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It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged laptop
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 9:40 am
by thesupercroc
No Pics but it sounds like it will be modeled after the CF18/19 laptop to tab.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2138920/ ... twist.html
Thoughts?
Re: It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged lap
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:54 am
by ADOR
They already had one fully rugged tablet based on the XT2 XFR model
http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/latitude-xt2-xfr/pd
Re: It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged lap
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:18 pm
by Rob
I've seen and held them. They make me giggle...
Re: It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged lap
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:51 pm
by Shawn
Well, as we have all learned, Ruggedness is a lot more than an aluminum housing.
Re: It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged lap
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 10:37 pm
by CliC
I'd agree that that twirly-screen-frame thing looks a bit fragile. But if you need to sacrifice some build quality for more computational grunt, they do offer i7s, 16GB RAM, amd HD5000 graphics, which is a bit better than what Panny has in most of their models.
Re: It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged lap
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 3:59 pm
by Shawn
CliC wrote:.....you need to sacrifice some build quality for more computational grunt........which is a bit better than what Panny has in most of their models.
Truth be told most people don't NEED more "grunt". Rugged computer users NEED something that always works. Rainstorm or 120 degree heat inside a vehicle. The less complex, the more dependable something is.
Everyone thinks they need a Shelby Mustang when a Ranger pickup will do the job with a lot less hassle. Everyone "thinks" they need 64bit OS because Microsoft told them they do. 64bit and an I7 won't make a web page load faster or a Word document any better looking. More "computational grunt" means more heat which is electronics enemy number 1.
I think sacrificing build quality is unacceptable in a fully RUGGED laptop. Fully rugged is all about build quality and not speed.
Re: It looks like Dell is trying to get in to the rugged lap
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:01 pm
by CliC
Well, that's all true, because people sacrifice other things as well in getting a fully-rugged machine: screen resolution, weight, $$$.
My biggest need for computational horsepower over the last few years has been to run virtual machines*. It would have been nice back when I needed a hazardous-location-rated machine if I could have only carried one computer to both host a VM or three and to take outside in a plant. But hazloc-rated means fully-rugged, which means I took a hit on max RAM, CPU, screen resolution, and weight (weight I didn't much care about). My use case may be unusual, but I'd still like to be able to carry just one machine on trips.
It looks as though there may be improvement on this front however, with Haswell chips making heat somewhat less of an issue, and tablets making high-res screens popular again. Max RAM seems to be going up as well (speaking of which, you DO need a 64-bit OS to fully utilize even 4GB of RAM). I'm holding out hope things continue to improve, because I too like the build quality of rugged machines in general and Panasonic in particular.
* VMs can make web browsing faster (I don't have the patience to make something look pretty in Word), because they're a great way to keep your base OS install clean and free of cruft and intentionally-induced breakage, er, testing
