I know it's sacrilege....

But Anyone here use a Dell E6420 XFR rugged laptop??

Thoughts vs CF-30/31?

 

I've never thought about them but since you mention it I think I have identified the previously unknown rugged computer which keeps showing up on "Homeland" at the CIA. They have Dells displayed all over the show, they just haven't managed to get the logo on the rugged one properly displayed yet. I looked at the E6400, just about the same specs as my CF-30 MK3, the processor is faster leading me to believe it has a fan
CAP

 

The 31 has a fan to. But it's sealed in a box so no
elements can get inside. Just the fan noise can be
abit irritating at times.

 

I'm well aware of the fan in the CF-31, one of the reasons I don't have one. I'm really fond of the battery life I get with my CF-30.
CAP

 

The e6420 I was eyeballing has an i7 and nvidia nvs gpu...
I view my 30 as a tank... And the dell as a Humvee in terms of armor and speed..

 

The rugged dells aren't that bad. I almost bought one actually. But i opted for a cf-29 instead. Despite the fact that i could've gotten a a 1.8ghz DC with 2gb ram for the same price.

Reasoning? I know the toughbooks can survive practically anything. Why take a risk with something that may work? Besides, this isn't a gaming machine. It doesn't take a lot to run VCDS, PS or Word...

 

True but I use my gpu for VMware applications and for specialized software that utilizes cuda capable gpu...

 

^ I'm sure it'll work for you. Not everyone treats laptops like I do. (Dropping from lorry cabins, running 'em over, leave 'em on warm engines until the plastic melts, etc.)

Like i said. I knew toughbooks can survive that 'cause me CF-28 did. But those dells? I believe it when I see it. Hell, I'd love to see one of those dells survive a car fire like the CF-29 did.

 

Yes, the Dells do have a fan. I have never gotten my grubby paws on a XFR (despite bugging the Dell rep at work SEVERAL times) but we do use the semi-rugged ATG version mounted in a vehicle dock. The E-series is a huge improvement over the D, which we had a lot of issues with. They originally tried to stuff regular Latitude components into a ruggedized case (non-locking cable connectors, etc). That did not go over very well. They still use standard Latitude internal components on the E-series, they just improved the whole line with the lessons learned.

The two issues I have seen with the E6410s (our 6420 are still too new to judge them):

1. Hard drives MUST be solid state as they have zero shock protection (at least in the ATG model). The D-series at least had a ruggedized drive that survived reasonably well, but this was discontinued on the E-series. So far, we have had about a 10-20% failure rate on hard drives in just over a year. For the love of all things holy, GET THE SOLID STATE!

2. The LCD panels have issues. The adhesive used to assemble the panels at the factory starts leaking out from between the layers. This make a nasty sticky mess and leaves huge bubbles in the screen. This was a widespread problem on the D-series at around the one to two year mark and I have already seen it on at least one E-series.

Overall impression IMHO- stick with the Toughbook unless you get a really good deal or absolutely must have a better (well different anyways) graphics processor.

 

"Tough where it counts"

Still not as "Tough" as a Toughbook.

 

Aye, my loathing for anything DELL is too strong....
I'll just take my CF-30 and if my dainty Lenovo from my Sig needs to play outside, get a pelican.......

 

<stomping foot and spitting... out... the... name... D U L L >

ACK!

 

Dull: synonym for computers made by a Texan named Mike. Used here to express our opinion of the product and, by me at least, to avoid the forum showing the name in bold DULL Actually, now that I think of it the forum seems to have stopped doing that.
CAP