This is Astringo’s comprehensive review and comparison of the Dell Rugged Extreme 7220 and it’s current replacement: the Dell Rugged Extreme 7230 tablet, is it a worthy upgrade? We will firstly look at the slightly older 7220, it’s pros and cons, then compare it against the current generation entry from Dell’s Rugged Tablet production line. Comparing their strengths and weakness’ will help you as a consumer decide which tablet works best for you or your company. And if you have any other questions, do not hesitate to reach out to our team through either our live chat feature, or the contact form here: https://astringo-rugged.com/contact/

Dell Rugged 7220

The 7220 is the successor to the Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme that won an Editors’ Choice in January 2018. The tablet is clad in matte black polycarbonate plastic with rubberized bumpers on the corners. The screen bezels are thick. A sturdy sliding shutter on the top edge blocks the webcam if you’re concerned about damage or unwanted onlookers, while buttons below the screen let you brighten or dim the display, raise or lower audio volume, toggle auto-rotate between portrait and landscape, or use programmable shortcuts. (Programming the buttons and fast access to a variety of settings is provided by a Rugged Control Center utility or onscreen taskbar you download from the Dell support site. Another utility lets you configure the touch screen for finger, glove, or rainy operation.)

It measures the same 0.96 by 12.3 by 8 inches, though it’s a few ounces lighter at 2.93 pounds without its optional keyboard cover. Like the 7212, it’s rated to survive temperatures from -20 degrees F to 145 degrees F, a four-foot drop when switched off, and a three-foot drop during use.

The base model teams a Core i3-8145U processor with 8GB of memory, a 128GB NVMe solid-state drive, and Windows 10 Pro. The display is a full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) touch screen with an anti-glare, anti-smudge Gorilla Glass top layer and 1,000 nits of brightness for use in outdoor sunshine. There’s a 5-megapixel face recognition webcam for Windows Hello logins and an 8-megapixel rear camera.

Your unit can pile on the options including a quad-core, 1.9GHz (4.8GHz turbo) Core i7-8665U chip, the maximum 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD (the top choice is 2TB), the backlit keyboard cover, an active stylus pen, 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) instead of 802.11ac networking, Qualcomm mobile broadband with an AT&T SIM card, and dual hot-swappable batteries. Dell also offers a rigid carrying handle and Havis vehicle dashboard dock – we’ll get to those later.

Need more battery life from your rugged tablet? Dell offers a hot-swappable battery technology that allows you to swap your batteries out on the move – as long as one is plugged in and charged of course. The batteries are positioned toward the bottom on the exterior of the tablet, providing easy access to the batteries and their removal mechanisms, those of which are easy to understand and use while keeping the batteries securely attached.

Both the front and rear cameras default to 1080p but can capture fairly bright and sharp images at up to 2,592 by 1,944 and 3,264 by 2,448 resolution respectively. You’re not going to use the Rugged Extreme Tablet as a boombox while you hike through warehouses or disaster areas, but its single speaker can pump out relatively loud and clear audio, perhaps a bit hollow but even letting me hear overlapping tracks in my MP3s.

You can purchase the Dell Rugged Extreme 7220 from Astringo directly! You can find it under our “Rugged Tablet” section.

Accessories

The removable kickstand, secured by an anchored plastic screw (a dime or thumbnail will do if you don’t have a screwdriver handy), props the tablet at almost any angle. There’s absolutely no wobble if you tap the screen while the Dell’s propped up. The keyboard cover snaps magnetically onto the bottom edge of the tablet, though its hold is too weak to let you pick up the heavy slate by the keyboard. It folds upward to cover the screen.

Like other tablets with kickstands and keyboard covers, the 7220 is much happier and better balanced on a desk or table than in your lap. That said, the Dell keyboard cover is above average, with four levels of RGB backlighting in customizable colors. Top-row keys like Escape and Delete are small, and you must team the Fn key with the left and right cursor arrows for Home and End (though there are dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys). But the typing feel is surprisingly good, with adequate travel and snappy feedback.

You can purchase both the Rugged 7220 Kickstand and Rugged 7220 Keyboard from Astringo directly!

Dell Rugged Extreme 7230 (Current Generation)

The Latitude 7230 Rugged Tablet offers so many configuration options and available add-ons that it’s almost impossible to pin down price points for prefab configurations. You’ll find just too many options to choose from, all legitimate needs for the businesses, services, and first responders that use these rugged devices. Many of it’s core functionality remain the same (after all, why change something that works!) However there are many changes that are worth talking about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 7230 features a similar exterior to the 7220, still sporting its matte black “Slab” appearance. But don’t let it’s similar appearance fool you, there are a few changes on-board. First on our list of changes is it’s face. It flaunts a smaller border which offers a sleeker look as well as ensuring you don’t catch your palms on the rubber edges as often. Dell has opted for one less button on the front which removes the landscape tilt button that was present on the 7220. The camera cluster also received an overhaul. Providing a more rugged approach to a shutter slider and the same 5MP front and IR combination webcam.

When we move to the rear, we experience a few changes, firstly, Dell added an easy to access SSD door which is reminiscent of their Rugged Latitude series which offer the same easy-access door. This door allows you to change the storage easily and quickly without much technical experience which might daunt the average user if they were tasked with removing the back. Secondly is the addition of an additional modular slot on the top of the tablet which they may have implemented due to Panasonics successful use of the port on their FZ-G1 and FZ-G2 Touchpads. This port can be configured to user preference, options include a barcode scanner, RJ-45, mini-serial or a Fischer port.

 

 

Perhaps the biggest leap in Dells development of this tablet is the processor performance, the new generation Rugged Tablet flaunts the mighty 12th generation processor from Dell, with it’s 10 core count that clocks to 4.4GHz, it dwarfs the 7220’s 4 cores at 1.9GHz max. Giving this laptop a clear performance boost over it’s previous generation, if high processing power on the move in potentially harsh environments sounds right to you, consider the 7230 your companion.

 

Accessories

Dell made a few changes in it’s approach to the 7230. It no longer sports it’s own rugged dock, opting instead for the consumer grade WD dock series for it’s Latitude lines and it the keyboard has had an overhaul aswell. Please be aware that the bottom connection on the tablet has changed since the previous generation and is not backwards compatible. It will require it’s own accessories.

The 7230 Rugged Keyboard is no longer a cover as the previous generation had, it now resembles a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet setup, while keeping the ruggedness of the tablet itself. It has a rigid back and hinges so no need for a kickstand to keep it up. As well and some extra ports and connectivity towards where the palms lie. this keyboard does increase the weight and thickness of the laptop by quite a margin – but this does not sacrifice the portable nature of the tablet. Even if you do find it too bulky, it’s easy and intuitive to extract the tablet from the keyboard and place it back. All you have to do is switch the lock off and pinch the release on the hinges and you’re out.