Why a "semi-rugged" in the first place? In essence, you want one if your computer spends more time outdoors and on the road than back in the office. Semi-ruggeds must be spill-proof because they may encounter rain, they must be able to handle vibration because they'll spend time in vehicles, and their screens must be viewable and usable outdoors and in bright sunshine. They must be fast and powerful enough to get all the work done, they must have enough battery life to make it through the day, they must have all the ports you need, and they must be light and handy enough to go anywhere.

One look at the Dell Pro Rugged 14 and you know this is no standard consumer laptop. It looks tough and purposeful. It has an integrated handle to carry it around without needing to bring a bag along. All of the computer's interface ports — and it has quite a few of those — have individual protective covers to guard against damage. This is a machine that you don't have to baby; It is in the SUV class of laptops and it can take a bump or two. You can take them off-road, just not as far as dedicated military-grade vehicles.

New versus old, what does all this amount to? The big deal is the new technology under the hood. By now, the outgoing Latitude 5430 Rugged is three full Intel processor generations behind. While that made and makes the 5430 by no means obsolete, processor technology advances very quickly and Dell was in danger of being left behind by the competition, most of which is technologically up-to-date and at the state-of-the-art. The new Dell Pro Rugged 14 fixes all that. The below table shows the relevant specs of the line that began with the 5420 in 2018, was then updated to the 5430 in 2021, and has now become the Pro Rugged 14. Compared to its predecessor, at first glance and even at second and third, this new semi-rugged Dell looks on the outside virtually identical to the previous one. And yet it has been changed and improved in many ways.

Dell	Pro Rugged 14	5430 Rugged	5420 Rugged
Introduced	2024	2021	2018
Standard display	14.0", 1920 x 1080 (157 ppi)	14.0", 1920 x 1080 (157 ppi)	14.0", 1920 x 1080 (157 ppi)
Optional screen	Capacitive touch, 1100 nits	Capacitive touch, 1100 nits	Capacitive touch 1000 nits
Dimensions	13.38 x 8.66 x 1.32 inches	13.38 x 8.66 x 1.32 inches	13.66 x 9.65 x 1.3 inches
Discrete graphics	Yes; NVIDIA RTX 500	Yes; NVIDIA T500	Yes; Radeon
Weight	From 4.49 pounds	From 4.35 pounds	From 4.90 pounds
Processors	Intel 14th gen Core	Intel 11th gen Core	Intel 6th/7th/8th gen Core
Battery	1 or 2 x 53.5Wh Li-Ion	1 or 2 x 53.5Wh Li-Ion	1 or 2 x 51Wh Li-Ion
Memory	Max 64GB DDR5 5600MHz	Max 32GB DDR4 3200MHz	Max 32GB DDR4 2400MHz
Max storage	2TB PCIe SSD	2TB PCIe SSD	2TB PCIe SSD
Media bay	No	No	No
Windows Hello	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB Type-C	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thunderbolt 4	Yes	Yes	No
Sealing	IP53	IP53	IP52
Drop	3-foot operating	3-foot operating	3-foot operating
Op. temp range	-20° to 145°F	-20° to 145°F	-20° to 145°F

Now let's quickly recap Dell's history and experience in ruggedized laptops. Starting around 2007, Dell began offering ATG semi-rugged and XFR fully rugged notebooks. ATG stood for "All Terrain Grade" and XFR for "Xtreme Fully Rugged." The XFR models were originally made for Dell by Augmentix, a company which later became part of Dell. In early 2014, Dell replaced the XFR with the Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme convertible and the Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme laptop, and the ATG gave way to the Latitude 14 Rugged. That marked the start of Dell's semi-rugged "Latitude Rugged" and fully-rugged "Latitude Rugged Extreme" models.

Dell used to say that whereas the old ATG semi-rugged laptops were built "up" from standard Latitude commercial versions, the Latitude 14 Rugged models were built "down" from the Rugged Extreme line. As we shall see, that still seems to be the case. There is a big difference in look, design, weight and robustness between Dell's standard business and enterprise laptops and any of the rugged models. Rugged labelled machines on the other hand, while very different in terms of toughness and protection, look almost the same.

In terms of competition, the Dell Pro 14 Rugged is squarely aimed at Panasonic's Toughbook 55, Getac's S410, the Durabook S14I and similar. There are also several Taiwan- and China-based OEMs whose durable and semi-ruggeds circulate under various brand names and sometimes also their own.

But let's take a closer look at the Dell Pro 14 Rugged. Below you can see the top and all four sides of the machine:

Ports and connectivity are all around the housing, excluding the front which is where the optional sturdy, well-designed fixed-mount carry handle goes. To guard against physical damage, all ports are located behind protective doors. Those port covers are simpler than on the Dell Pro 13 Rugged and they are not designed to seal against dust and liquids. Instead of the 13-inch model's port covers with spring-loaded levers and locking sliders, the ones on the Dell Pro 14 Rugged need to be properly seated and then pushed into place, which still requires a bit more attention than we'd like.

As far as wired connectivity goes, the Dell Pro 14 Rugged offers plenty.

• An optional I/O bay with USB 3.2 Gen 1 port (OR native serial OR Fischer USB)
• An RJ45 gigabit LAN jack
• A DB9 RS232 serial port (OR DisPlayPort OR DB15 VGA port)
• A standard HDMI port to connect a monitor
• A Kensington lock slot

• A Thunderbolt 4/USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with PowerDelivery 3.0
• A USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare
• A USB 3.2 Gen 1 port
• A 3.5mm combo headphone & microphone jack

• An optional Smart Card reader
• An optional stylus slot
• A SDXC card slot
• A Nano SIM card slot
• An optional Thunderbolt 4/USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with PowerDelivery 3.0

A look inside the Dell Pro Rugged 14

And it's not just a box with a couple of boards mounted inside. Dell went all out here to design this machine as an integral whole. Both the front and the back half of the case are fine example of the form-follows-function approach.

Nothing is just glued or tacked on. Almost every wire has its own wire guide, every module is securely mounted in its specially designed place, and every ribbon cable is individually sized to fit just so. What needs to be shielded is shielded with whatever material that gets the job done. Dozens of small 2D barcodes mark purpose, identity and origin of every component. And wherever Dell's designers and engineers saw an opportunity to add functionality, better cooling, extra rigidity, some small weight saving into the case and everywhere else, they did it.

The degree of detail is stunning is everywhere. Here's an example: rugged computers must have those protective covers over I/O ports to keep them from getting damaged and to keep dust and water from getting inside the computer. That's often done with just a couple of rubber plugs. This Dell laptop, on the other hand, has NINE individual protective covers, each a different design, each separately mounted, each able to move just the right amount, and each perfectly integrated into the metal housing.

Thermal management is equally impressive. As is generally the case these days with rugged laptops, the Dell Pro Rugged 14 has a small fan. It also has two prominent copper heat pipes that channel the heat generated by the processor and other electronics to the heat exchanger cooled by the fan. Between that and the solid metal case of the laptop, overheating should never be an issue. But just to make extra-sure, wherever there is a small part or component that might get hot, Dell applied a thermal strip that then conducts the heat on to a metal heatsink.

The image below was taken while our two Dell Pro Rugged 14 review units were running performance benchmarks with one of our FLIR thermal cameras that visually depict surface temperature. The test units were identical with one exception. The laptop on the right in the picture has the optional NVIDIA RTX 500 graphics chip and uses a higher wattage power supply, and that accounts for the higher running temperature.

A fan, of course, requires an air intake and an air exhaust, and that means openings to the inside of the computer. That is an additional design and engineering challenge for fully rugged laptops that carry IP65 ingress protection ratings and higher, meaning they are pretty much fully sealed against the elements. Such "fully-rugged" designs do that by placing a water-proof fan inside its own compartment, separate from all the electronics. The Dell Pro Rugged 14, though it has "Rugged" in its model name, is what we used to call a "semi-rugged" design — sturdy and very well built, but with a somewhat lower and less costly level of sealing. The Dell Pro Rugged 14 carries an IP53 ingress protection rating, which is currently the standard in this class. It means a device doesn't mind a bit of rain or so, but it cann't handle immersion or sitting in a puddle of water.

The sealing level is actually one of the big differences between the 14-inch Dell Pro Rugged 14 and the 13-inch Dell Pro Rugged 13 (which used to be called the Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme). Dell probably COULD have encapsulated the fan in the 14-inch model as well, but that would have raised the cost considerably.

And speaking of that line between rugged and fully-rugged, the port covers are another major difference between the two models. The Rugged 14's are made of hard rubber and mostly guard against physical damage of the ports. The (fully-)rugged 13-inch model's are significantly more elaborate and also guard against liquids getting inside.

What customers are getting here is island-style keyboard perfection. That starts with a "full-scale" layout of the all important alpha keys. The distance from the center of the letter Q on the upper lefthand and the center of the letter P on the upper righthand of the alphabet key layout is exactly 6.75 inches. That's crucial for touch typists because muscle memory expects each key to be in its right place, and even small deviations can throw off both typing speed and accuracy. Even hunt & peckers benefit from adherence to the standard layout size. The keys are a very slightly concave for optimal touch. Key travel is nice and short and provides perfect tactile feedback.

The sole obvious difference between the predecessor 5430 keyboard and this one is that the second Ctl key has been replaced with a dedicated key that brings up Copilot, Microsoft's own ChatGPT-like AI assistant. Note, though, that in order for Copilot to function, the laptop must be online.

Letters and symbols are white on black and centered on the keys. Font and size are elegant and just the right size. As is usually the case, the F1 through F12 keys also offer shifted functions that include volume, brightness, and other common tasks.

The Rugged 14 has a 4 x 2 inch capacitive touchpad with separate left and right mouseclick tabs below it. The pad area is slightly recessed so that fingers easily sense the perimeter of the pad. The pad surface has a little bit too much stiction for our taste. "Stiction" is defined as "the friction that tends to prevent stationary surfaces from being set in motion." The stationary surface here is the finger, and it takes a bit of force to overcome friction and get the finger moving, rather than just glide away.

Our review unit had the optional internal-sealed RGB backlight keyboard. The backlight is controlled by one of the function key. Tapping that key toggles the backlight on/off and through three levels of intensity. The comprehensive Dell Rugged Control Center lets you set the keyboard backlight to red, green, blue, white or one of two custom colors. You can also set the default brightness of the keyboard backlight and how long the keyboard should remain backlit when plugged in and when on battery.

Some keyboard backlights irritate with the illumination bleeding out around the keys in the dark. That's not an issue with the Dell Pro Rugged 14's backlit keyboard; the backlight is designed so that it nicely outlines each key, but does not bleed out beyond.

As of this writing (January 2025), of the major competition in te semi-rugged laptop class, the Panasonic Toughbook 55 Mk3 and the Getac S410 G5 are built around Intel's "Raptor Lake" 13th generation of Core processors, while the Durabook S14I is also using "Meteor Lake" 14th gen chips. So for now, Dell is looking good.

If you're among those still wondering why Intel chips now have two different kinds of processing cores, you're not alone. Here's the deal: With their "Alder Lake" 12th generation of Core processors, Intel introduced so called "hybrid" chips where "Performance" cores did the heavy lifting, and "Efficient" cores handled much of the routine work. That changed their entire chip architecture, and getting it all to work was not easy. A "thread director" had to preside over what should be sent to the high performance processing cores and what could be assigned to the more basic Efficient cores, relying both on Intel and on Microsoft for thread directing, and only Windows 11 was fully up to that, and not Windows 10. By the 13th generation — named "Raptor Lake" — most issues were worked out.

So is the 14th gen even better, with thread directing all nailed down and doing wondrous things? Maybe. Why? Well, turns out the 14th gen of Intel's Core processors comes in two flavors, and the two are barely related. On the one side there is "Raptor Lake Refresh" that presumably makes all the thread directing even better yet. But Intel also went into an entirely different direction, and, thanks to all the attention AI is getting, we now also have "Meteor Lake," and all Meteor Lake-based chips are called "Core Ultra." Below is a table that shows the three Core Ultra processors Dell Pro Rugged 14 customers can pick from (for direct link to the full table, click here):

2024 Dell Pro Rugged 14: Available Intel Core Ultra processor options

Available CPUs	Intel Core Ultra i7	Intel Core Ultra i5	Intel Core Ultra i5
Model	165U	135U	125U
Cores/Threads	12/14	12/14	12/14
Performance Core Base Speed	1.70 GHz	1.60 GHz	1.30 GHz
Performance Core Turbo Speed	4.90 GHz	4.40 GHz	4.30 GHz
TDP Base/Max Turbo	15/57 watts	15/57 watts	15/57 watts
Smart Cache	12MB	12MB	12MB
Integrated graphics	Intel Graphics	Intel Graphics	Intel Graphics
Graphics max speed	2.00 GHz	1.90 GHz	1.85 GHz
Intel Stable Image Platform Program	Yes	Yes	No
Intel Active Management Technology	Yes	Yes	No
Intel Trusted Execution	Yes	Yes	Yes
Intel vPro	Yes, Enterprise	Yes, Enterprise	Yes, Essentials

What's different with Core Ultra? For one big thing, it went from 10nm manufacturing down to 7nm. Making things smaller means there can be more transistors/gates in a given area, everything is faster, and it uses less power. And instead of having everything integrated into one big processing die, things are now broken down into separate compute, graphics, SoC, and I/O "tiles". On the graphics side, Iris graphics are gone, replaced by Arc GPUs.

But there's more. With AI — Artificial Intelligence — becoming every more important, "Meteor Lake" processors now also have NPUs — Neural Processing Units. Why? Because "artificial intelligence" workloads are very different from the conventional "if this, then that" sequential processing that works just fine on a small number of cores. AI processing is massively parallel. And hence all Core Ultra chips now also have NPUs, which Intel calls "Intel AI Boost."

What do they do is not very clear just yet. AI has had an explosive impact on almost everything. So much so that Michael Dell himself in an analyst briefing spoke of "the dawn of the AI-PC" and called it a total revolution. At that same briefing, Dell's Jeff Clarke described the NPU PC as the "beginning of a new era in PCs." While Dell sees itself as a leader in "AI infrastructure," nothing is fully defined yet, nothing is set in stone and everything continues to evolve. What it does mean, though, is that new PCs must be "AI-ready." Clarke said that half of the world's data is created at the edge, and that means that there's lots of local summarization, content creation, translation and the like must be done in mobile systems.

And hence "Meteor Lake" with its NPUs. Intel pretty much had to do it. Because ARM did, and ARM seems ahead. Or else Microsoft and its hardware partners would not have announced a "new category" of ARM-based Windows PCs in 2024. And also because Nvidia is charging ahead with its massively parallel GPUs, threatening to take over in the AI computing realm.

To see what kind of performance the new Dell Pro Rugged 14 delivers with its top-of-the-line Core Ultra i7 165U processor, we ran our standard benchmark suites, Passmark Software's PerformanceTest 6.1 and 9.0 that include dozens of tests covering CPU, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, memory, and disk and then computes scores for each category and an overall PassMark scores. We also ran our old standby, CrystalMark, that provides valuable clues as to overall single core performance. And we ran three other major benchmark suites: PC Mark 10, GeekBench 5, and one of the most often used 3DMark graphics benchmarks, Time Spy.

To show where the Dell Pro Rugged 14 stands in terms of overall performance with just Intel Graphics and also with the optional NVIDIA RTX 500 discrete GPU, the below table also includes results of its Latitude 5430 Rugged predecessor that we tested in 2021, as well as those of the primary direct rugged 14-inch laptop competition.

Overall, looking at the result, it wasn't always easy to figure out what processed where, given that the Dell machines' Core Ultra not only have their own integrated graphics, but also have that Neural Processing Unit. Examining benchmark results and graphs, we saw that the RTX 500 at times lessened the load of the CPU, so that overall benchmarks, even if they were not graphics-oriented, ran faster than on the standard machine without the GPU. It's all a bit of a new world to figure out.

Power draw and battery life