Dell Latitude 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet

With state-of-the-art tech, Dell's rugged tablet is now lighter, sharper, more secure, and much faster
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

On October 12, 2023, Dell introduced the Lattitude 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet not in a press release, but in its blog. The new 7030 is a rugged 10-inch Windows tablet, which means that Dell will finally be represented in the rather competitive (vertical) market for heavy duty small & light tablet computers for the field. Judging by the specs, the newcomer should pack just as much punch as Dell's quite formidable 12-inch Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme.

Apart from now having an entry in the 10-inch market, Dell sees the new 7030 as a companion product to its larger 12-inch 7230.

The bigger tablet weighs more (starting at 2.82 pounds vs 2.24 pounds for the new 7030), but you get 41% more screen real estate and an extra USB port. So the 12-incher may be used more in more stationary applications, whereas the smaller, lighter 10-inch tablet can be carried around all day long.

But if Dell sees them as companions, can the small tablet measure up when handling workloads? It can, because it uses almost identical tech with the exact same Intel 12th gen processors and the same 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution.

The table below shows the two stack up against each other:

Dell Latitude	7030 Rugged Extreme	7230 Rugged Extreme
Launched	October 2023	October 2022
CPU generation	Intel 12th gen Core	Intel 12th gen Core
CPU options	i3-1210U, i5-1240U, i7-1260U	i3-1210U, i5-1240U, i7-1260U
Display	10.1" 1920x1080 (224 ppi)	12.0" 1920x1200 (189 ppi)
Aspect ratio	16 : 10	16 : 10
Luminance	1000 nits	1200 nits
Size	10.3 x 7.4 x 1.00 inches	11.7 x 8.0 x 0.94 inches
Weight	from 2.24 lbs.	from 2.80 lbs.
RAM	up to 32GB LPDDR5	up to 32GB LPDDR5
Mass storage	up to 2TB PCIe NVMe	up to 2TB PCIe NVMe
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	Wi-Fi 6E
Power	36 whr or 2 x 18 whr Li-Ion	1 or 2 x 35.6 whr
Battery Life	"All-day endurance"	Up to 20 hrs
Cameras	opt. 5 and 11mp	opt. 5 and 11mp
USB Type A	1 x USB 3.2	2 x USB 3.2
USB Type C	2 x TB4 or 2 x USB 4	2 x TB4
Expansion	RJ45, USB-A, scan	RJ45, HDMI, scan, COM, Fischer
Handle	Opt. soft or rigid	Opt. soft or rigid
Kickstand	fixed angle	fixed angle
Sealing	IP65	IP65
Transit Drop	4-feet	4-feet

Very close indeed. Pretty much identical tech, ruggedness, and ports, with the 7030 weighing a good half pound less, its screen not quite as bright, and for some reason its comes with two available battery configurations — either an internal 36 whr battery or two externally and thus hot-swappable 18 watt-hour batteries.

Whether the "companion product" argument factors into customer purchase decisions or not, fact is that Dell now has a competent, high-performance rugged 10-inch Windows tablet to duke it out with the likes of the Getac UX10, Panasonic Toughbook G2, the DT Research 301, RuggON PX501, or Juniper Mesa Pro.

But let's look at the new Satellite 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet in its own right. There's, for a 10.1-inch tablet, the very sharp 1920 x 1200 pixel display. On a 10.1-inch screen that means 224 pixels per inch. As for display brightness, the 7030's 1000 nits luminance is roughly twice that of a consumer tablet. There's, of course, capacitive multi-touch with glove-touch capability, and an active digitizer is optionally available.

Under the hood, the 7030 houses one of three available Intel "Alder Lake" 12th generation Core processors. Alder Lake was a milestone gen for Intel, the first major line to use power and economy cores, with power chips doing the heavy lifting and economy cores everyday household and utility work. The three U-Series chips are the same as those available for the 12-inch 7230 and they are of the "9/29 watt" variety (as compared to the hotter running 15/55 watt U-Series chips found in, for example, the Getax UX10). About the only opportunity Dell missed is giving the 7030 Intel 13th generation "Raptor Lake" CPUs, which are sort of Alder Lake 2.0.

Customers can get as much as 32GB of integrated (soldered) DDR5 RM and as much as 2TB of superfast PCIe NVMe storage. There's Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 802.11ax with Bluetooth 5.2 (or a Qualcomm version with Bluetooth 5.3), and there's, optionally, 4G LTE or global 5G, and uBlox NEO-M9N GNSS. For ports, the little 7030 has dual Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 Type-C ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port with power share. All good.

As far as expansion goes, customers can add an RJ45 jack, or a Standard USB-A port, or a universal audio jack, or a barcode scanner. Dual-battery versions can also get a micro SD card and micro SIM slot, and there are smartcard reader options. We recommend the available detachable keyboard that locks into place so that the 7030 can be used as a standard laptop mode (or folded flat 180 degrees).

Full ruggedness

Ruggedness and durability are sore subjects with consumer tablets where almost universally style prevails over substance. But consumer tech costs less than rugged tech, which can make rugged a hard sell. Dell, however, points out that the 5-year total cost of ownership of a rugged solution is actually only half that of a consumer product.

Rugged devices are heavier, but they don't have to be tanks (the 2-1/4 pound 7030 is a good example); they just have to be designed and built to handle whatever conditions and eventualities will be encountered in the real world. For the new Dell tablet, like the original one, that includes IP65 sealing, where the "6" means it's totally dustproof and the "5" means it's also protected against low pressure water jets from all directions. The device can operate within an extremely wide temperature range of -20° to 145° Fahrenheit (-29° to 63°Centigrade), which means practically anywhere. That, and the new 7030 can handle 4-foot drops.

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

For use in hazardous locations, C1D2 (Groups A, B, C, and D) 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.

Security

For security, the Latitude 7030 Extreme Tablet offers FIPS 140-2 TPM 2.0 functionality to store secured information. The available processors support vPro, a set of Intel security and remote management technologies that offer multiple lines of built-in defenses, and there are also Dell's advanced security and data protection and encryption tools. There's a cable lock slot for physical security, available FIPS 201-certified smart card reader, contactless smart card reader, and fingerprint reader.

What Dell's newest rugged tablet means

Compared to Dell's overall sales volume (about $100 billion), the market for rugged tablets is fairly small, perhaps $700 million per year worldwide. Now having very competitive rugged tablet options not only in the 12-inch class, but with the new 7030 also in the 10-inch market will undoubtedly add to Dell's rugged sales.

The new Latitude 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet has a lot going for it. Its starting weight of just 2-1/4 pounds makes it a good deal lighter than the competition. In terms of tech and performance it is virtually identical to the powerful 12-inch 7230. It has excellent connectivity. It's nicely customizable, has a great detachable keyboard option, and also a roster of very useful accessories.

Add to that Dell's significant corporate capabilities and services and one-stop shopping appeal, and this new 10-inch rugged Windows tablet should very likely become quite popular. — Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, October 2023