We are sure that most of you are still unfamiliar with the term “rugged laptop” or “rugged tablet”. This is very reasonable considering that most laptop users today come from professionals, students, and casual gamers .
Devices or gadgets that are equipped with rugged frills are easily devices that have above average capabilities, in terms of their resistance to temperature, humidity, and even extreme shocks.
This is because all devices with these rugged frills usually have a design from the outside in that is made as strong and sturdy as possible. But of course you have to get it at a fairly expensive price.
Let’s try to get to know one of the devices that is quite sought after right now, the Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet!
General Specification
- CPU: Intel Core i7 8665U 1.9 GHz (4 cores, 8 MB cache)
- Memory: 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 upgradeable to 16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3
- Capacity: 128 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD upgradeable to Class 40 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD 2 TB
- GPU: Integrated Intel UHD 620 with u-blox NEO-m8 GPS card
- Screen: 11.6″, FHD (1920 x 1080),1000 Nits Outdoor-Readable, AG/US/Polarizer, Glove-Capable Multi-touch Screen
- Ports: 1x AC adapter port , 1x USB Type C support DisplayPort, 1x USB 3.1 Type A Gen 1 with device charging, 1x micro SD slot, 1x combo audiojack, 1x Kensington Lock
- Battery: 34 Wh with ExpressCharge
- Dimensions: 312 mm x 203 mm x 24.4 mm
- Weight: from 1.33 kg
- Price: US$ 1,889 to US$ 4,266
Pros Materials and physics are very sturdy, the screen is very bright, the battery life is very long and swappable
Disadvantages Incomplete port availability ( Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, Ethernet ), heavy, quite expensive
Designed with extraordinary physical strength and durability, the Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet is on the market as an answer to tablet demands for very specific sectors.
Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet is claimed to be able to withstand extreme temperatures, extreme humidity, so that it can be used in all fields. Starting from deserts, mountains, in places full of snow, to beaches and seas full of salty water.
In the past, this kind of tablet was usually equipped with a processor, GPU, RAM, and components that were not too powerful . This laptop is actually given components that are classified as having high specifications and fast.
Although of course we have to say, if you compare it with gaming laptops or other high-performance laptops at the same price, the component capabilities of this laptop are definitely far behind.
From this we can conclude that this laptop should be designed according to the needs of its users. Good for users who are military, for those who have a vehicle repair shop, or workshops who all have to carry this tablet at work.
No wonder if you look directly at the Dell website, you can customize it as freely as you want. Of course with the consequences of different prices, and all quite high!
Pricing and Availability
Priced from IDR 26 million to IDR 60 million, the Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet is arguably an extreme rugged tablet that attracted quite a lot of attention when it was released in 2019.
When you look at Dell’s website, you can choose at least 3 CPUs in this tablet. Starting from Intel Core i3 8145U 2.1 GHz (2 cores, 4 MB cache ), Intel Core i5 8365U 1.6 GHz 4 cores, 6 MB cache , to the highest Intel Core i7 8665U 1.9 GHz (4 cores, 8 MB cache ). Check the ranking of all laptop CPUs here.
In addition, you can also upgrade several components, which we will try to discuss one by one. First you can upgrade the RAM from 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 to the highest 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3.
Furthermore, you can upgrade the storage capacity of this tablet, starting from a Class 35 SSD with a capacity of 128 GB only to a Class 40 SSD with a capacity of up to 2 TB which has a price difference of around Rp. 1 million to Rp. 10 million.
The third upgrade you can do is to add a Wireless LAN Card. You can buy a tablet that doesn’t have a LAN card at all, up to one that uses WiFi 6 AX200 802.11ax with a price difference of around Rp. 400 thousand.
Fourth, you can upgrade the battery used by this tablet so that you can get a battery with the Long Lifecycle feature . Don’t forget you can also choose adapters ranging from 45 Watts, 45 Watts Type C, to 90 Watts.
Then for those of you who use this tablet in a hazardous work environment or full of hazardous materials, you can again upgrade to get a tablet with the Hazardous Location Certification version .
Now, finally, you can choose the type of warranty you want to give this tablet. You can choose the lowest, namely 3 years of ProSupport to the highest for 5 years of ProSupport with a price difference of around IDR 4 million!
Apart from hardware and warranty that you can upgrade according to your needs, you can also request installation of some additional applications. Starting from Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office, operating systems, applications to open PDFs, photo and video design applications, to security software from McAfee.
The point is, in terms of availability, it seems that it is difficult for us to find this item in stores, at least in e-commerce . But considering that this tablet has a very specific market, it’s a good idea for those of you who want to buy it to go directly to Dell’s official website to order this tablet according to the specifications needed.
Design
As the name suggests, this tablet belongs to Dell’s Latitude line, which has a laptop for business. This means that this one tablet was created also for professionals, and not for use at home.
Furthermore, this tablet is in sales combined with other tablets and laptops that have Rugged frills or enter the Rugged Series if you see it directly on the Dell website.
We think this is important to differentiate the niche market from Dell itself. Where most users of the Latitude series are professionals from civil circles who need a high-performance laptop with an elegant and beautiful design.
Instead of having an elegant and beautiful design, the entire line of Dell’s Rugged Series has a very sturdy design. Not only in terms of the material of manufacture, but also in terms of build quality which is very strong.
Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet itself has a very intimidating design, with a black color selection. Besides that you are also not given another color choice by Dell, only black!
The ‘wrapping’ material of this tablet is made of polycarbonate plastic, where the bezel on the front and side has a matte and rubberized finish , aka has a rubber texture.
At the four corners, this tablet is equipped with a bumper that can protect this tablet well if accidentally dropped from a high place. In addition, around the LCD on this tablet, you can find a black perimeter that can provide a little room for your fingers when carrying this tablet while working.
In addition, you can also see that there are eight physical buttons at the bottom of the tablet screen. You can adjust some of its functions according to your wishes (P1-P3), but the rest are dedicated buttons that can be used to adjust several things on this laptop.
Display
As one of the most important physical components in a tablet, the Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet has a screen specification that we think is very classy. But of course this is very much needed.
This tablet has a screen specification of 11.6″, FHD (1920 x 1080), 1000 Nits Outdoor-Readable, AG/US/Polarizer, Glove-Capable Multi-touch Screen. Just try to look at the frills that are in the specifications.
Starting from the brightness level that reaches 1000 nits which will certainly be very useful for those of you who work a lot in the field and have to carry this tablet everywhere for your work.
Multi touch screen capabilities that can support 10 points, and you can even use gloves to do multi touch screens on this tablet. Although it does take a little emphasis when using gloves.
Up to various features that can support the security of this tablet screen. What is clear is that the screen of this tablet is worthy of being carried outdoors , because it is dustproof and water resistant as well.
Don’t forget Dell also provides this tablet with a 4 inch capacitive stylus which has a slightly thicker tip (6 mm) but with a harder surface so it is more comfortable to use.
This is a good improvement over the same tablet in the previous version. Where in previous versions Dell provides a stylus with a rather small tip (3 mm) but has a rubber tip .
This laptop’s new stylus even has a pencil-like feel when used, and even the sound is similar. We think this is very important, especially for users who use this stylus in their work.
Keyboard
Although this Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme has a tablet title. Dell still provides an option for its users to buy an optional keyboard . Our advice is that you keep buying additional keyboards for this tablet.
This is because Dell has one of the best detachable keyboards on the market today. In addition, specifically for the keyboard provided for this tablet, it already has IP65 certification for IDR 4-5 million.
This tablet’s full-scale keyboard has a standard shape, but still has a strong impression. However, the size of this keyboard is actually thinner when you compare it to the body of the tablet itself.
In addition, this tablet’s additional keyboard is also equipped with a 4-level brightness level, which will firmly attach to the tablet with a magnetic mechanism. Interesting, considering this laptop is intended for heavy work.
However, one of the other important things that you should buy if you decide to buy this keyboard is the kickstand. The back of the screen body is very important so that you can use the keyboard on this tablet comfortably.
Webcam
Perhaps it is more appropriate to call it a camera, this laptop has a front camera and a rear camera which by default has a resolution of 1080p. However, this tablet can get images up to a resolution of 2592×1944 and 3264×2448.
As for these specifications, we think it’s more than enough for a tablet. Back again, because even in its designation this tablet is probably rarely used to take very detailed and ‘artful’ pictures, right?
Well unless you want to upload photos via this tablet to post on Instagram!
Audio
It’s more than enough, but we don’t think audio is too important for a tablet that will be used outdoors . Who else wants to listen to music in a factory, in a workshop, or in a disaster area, right?
What is clear when needed, the speakers owned by the Dell Latitude 7220 in our opinion are quite loud and clear. It’s not very good in terms of quality, but in our opinion it’s very good.
Ports and Connectivity
Despite having a tablet title, in fact the Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet has very complete ports and connectivity. Much more complete when compared to tablets that are often used today.
All ports on this tablet are concentrated on the right side of the tablet. In addition, if you look closely you can see that all the ports of this tablet are protected by some kind of physical cover.
This is intended so that users who use this tablet in a dusty environment can prevent this tablet from getting dust which can then damage the inside of this tablet.
The ports you can find on this tablet include 1x AC adapter port , 1x USB Type C support DisplayPort , 1x USB 3.1 Type A Gen 1 with device charging, 1x micro SD slot, 1x combo audiojack, 1x Kensington Lock.
In addition, in terms of connectivity, you can choose from the version that does not have a WiFi Card, which uses Intel Wireless AC 9560 802.11ac, to those that use Intel WiFi 6 AX200 802.11ax with or without Bluetooth .
This of course comes back to the users of this tablet, in this case if you are really interested in buying it. You can consider whether you need WiFi or not, but the price difference is only around IDR 400 thousand.
Performance and Battery
Compared to some of the previous Dell Latitude 7220 series, this series can be said to be quite spectacular. Where Dell decided to use Intel Core i3 to Core i7 which has 2 to 4 cores.
Although as far as we know, currently Dell is still using Whiskey Lake, this tablet is capable of delivering high performance. Unfortunately, compared to its predecessor that uses Intel Core-M, this processor is feared to be easy to heat when used.
Now you don’t need to worry because the CPU used by this laptop already has a TDP of 15 watts which is very low, but has a very powerful ability to support the work of this tablet.
The next question is, do you need a tablet with a Core i3 CPU that has 2 cores or a tablet with a Core i5 to Core i7 CPU that has 4 cores? The answer is it depends.
What is clear is that laptops that have more cores are certainly more likely to have a higher clockspeed so that they can push tablet performance to higher numbers, but that means a higher power draw as well.
After all, this processor is now widely used by other extreme rugged tablets available on the market. For example, the DT301X 2-in-1 that uses the Intel Core i7 8550U, the Getac UX10 2-in-1 that uses the Intel Core i7 8265U, to the Winmate M133WK 2-in-1 that uses the Intel Core i5 8265U.
When benchmarking using PassMark 6.1 the score was 5,979.5 which was higher than Getac UX10 (3,918.0) but lost to DT301X (6,233.4) and Winmate M133WK (6,158.4).
As for when benchmarking with Overall PassMark 9.0 this tablet gets a score of 3,960.3. Finally, when we tried benchmarking using Overall CrystalMark, we got a score of 332.183. Both beat Getac UX10 and Winmate M133WK which use equivalent processors.
In addition, when benchmarking the graph using 3DMark SkyDiver obtained a score of 4,908 and using 3DMark Fire Strike a score of 1,230 was obtained. The actual score is a bit low but doesn’t seem to be too bothersome if the tablet is used as intended.
But again, it’s a little different from when we benchmark a gaming laptop. You can’t see this benchmarking value , and it immediately translates that one extreme rugged tablet is better than the other.
Moreover, most tablets of this kind are sold with a very large selection of processors, and usually the choice is freed up to its users. What is clear is that for the highest version of the Dell Latitude 7220, Dell is arguably the fastest.
Besides being fast, one of the important aspects of this tablet is the consistency of performance which is also quite good. Where these tablets rarely experience a decrease in performance which is often caused by thermal throttling .
The battery life of this tablet can be said to be very high. Especially if you choose a version that uses a combination of batteries. The dual battery system owned by this tablet allows users to ‘ hot swap’ batteries quickly with each other.
Actually you can use this tablet continuously. The trick is to use this tablet as usual and perform charging another battery that is not being used. It should be noted that it uses a type B plug , so you must have an adapter ready.
However, if you don’t charge, for example , you have to carry these two tablet batteries while exploring in the forest. Of course you can’t charge the battery right?
Now from the test results, the battery life varies from 7 hours (very high performance with 100% backlit to 24 hours full (power saver with 0% backlight). Of course the durability is extraordinary!
The thing that must be considered is the fact that this tablet has such a powerful CPU but very efficient use of power. Dell succeeded in making the configuration so perfect that it could make a tablet with this efficient capability.
Hot
Thanks to Intel’s proprietary Whiskey Lake CPU, this high-performance tablet manages to maintain its temperature at a safe level. Tall? Of course sometimes these tablets can produce a fairly high core temperature.
However, with proper use, even the surface temperature of these tablets tends to be very cold. Starting from 24C to be in the range of 30C. Of course the temperature that can be tolerated by human hands is not it?
Interestingly, as reported by Rugged PC Review, when they were tested for sustained high performance, they only found that the highest surface temperature was only 32C and never more.
Conclusion
This tablet is one of the ‘masterpiece’ owned by Dell. It has high durability, high performance, but also quite high battery life. You could say this tablet has succeeded in being one of the best on the market.
Especially for those of you who work in the field and need a tablet to carry everywhere. Although of course you or your company have to spend very deep for a unit from this laptop!