless 5816E Gobi 5000 4G LTE (Japan/ANZ), opt. u-blox NEO-M8 GPS
Interface 1 x USB 3.0 Type A, 1 x USB 3.0 Type C, audio in/out, pogo-pin dock/kbd, pogo-pin modular expansion (back); optional 1 x micro RS232
Price Starting at US$1,899 (Dell website, 12/18/2018)
Website Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet web page
Ruggedness results Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet environmental testing report
Spec sheet Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablet spec sheet
Warranty Standard 3-year next business day on-site service after remote diagnosis. Optional 3-year premium support with 24x7 global availability.