Dell unveils rugged tablet PC

Andrew Nusca | Oct 28, 2009

Dell unveiled a 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC, the Latitude XT2 XFR, the first multitouch tablet PC that can withstand ballistic shock, extreme temperatures, dust, sand and moisture.

The Latitude XT2 XFR joins the fully-rugged Latitude E6400 XFR and the semi-rugged Latitude E6400 ATG laptops in Dell’s extreme computing family.

If you’re wondering who needs a system like this, it’s probably not for you. (Answer: Military, police, border patrol, field service organizations, factory fulfillment and first responders--pretty much anyone who works in a harsh environment.)

As you can imagine, the basic innards of the device are shared with Dell’s standard-issue Latitude XT2 tablet.

Ruggedized specs for the Latitude XT2 XFR, after the jump:

38mm thick and starts at 2.45kg with four-cell battery and solid state drive.
Meets MIL-810G standards for operation in harsh environments.
Compression-sealed and rugged I/O doors, LCD, and keyboard, provide an IP54 level of "Ingress Protection"--that is, resistance to moisture and dust.
Ideal for installation in police or first-responder vehicles where space is at a premium.
Intel Core 2 Duo processors with up to 5GB of DDR3 1,066 MHz memory.
QuadCool Thermal Management System for extreme temperatures from minus -23 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius.
Four-, six- and nine-cell battery options.
Standard data security features: Dell ControlVault, Dell ControlPoint. Optional: solid state and spinning disk drives with full disk encryption.
Impact resistant, sunlight viewable, 12.1-inch wide LED display with capacitive multitouch gestures-enabled. Resistive touchscreen (e.g. using gloves on the job) optional.
Optional hot-swappable modules: GPS (coming soon), webcam.
Optional expansion sliver provides camera/light, serial, and RJ11 inputs.
Wireless LAN 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and mobile broadband.
Optional mobile rugged docking and mounting hardware.