Dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme

The Dell Latitude 14 Extreme Rugged ($ 4,705.75 as tested) is aptly named. This laptop is drop-and dust-proof, and hardened against damage, and also has modern features, such as a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce graphics, a fast solid-state drive (SSD) , and Windows 8.1 Pro. It is fast and strong enough to live far, far away in the office. This is what you want in your backpack while you're, say, the exploration for offshore oil. And it's our latest Editors Choice 'for rugged laptop.

Design and Features
Extreme Rugged Latitude 14 is sturdily built for the soldiers on the battlefield and other active uses, such as police and fire departments. The tank-like construction is similar to the Dell Latitude E6420 XFR, although it is a newer chassis. It is a fully ruggedized laptop, and meant to survive harsher environments than the semi-rugged Dell Latitude E6430 ATG. Its chassis measures a beefy 9.75 by 14 by 2 inches (HWD) and weighs 8.39 pounds.

When all of the latches and gates are buttoned up, no chance for dust, snow, water, or even inadvertent prods from tool steel to be lodged in the I / O port of the system. Each door has two steps port latch: sliding lock, no need to be held to disengage, and a pull latch, do. The doors hide a plethora of ports, including the DVD burner, two Ethernet ports, an ExpressCard reader, an HDMI port, a power connector, an SD card reader, two serial ports, a Smart Card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, and a VGA port. Doors also allow access to the Modular SSD / hard drive bay and bay battery system. This means that you can swap out your trip and pass the laptop on to a colleague to use their own Modular drive. Built-in 4G LTE with GPS and a larger 512GB SSD is available as options for about $ 1,000 more than the configuration we tested.

A docking device connector under the chassis is compatible with a desk dock or mounted on a vehicle. The new dock is not compatible with older Dell ATG and XFR laptop, but works in the semi-rugged Dell Latitude 14 Rugged and fully ruggedized Latitude 12 Extreme Rugged laptop line. A sturdy handle on the top edge of the laptop allows you to grab the system off the ground while it is accelerating at a full sprint, or recover from a vehicle in a second. There is an NFC reader under the palm rest and a biometric reader for secure computing. A compact stylus resting in its own compartment, attached to the system with lanyard.

May seem to be the 14-inch 1366-by-768 touch screen to have a low resolution day and age, but it is a unique panel for various reasons. Software used to, military, police and fire field is designed for fast retrieval of information, so probably not a soldier under fire will need a 1080p screen to look multipage spreadsheet. Instead, they are likely to be using a simple touch-based interface to read the weather reports or interactions route. To that end, the touch screen uses resistive single touch-point functions, so you can interact with it even with a gloved hand. Capacitive multitouch screen, on the other hand, require specialized gloves with metal hand onto the hand.

The screen acts as a single button mouse: You can click and drag, but you can not pinch to zoom or right click. Windows operating system treats the display as a mouse as well. The Control Panel of the system does not recognize it as a touch device (which will have at least five points of contact for Windows 8 to recognize it). The touchpad also rugged single-touch devices, there are two physical buttons for mouse clicks. Tech is not all vintage, though. The screen has full visibility daylight, which is important when you use it outside most of the time.

Extreme Rugged Latitude 14 is fully certified and tested to meet the standards of IP65 and MIL-STD-810G, which govern durability. The IP65 certification essentially means that the system is impervious to dust particles and interference, as well as the spray of water in a closed door and exposed port side of the laptop. The MIL-STD-801G certification ensures that the system can survive drops, external environmental impacts, temperature swings, and extreme vibration from the vehicle riding on rough terrain. It is not indestructible, but it is more likely to survive in a battlefield environment than laptops like Dell Precision M2800 or the HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G1 (G4U67UT). Drops, kicks, and vibrations from vehicles are not likely to damage the system beyond cosmetic scratches. The system has a three-year warranty.