There was too much for a single blog. We had to continue on another!
Digitizer
Touch is a feature that has become very common in the consumer grade market place but a digitizer is a unique feature to Rugged Laptops over consumer grade. A digitizer is a magnetic grid, typically made by a company called WACOM. This grid allows a magnetized stylus to have very precise input. The best use case for this is in capturing signatures. The Panasonic TOUGHBOOK has a really cool feature where the touch disables as soon as the magnetized stylus is detected. If you think about when you sign a tablet your wrist touches the screen too so this ensure the signature is captured without the touch input jumping between the stylus and where your hand would touch the screen.
Screen Brightness
This is an incredibly important feature of a rugged laptop. Screen brightness is measured in “nits”. Most consumer grade laptops are approximately 300 nits. This is plenty bright to be viewed indoors with standard lighting on. This is not enough brightness to see the screen outdoors on a sunny day. For that most rugged laptops have a 1,000+ nit brightness. Some models, the the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK, have anti reflective screen protectors that help add as much as 20% more perceived brightness.
Sanitization
The chemicals used to sanitize are corrosive. This causes equipment to fail, typically rapidly, when santized. Rugged devices like the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK are specifically built to withstand these kinds of chemicals. They are tested to have a liquid solution with a pressure of 1kfg/cm^2 for 10,000 times. Panasonic has successfully completed this test on the FZ-55, CF-33, and FZ-G2 for Sani-Cloth Plus Germicidal disposal cloths, alcohol prep swabs, CaviWipes, Total Solutions disinfectant wipes, and Clorox Healthcare bleach germicidal wipes.
Backlit Keyboard
This is pretty much would it sounds like. The keys are lit up so when it’s dark it can be more easily seen and used. There are some consumer laptops that have this feature but it’s a standard from the best quality manufacturers in the rugged notebook industry.
Replaceable keyboard
In rugged laptops the keyboard is designed to be replaceable. This is helpful since being used in the field has a greater risk of the keys getting ripped off or something getting spilled. Even though liquid doesn’t typically damage a keyboard on a rugged laptop if you were to spill a sugary drink it will still get very sticky and is difficult to clean. Consumer grade laptops are generally built to need to be so expensive to repair it’s better to dispose and buy another laptop rather than easily have the keyboard replaced.
Specialized Water Channel In The Base Of The Computer
Computers like the FZ-55 and the FZ-40 have been designed to have a channel built into the chassis of the computer to allow water to flow from the keyboard through the base. This way if liquid is spilled on it the keyboard itself or components inside don’t get damaged. If the liquid is sugary though it can still leave a sticky residue.
Hard Drive Heater
This innovation started with spinning drives. If a spinning hard drive ran at too cold of a temperature it could permanently damage it’s ability to operate. Companies like Panasoinc started to include a heating coil around the hard drive to warm up the component until it was safe to operate. Solid state hard drives work much better in cold but still do not perform correctly and can get damaged from prolonged exposure or continued use in inclement weather. For that reason companies like Panasoinc still have heaters built into the hard drives of their fully rugged laptops.
Loud Speakers
Most people who use a computer do so in a controlled environment. It’s an office or working from home. Here they can expect relative calm and quiet Computers like FZ-55, FZ-40, CF-33, and FZ-G2 TOUGHBOOK have dramatically enhanced volume speakers that allow it to be heard in environments that are not controlled and calm. Sound is measured in a scale called decibels (dB). This scale works unlike most scales we are used to seeing like temperature or speed. Decibels run on a logarithmic scale that means every 10 dB the intensity of the sound is increased 1000% and the perceived volume is increased 100%. That means every 10 dB the sound volume is doubled! Since each 10 dB doubles the difference between something that is 10 dB or 30dB is extreme. 20 dB is twice as loud as 10 dB so 30 dB is twice as loud as 20 dB. What this means is 30 dB is 400% louder than 10 dB. 40 dB is 800% louder than 10 dB. 50 dB is 1,600% louder than 10 dB. It continues to increase exponentially. When you get to 92 dB that makes a really loud speaker! Unless you’re a sound engineer or a tech geek you’ve likely seen dB but don’t have any reference points. A refrigerator generally runs at 40dB, a Television is usually about 70 dB, a coffee grinder is about 90 dB. This gets practical when you think about how loud machinery can be. The sound inside a car with the windows closed is about 70 dB. If you want to hear the laptop over the sound of the vehicle the laptop needs to be louder than 70 dB. Most laptops are designed to have 40-50 dB of sound. Rugged computers have speakers built to allow the user to hear their computer over the competing sounds in a vehicle, machinery, or other environmental factor.
Magnesium Chassis
Brands like the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK started using magnesium for the chassis. It is very strong but also light and has strong heat conduction which allows the computer to cool down significantly faster.
Extreme Heat or Cold
Rugged computers are designed, per the MIL-STD-810 standard to be usable in extreme heat and cold. Consumer grade devices like an apple ipad cannot operate in these temperatures. Anyone who has tried is well familiar with warning screens saying they cannot start in the cold or heat and need to be brought up to a more comfortable temperature first.
Emergency Button
This feature primarily relates to law enforcement. Most Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software programs are designed to have an emergency button. This allows the officer to push the button if in a situation they need backup and are unable to use their radio. Companies like Panasonic and Getac have included Emergency Buttons on their keyboard. On the Panasonic it’s the F11 key and has raised edges to make it easy to feel for. Getac uses programmable buttons that can be set to a few different functions including the emergency button.
Concealed / Blackout mode
This feature is also primarily for law enforcement. Earlier int his blog we talked about how the screens are super bright and that is very helpful during the day. At night the screens being bright make the officer visible. If the officer is in a situation they need to quickly lower the brightness they can push the concealed / blackout mode buttons and quickly drop the screen brightness to 1 nit. This is so dim that many may think the screen is off.
Bridge Batteries
Many of the ruggedized devices, especially within Panasonic and Getac, have bridge batteries in the computer. These batteries are designed to keep the computer powered for a very brief amount of time, maybe 5-10 minutes. This allows the user to pop the primary battery out and replace it with a fresh one without turning the computer off. This is super helpful in situations where the computer needs to run for 8-20 hours straight and does not have the ability to be plugged into a wall to recharge while in use.
