The other big problem makers of rugged Windows tablet face is that they also have to build this complex package so that dust and water won't get inside despite a whole complement of onboard PC standard ports, and so that things don't break or come loose when the device is dropped and rattled around. How did Dell go about making it all possible?

Well, they had a good base in the form of their existing Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme convertible notebook (see our full review), and that machine serves as the foundation for Dell's rugged tablet.

In essence, Dell condensed the guts of their convertible into a pure tablet form factor, retaining the same 11.6-inch display size and much of the functionality, but paring 40% of the weight and updating underlying technologies in the process.

That's not to say that the tablet and the convertible use the same internal layout. Tablets and convertibles are inherently different, with convertibles being two-box designs and tablets all-in-ones.

Unlike most mobile Windows systems, the 12 Rugged Tablet doesn't have any removable doors on its backside to provide access to RAM memory and internal expansion slots. So if you want to replace memory or one of the PCIe modules, or if maintenance becomes necessary, you have to take the tablet apart.

That's not terribly difficult. Undo a couple of dozen small Philips screws and the halves easily come apart. There are three ribbon cables between the halves and those always have fragile connectors, so care is advised.

The seal between the back and the front part of the housing — both made of impact-resistant, flame-retardant, fiber-reinforced PC-GF50(40) polycarbonate — is a hard plastic lip on the backside that presses onto a thin black rubber o-ring seal sitting in a channel on the front side. The o-ring seal is long and complex but seems replaceable. What's interesting here is that the seal doesn't just go along the perimeter of the tablet. Instead, it weaves in and out, protecting the electronics inside, but leaving anything I/O-related outside.

That's because it is quite difficult to properly seal standard PC ports and connectors. In most rugged devices those ports are not actually sealed to the inside. Instead, rubber plugs and hinged doors provide the protection. If one of them isn't closed properly, liquids can enter the inside of such devices. With Dell's design, it can't.

In the Dell tablet there are protective plugs also, but if one of them is damaged or not closed properly, liquids may enter the I/O compartment they protect but they can't get into the interior of the tablet. Doing it this way is more complex, but potential damage is limited to an I/O module and not the entire tablet. And I say "potential" damage, because Dell actually applies what they call HZO liquid protection and describe as a "nanotechnology solution that inoculates electronic components from damage and failure."

An additional advantage of separating I/O modules from the motherboard is that this makes it much easier to upgrade and/or customize I/O. No need to redesign the motherboard.

Even though the internal layout of the Dell Rugged Tablet is complex, components such as WiFi (ours had an Intel Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 7260, Model 7260NGW half-card), mass storage (256GB Lite-On M.2 Solid State Disk), GPS (NEO-M8N), and other wireless modules, as well as the various antenna blocks, are easily accessible once the tablet has been opened.

The modularity, of course, is in Dell's DNA, the result of decades of offering an almost infinite number of permutations of options available right on Dell's website. So almost any feature for which there might be alternatives — or of which a customer might want more or less of — is not on the motherboard but designed as modules.

One thing that's not immediately obvious is that the Dell Rugged Tablet does have a small fan. But weren't ultra-low voltage processors supposed to be able to operate without fans in Windows tablets?

In the past, yes, under certain circumstances. That's because in the past there was no Intel "turbo" mode, the processor's ability to briefly run at higher (and sometimes much higher) than the nominal clock frequency, as long as temperatures didn't exceed certain levels.

Turbo mode is great, but it can turn into a problem in rugged machines. When a machine gets too hot out there in the desert and there is no active cooling, performance will drop, and can drop to unacceptable levels. That's why Dell chose to use a fan in the 12 Rugged Tablet. This way, performance will not drop, no matter what.

Overall, the interior of the Dell 12 Rugged Tablet is a complex, sophisticated affair that clearly shows Dell's experience in mobile computing technology. Components and modules are clearly marked and have their own 2D scan code. Wires that go from modules to their respective antennae located around the perimeter of the tablet for best reception are guided and held in place with little loops and guides.

But, regardless of size or sharpness, providing the right display for a system that's being used outdoors is much more difficult than for one that's mostly used indoors in an office or at home. That's because we now have incredibly sharp, photorealistic-grade displays for indoor use, displays that one can't imagine getting much better. But outdoors is a totally different story.

That's because a) it's much brighter outdoors, with even the brightest display not being a match for sunlight, and b) because there are all sorts of reflections that can quickly make a display unreadable.

With regard to LCD outdoor viewability, Dell has been a pioneer. As far back as 2007, Dell had laptop displays that had their screen cover optically bonded to the LCD, thus eliminating the reflections from the LCD surface, eliminating the need to AR-coat the bottom of the screen cover, and eliminating the air gap.

The methods Dell applied reduced overall reflectivity and resulted in a very good effective contrast ratio. At the time, we termed it "definitely readable in sunlight." That was rare back then.

Time doesn't stand still though, and good outdoor-viewable displays are now available from all of the major rugged laptop vendors. Some are offering very high screen brightness of up to 1,500 nits, and optical treatments are continually refined. Dell describes the 12 Rugged Extreme's "Direct-View" screen as "designed to reduce reflections, preserve contrast and conserve battery life."

In an article entitled "What Really Makes A Mobile Device Screen Readable Outdoors?" Dell Rugged Mobility Marketing Director Patrick Seidensticker reiterated Dell's thought process that led them to concentrate on reducing reflected light as opposed to using battery-draining super-bright backlights. That means reducing the number of layers as each surface reflects sunlight back at the user, or bonding layers together to eliminate surfaces. And it also means using anti-reflective (AR) and anti-glare (AG) coatings. These two measures combined make for impressive outdoor viewability even without a strong backlight.

How well did all this work in the 12 Rugged Tablet whose display, according to its owner's manual, has a maximum luminance of 730 nits? For illustration, the pictures below are a side-by-side comparison between the 11.6-inch Dell screen and that of an Apple iPad Air 2 we're using around the office for this and that.

Both screens can easily be viewed outdoors, with the Dell tablet somewhat brighter than the iPad, which is said to run at about 450 nits. The iPad's fully glossy display surface, however, reflects far more than the Dell's screen.

Both screens have almost perfect viewing angles horizontally as well as vertically, which is something we consider mandatory in a tablet. There are, however, differences. The Dell tablet doesn't lose brightness when viewed from extreme angles whereas the iPad appears noticeably darker. On the other hand, whites assume a bit of a yellow tinge on the Dell when viewed from extreme angles, whereas color remains unchanged on the iPad.

The picture below has both tablets sitting on the ground in direct afternoon sun. Here, the higher luminance of the Dell becomes again apparent. More importantly, though, is that the semi-matte Dell display mutes reflections as to make them almost irrelevant, whereas the iPad screen shows sharp blueish-purple and almost mirror-like reflections.

The final picture shows the 12 Rugged Tablet next to the iPad Air 2, with both displays off. It's instantly clear that although the Dell display is technically glossy just like the iPad's, Dell's DirectView controls reflections much better.

As is, the privacy shutters are clever low-tech solutions to guard against unauthorized snooping. You simply slide the camera window over so the lens is covered. We did take a few test stills that all came out in 1280 x 720 resolution of acceptable quality. Test video recorded in full 1920 x 1080 HD. The video was of good quality and the camera never sputtered, fell behind, or spent too much time hunting for focus. However, any user intending to use the cameras will have to resort to third party camera apps to really use the cameras.

Tough enough for the field