A big challenge for rugged Windows tablet makers is the creation of a package that not only accommodates a whole PC with all of its ports, but one that won't let dust and liquids get inside.

And the package must be designed and built so things don't break or come loose when the device is dropped and rattled around. How did Dell meet that challenge?

Given the company's status as one of the world's largest laptop makers, you'd think they'd simply start with one of their consumer or enterprise and put that into a tougher, better sealed housing.

Or, since the 7230 isn't the first rugged Dell tablet, that they simply updated the predecessor 7220. Neither is the case. We compared the insides of the 7230 to those of its predecessor and they are completely different. The 7230 is an entirely new design.

So let's take a closer look. Unlike most Windows laptops and many tablets, the Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet doesn't have multiple removable covers on its back to provide access to RAM memory and internal expansion slots. So if you want to replace one of the PCIe modules (RAM, unfortunately, is soldered and cannot be added to or replaced), or if maintenance becomes necessary, you have to open up the tablet.

That's fairly easy. Undo a couple of dozen small Philips screws and the halves come apart. There are, however, two ribbon cables with fragile connectors between the halves. These connectors have to be carefully unplugged.

The seal between the back and the front part of the housing — both made of impact-resistant, flame-retardant, glass fiber-reinforced PC-GF20FR(40) polycarbonate — is a hard plastic lip on the backside that presses onto a thin black (in designs like that, we like to see the seal in a contrasting color; that makes it much easier to examine it for damage) 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 not easy 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. Note the yellow highlight in the image to the right. That's how the seal keeps liquids outside even if a port should fail or forgotten to be closed.

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 Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet is complex, components such as WiFi (ours had an Intel Model AX211NGW half-card), PCIe NVMe SSD mass storage, GPS (NEO-M9N), 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 immediately obvious is the Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet's thermal management. That includes a small but powerful fan with a heavy metal enclosure that, of course, is sealed towards the interior of the device. Copper pipes conduct heat away from the processor, ancillary electronics, and also the PCIe-based SSD.

And note how little space storage takes today! The super-fast 512GB (up to 2TB optional) PCIe NVMe storage module measure less than an inch square. Compare that to the old rotating hard drives and optical disc bays.

Interestingly, the initial Dell Rugged Tablet that launched in 2015 only had a tiny and nearly invisible fan and no heat pipes. Why the change to beefier thermal management? That's because the original tablet's relatively low-performance processor had a Thermal Design Power (a measure of CPU performance) rating of just 4.5 watt whereas the one in this tablet is 9 watt design that can go up to as high as 29 watts.

But aren't the three processors available for the 7320 is still considered "ultra-low voltage" by Intel? And aren't all ultra-low voltage processors supposed to be able to operate without potentially noisy and troublesome fans in Windows tablets?

Only under certain circumstances. That's because years ago Intel's ultra-low voltage processor did not have a "turbo" mode that allows CPUs to briefly run much quicker than their nominal clock frequency, as long as temperatures don'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 go with a fan in the Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet. This way, performance will not drop due to overheating, no matter what.

The pictures above show the Dell Rugged Extreme Tablet's thermal engineering, taken with our FLIR One Pro infrared camera during a strenuous PCMark 10 performance test benchmark run.

The bright yellow areas are the hottest, and that is where the heat is conducted away from electronics via the system's thermal pipes. On the left you can see 7230's backside with the electronics area reaching 122F, in the middle a close-up of the fan sucking in cool 74F air, and on the right you can see the fan expelling 138F exhaust air. This is all a little hotter than what we saw in the predecessor 7220, probably due to the much higher maximum TDP of the new processor.

Overall, the interior of the Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet is a complex, sophisticated affair that very much 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 was a pioneer. As far back as 2007, Dell had laptop displays that had their screen cover optically bonded to the LCD, and display layers also bonded directly, thus eliminating the number of reflecting surfaces, eliminating the need to AR-coat the bottom of the screen cover, and eliminating any air gaps.

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. In the past, Dell favored advanced optical treatments that concentrated on reducing reflected light as opposed to using battery-draining super-bright backlights. That made for impressive outdoor viewability even without a strong backlight — a Dell rugged tablet we tested in 2017 offered 560 nits luminance and still provided good outdoor viewability.

560 nits was nice and bright back then, but Dell decided to amp up brightness in more recent models. The Latitude 7220 we tested in 2019 clocked in at a measured 1,020 nits. And the new Latitude 7230, rated at 1200 nits, scored a very impressive 1337 in our testing, the highest we've seen in this class.

The image below shows the 7230 outdoors with, from left to right, first looking straight at the display, then angling it slightly so that the sky now reflects on the upper half of the display, and then angling it more so that the sky is reflecting on the full display.

Note the total absence of reflections on the left-most picture. That's a big plus of the 7230's semi-matte display compared to the glossy displays that virtually all smartphones and consumer tablets and most rugged tablets have. There is, however, always a tradeoff with current technology displays. In this case, the semi-matte display diffuses light instead of reflecting it back, as a glossy display would. We've all learned to live with current display technology on our devices, holding them so that reflection is minimized.

To the right, a comparison between a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the Dell 7230 illustrates the difference between a glossy and a semi-matte display. The iPad reflects mirror-like, whereas the Dell mutes the reflections, which makes them much less distracting. Dell's semi-matte display solution actually works better outside that a fully glossy displays.

Also of note: the Dell Optimizer. It's like getting a checkup for your tablet, without having to resort to third party utilities that may or may not be legit. Support Assist makes sure you have the latest drives and downloads, scans the hardware for problems, cleans files, tunes performance, optimizes the network and nukes viruses and malware. It then logs a history so users have a record of how the system has been doing. SupportAssist also provides easy ways to contact an agent , submit files, and get online support.

Cameras: good enough for many jobs

The Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet can be ordered with an optional integrated 5MP video front webcam with a hand-operated privacy shutter, and also an 11MP (up from 8mp in the 7220) rear camera with LED flash that also has a manual privacy shutter. We used to doubt the need for such shutters, but no more. Privacy shutters are clever low-tech solutions to guard against the potential of unauthorized snooping via spyware or malware.

Virtually every smartphone and tablet has front and rear cameras these days, so excluding them in rugged tablets would probably be considered a negative by many customers. Cameras directly integrated into tablets can be used to document work, and, of course, having a camera with a 12-inch screen elevates picture-taking into an entirely new realm.

Below is a compilation of sample pictures taken with the 7230's rear camera. Tap on the image collection to bring up a full size version in a separate window.

We are not generally fans of the standard Windows Camera app. It's just too basic and generic to take full advantage of integrated cameras. The one in our review 7230 was rev 2023.2302.14.0. For image resolution there are just two settings, 3840 x 2160 for 16:9 format, and 3648 x 2736 for 4:3 aspect ratio. No problem with that; the 7230 has plenty of storage space even for a large number of high-res images.

You can set a number of framing grids, you can set contrast, brightness, sharpness, saturation and privacy via the System camera settings, there's time lapse, and several flash settings. If you turn on "advanced controls" you get manual shutter and ISO control, exposure compensation, six white balance settings, timer, and digital zoom. There are several shooting modes: panorama, video, photo, document, whiteboard and barcode. The documentation camera also lets you get as close as four inches — good for sharp close-up details.

For video, there are six resolutions, starting with 480p and going up to 2160p (which is pretty much 4k vide), all at 30 frames per second.

Bottomline here is that Dell gave the 7230 better cameras than most rugged systems have. That's good because today's users are spoiled by the excellent cameras built into smartphones and also by the sophisticated camera imaging apps that are available. As is, this tablet's cameras are good enough for many documentation tasks, and certainly good enough for very good quality conferencing.

Tough and rugged

Ruggedness and durability are sore subjects with consumer tablets where almost universally style prevails over substance. Largely because of that, Dell points out that the 5-year total cost of ownership of a rugged solution is actually only half that of a consumer product.

As is, there are lots of options in the rugged tablet space. When Dell initially announced their Latitude-based rugged Tablet several years ago, a product manager pointed out that fully-rugged tablets tend to be heavy and quite expensive, while lower priced tablets didn't have the kind of features and performance that many prospective tablet users need. So Dell aimed in between and has pursued that approach ever since.

As a result, while the Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet looks and feels solid and trust-inspiring, neither is a tank. Dell simply designed its rugged tablet to handle whatever hazards and conditions might be encountered in the real world.

Rugged tablets may be used in a wide range of temperatures, and so the Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet can operate within an extremely wide temperature range of -20° to 145° Fahrenheit (-29° to 63°Centigrade), which means practically anywhere. .

As for resistance to dust and liquids, the tablet carries an IP65 rating, where the "6" means the device is totally dust-proof, and the "5" that it can also handle low pressure water jets from all directions, albeit with "limited ingress permitted." Using the tablet in the rain is okay, spilling liquids on it is okay, but guard against submersion.

The images below were taken during a Dell media event a few years ago at Lake Travis outside of Austin, Texas. To show their faith in their tablets, Dell strapped a number of them, equipped with CartoPac course tracking software, onto jet skis and sent us tech journalists out on speedy, bumpy rides. No problem. The original tablets' 560 nit displays weren't quite as bright as we'd have liked; today's Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet fixes that with its much brighter 1200 nits display.

Drop tests were conducted in accordance with MIL-STD-810H. The 7230 passed the transit drop tests up to six feet, and 78 drops of single operating unit unit from three feet. That's impressive, but we like to see the ability to survive 4-foot drops while open and operating, because that is the height at which a laptop might be held while in a standing position.

Dell says the device is also independently tested according to MIL-STD-810G and the newer MIL-STD-810H procedures for transit drop, blowing rain, blowing dust and sand, vibration, functional shock, freeze/thaw cycles, and more.

Dell generally has ruggedness testing done by SGS United States and SGD Taiwan, SGS being one of the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification companies. Additional testing was done by the Taiwan and China locations of UL, a global independent safety science company. The images below were taken at a tour of Dell's own ruggedness testing facilities in Austin, Texas.

For use in hazardous locations, C1D2 certification is available. These are becoming more and more important, and they are a prerequisite for deployment in industries such as oil, gas, and petrochemical manufacturing, and many others where ignitable gases or vapor may be present.

Overall, the Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet is just that, rugged. It's very well built, very sturdy, rubber bumpers provide good protection, and ports are well sealed with both plugs and sealing inside. That said, the emphasis here is on an intelligent balance of toughness and ease-of-use, not on heavy, vault-like invulnerability.

Summary: The Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet

Compared to Dell's overall sales volume, the market for rugged tablets is small and the competition from manufacturers focused on just rugged gear fierce. However, Dell is Dell and that name carries weight. Dell also allows customers one-stop shopping for all of their computing needs. So despite the frequent reshuffling of the small Dell rugged group and often lagging a bit behind in technology, Dell is definitely a Tier 1 contender in rugged systems.

The Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet — all new compared to the predecessor 7220 — is for those who want an exceptionally well designed and executed tablet for tough jobs, and for which there is also a perfectly matched optional detachable keyboard.

Its semi-matte 12.0-inch 1920 x 1200 pixel display is very bright and offers superior reflection control, making it easy to use outdoors and even in direct sunlight. It also provides effortless multi-touch capability that works even with gloves on. The included narrow-tip capacitive stylus works well, and there is also an active pen option. With a weight as low as 2.8 pounds, the tablet is remarkably light and handy for a device this rugged.

The Dell 7230 tablet covers connectivity basics (USB Type-A and dual Thunderbolt 4/Type-C, HDMI, Micro SD card, audio) and can also be configured with fingerprint and standard or contactless smart card readers. Additional connectivity (mini-serial, Fischer as well as barcode and magnetic stripe reading) is available via bolt-on modules. For on-the-road use, there's a Havis vehicle dock with additional connectivity, for the office a handy desk dock with dual battery charging.

Available with a choice of three Intel 12th generation Core processors, the Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet combines very good performance with good power management, easily making full shift operation without battery recharging possible. Helping to achieve this high performance are very fast 5200MHz LPDDR5 RAM and PCIe NVMe solid state storage.

As the name implies, this is a rugged device designed to hold up to harsh conditions in the field. All ports have protective doors, there are fully integrated protective bumpers, the construction is very solid, and Dell provides comprehensive ruggedness testing data.

Overall, in our full review, the Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet convinced us as an elegant, very competent tablet solution with excellent performance and connectivity, very good expandability, and an excellent optional detachable keyboard that we highly recommend. – Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, May 2023

Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet Specifications

Added/changed	Full review 05/2023
Type	Rugged tablet
CPU	Intel 12th Gen Core i3-1210U, vPro, 6 cores/8 threads, up to 4.40GHz turbo Intel 12th Gen Core i5-1240U, vPro, 10 cores/12 threads, up to 4.40GHz turbo Intel 12th Gen Core i7-1260U, vPro, 10cores/12 threads, up to 4.70GHz turbo
Thermal Design Power	All 9/29 watts
OS	Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Pro
Graphics	Core i3-1210U: Iris Xe with 96 graphics EUs Core i5-1240U: Iris Xe with 80 graphics EUs Core i7-1260U: Intel UHD Graphics
Memory	Integrated 8GB, 16GB or 32GB 5200MHz LPDDR5 RAM
Display	"Direct-View" outdoor-readable, anti-smudge, anti-glare, LED backlight, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protective front glass, 1200 nits (1337 nits as tested)
Display size and resolution	12.0-inch/1920 x 1200 pixel, 16:10 aspect ratio, 1200 nits luminance (1337 nits in our lab)
Digitizer/Pens	Capacitive Water/glove-capable multi-touch; optional active pen
Keyboard	Onscreen, optional external
Storage	M.2 socket 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
Multimedia Pocket	None
Slots	1 x microSD card, 1 nano SIM
Housing	Est: Impact-resistant, flame-retardant, fiber-reinforced PC-GF50(40) polycarbonate
Temperature	-20° to 145°F (-29° to 63°C)
Humidity	MIL-STD-810H, Method 507.5, Procedure II, 10-90% noncondensing
Vehicle vibration	ASTM D4169-04 (99), Schedule E, Truck Assurance Level II
Salt Fog	MIL-STD-810H, Method 509.5, Procedure I (optional)
Enclosure Class	IP65
Altitude	MIL-STD-810H, Method 500.5, Procedure II (15,000 feet operating)
Shock: Transit Drop	MIL-STD-810H transit drop (48")
HazLoc	Optional: ANSI/ISA.12.12.01 certification capable (Class I, Division 2, Groups A, B, C, D)
Certifications	See test report here (PDF).
Size (inches)	11.65 x 8.0 x 0.94 inches (296 x 203 x 24 mm)
Weight	Starting at 2.78 lbs. (1.26 kg); max. weight 3.5 lbs (1.59 kg)
Power	2-cell 35.6Wh Li-Ion, optional second 2-cell 35.6Wh Li-Ion (hot-swappable with second battery)
Cameras	Optional: 5MP RGB/VGA IR front webcam with privacy shutter, 11mp rear camera with privacy shutter and LED flash
Scanning	Optional: 1D/2D barcode scanner
Security	TPM 2.0 FIPS-140-2 and TCG certified, fingerprint reader, chassis and battery intrusion detection, lock slot; optional: Fingerprint reader, Contactless Smart Card reader
Sensors	Accelerometer, ambient light, digital compass, gyro, lid, SAR
Communication	Intel Wi-Fi 6E (2.4/5/6 GHz) AX211 2x2, 802.11ax with MIMO + Bluetooth 5.2 OR Qualcomm® Wi-Fi 6E (2.4/5/6 GHz) WCN6856-DBS 2x2, 802.11ax with MIMO + Bluetooth 5.3 optional mobile broadband: Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 Global Gigabit LTE with/without eSIM OR Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 Global 5G with/without eSIM
GPS	GPS: uBlox NEO-M9N, L1 (1575.42 MHz)
Interface	2 x Thunderbolt4/USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with Power Delivery 1 x Universal audio jack (UAJ) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port with PowerShare optional expansion right: HDMI 2.0 OR USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A optional expansion top: RJ-45 OR Fischer USB 3.2 and Mini-serial RS-232 OR 1D/2D barcode scanner
Price	Inquire
Website	Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet
Ruggedness results	Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet shopping
Spec sheet	Dell Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet spec sheet
Warranty	Standard 3-year mail-in service after remote diagnosis. Optional 3-5 year support, accidental damage, next-business-day