We were thoroughly impressed by the Dell Pro Rugged 14. The system is exceptionally well built and durable, far above a typical laptop.
Dell’s Pro Rugged 14 (Latitude 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet) is a 14-inch semi-rugged laptop for extreme environments. It features an Intel Core Ultra processor and optional NVIDIA RTX graphics for AI capabilities.
The Pro Rugged 14 is the larger of the two models in Dell’s semi-rugged laptop line, the other being the Dell Pro Rugged 13. The Pro Rugged 14’s most significant performance advantage is that it offers an entry-level NVIDIA RTX 500 workstation GPU with 4GB of memory. This can be a real asset for edge AI in the field.
The Pro Rugged 14 is based on Intel’s “Meteor Lake” Core Ultra processors, specifically the U-class chips with a 15-watt base power rating. It offers 64GB of RAM and a single storage drive. Its full specifications are as follows:
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 5 125U/135U Intel Core Ultra 7 165U |
| Memory | Up to 64GB (2x DDR5-5600 SODIMM) |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics NVIDIA RTX 500 Ada 4GB GDDR6 |
| Display | 14-inch 1920 x 1080 60Hz, non-touch, 400 nits 14-inch 1920 x 1080 60Hz, touch, 1100 nits |
| Storage | Single M.2 2280 SSD |
| Battery | 3-cell 53.5Wh (supports two hot-swappable batteries) |
| Connectivity | Intel Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 4G/5G mobile broadband |
| Camera | No camera 720p 1080p/IR |
| Ports, Slots, and Peripherals | Ports:
Optional I/O bay – choose from: RJ-45/USB Type-A/Native Serial/Fischer USB 3.0 9-pin/blank |
| Security | Steel-reinforced cable lock slot, Optional Security includes:
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| Dimensions and Weight |
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| Regulatory and Environmental Compliance | Regulatory model: P148G Regulatory type: P148G001 Energy Star 8.0, EPEAT Silver
MIL-STD-810H testing: Transit drop 36″/.91m; single unit; 26 drops, operating drop (36″/0.91m), blowing dust, vibration, functional shock, humidity, altitude, thermal extremes Operating thermal range**: -20°F to 145°F (-29°C to 63°C); Non-operating range: -60°F to 160°F (-51°C to 71°C) IEC 60529 ingress protection¹: IP-53 (dust-protected, protected against splashing water from any direction) |
| Warranty and Service |
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Dell Pro Rugged 14 Design
The build quality of this semi-rugged laptop is immaculate. The chassis is rock solid, as expected for a laptop in this class.
The screen hinges are exceptionally well-designed. They are highly resistant, and although opening the lid requires holding down the palm rest with your other hand, they are firm enough to keep the screen at any angle. The hinges operate very smoothly.
Although this laptop isn’t fully waterproof, it offers an IP53 rating for protection against dust and water splashing from any direction. It also has a wider thermal operating range than a typical laptop, from -20 to 145 degrees F. For durability, it carries a MIL-STD-810H specification for surviving a 36-inch drop.
Despite being semi-rugged, the Pro Rugged 14 isn’t too heavy, at 4.5 pounds and measuring 1.32 x 13.38 by 8.66 inches. The integrated carry handle is convenient to use and protects the opening latch; for instance, if the front of the laptop is pressed against something, the handle will prevent the latch from being accidentally triggered.
Semi-rugged laptops often have clunky keyboards, but not so with the Dell Pro Rugged. Its keyboard has satisfying tactile feedback, with plenty of keythrow distance and effective backlighting. The touchpad is small but usable, with two physical buttons that facilitate using it while wearing gloves.
Two screens are available, both offering a 1920 x 1080 resolution on a 14-inch diagonal. The first option is just 400 nits, while the version we’re testing has an astounding 1,100 nits of brightness and touch support. Though we’d have preferred a more modern 16:10 aspect ratio, this screen should serve this laptop’s intended purposes.
The batteries are visible under the laptop. They have LED charging indicators and can be swapped so the laptop runs continuously. This Dell will never need to be shut down if you have extra batteries. The highly durable dock connection pad is also visible here.
The SSD can also be accessed from the bottom panel for quick swaps.
The port selection is excellent. All are behind dustproof doors. You’ll find two Ethernet ports on the rear edge, a Serial port, and HDMI monitor outputs.
Ports on the left include Thunderbolt 4/USB4 and two traditional USB Type-A ports.
Right-edge features include a SmartCard slot, card readers, and another Thunderbolt 4 /USB4 port. Also, note the loop for the included stylus.
The optional bay supports RJ-45, USB Type-A, Native Serial, Fischer USB 3.0, and 9-pin.
An Intel BE200 wireless card provides Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. WWAN (4G/5G) connectivity is optional.
Dell Pro Rugged 14 Performance
We were sent two Dell Pro Rugged systems to test. Both feature an Intel Core Ultra 7 165U processor, 32GB (2x 16GB) of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. One model uses integrated Intel Graphics built into the CPU, while the other has a dedicated NVIDIA RTX A500 graphics card. Though this system isn’t intended for heavy-duty processing, it proved highly capable of powering through our benchmark suite.
Luxmark
We’ll start by looking at LuxMark, an OpenCL GPU benchmarking utility. Although entry-level, the RTX 500 is far more powerful than Intel Graphics.
| Luxmark (Higher is better) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| Hallbench | 7,643 | 2,721 |
| food | 2,995 | 1,115 |
UL Procyon AI Inference
UL’s Procyon estimates a workstation’s performance for professional apps. We only include results for Tensor RT run on the dedicated NVIDIA GPU. As we’ll see in the other GPU-sensitive tests, the RTX 500 will continue to dominate the scene.
| UL Procyon Average Inference Times (ms, lower is better) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| MobileNet V3 | 1.10 | 4.52 |
| ResNet 50 | 4.66 | 22.58 |
| Inception V4 | 11.98 | 66.70 |
| DeepLab V3 | 25.28 | 167.34 |
| YOLO V3 | 20.61 | 82.68 |
| Real-ESRGAN | 603.07 | 4,499.56 |
| Overall Score | 305 | 57 |
UL Procyon Image Generation
We only have results for the RTX 500 version of the Dell Pro Rugged in this test.
| UL Procyon Image Generation | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| Overall Time Taken (Lower is Better) | 1,477.097 s | N/A |
| Overall Image Generation Speed (Higher is Better) | 92.369s/image | N/A |
| Overall Score (Higher is Better) | 67 | N/A |
y-cruncher
y-cruncher is a multi-threaded and scalable program that can compute Pi and other mathematical constants to trillions of digits. Since its launch in 2009, it has become a popular benchmarking and stress-testing application for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts.
Although both units share the same Core Ultra 7 165U CPU, the RTX 500 version proved slightly faster, suggesting it may have a more effective cooling system. Neither system had enough memory to complete the 5 billion digits calculation.
| y-cruncher (Total Computation time in seconds) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| 1 billion digits | 64.521 | 66.758 |
| 2.5 billion digits | 190.183 | 202.143 |
| 5 billion digits | N/A | N/A |
Geekbench 6
Geekbench 6 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures overall system performance. You can find comparisons to any system you want in the Geekbench Browser. While the CPU tests were about even, the GPU tests favored the RTX 500 by far.
| Geekbench 6 (Higher is better) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| CPU Single-Core | 2,408 | 2,394 |
| CPU Multi-Core | 10,022 | 10,086 |
| GPU | 58,257 | 19,580 |
Cinebench R24
We also started running the latest Cinebench test. Despite having an RTX 500, the Dell Pro Rugged didn’t meet the requirements to run the GPU test.
| Cinebench R24 (Higher is better) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| Multi-Core | 580 | 528 |
| Single-Core | 102 | 102 |
| GPU | N/A | N/A |
Blackmagic RAW Speed Test
We have also started running Blackmagic’s RAW speed test, which tests video playback.
| Blackmagic RAW Speed Test (Higher is better) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| 8K CPU | 36 fps | 35 fps |
| 8K CUDA | 45 fps | 37 fps |
Blender OptiX
Blender is an open-source 3D modeling application. This benchmark was run using the Blender Benchmark utility. The score is samples per minute, with higher being better. We run this test on the GPU.
| Blender OptiX (Samples per minute: Higher is better) | Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) |
| Monster | 63.66 | 62.70 |
| Junkshop | 39.88 | 38.17 |
| Classroom | 28.39 | 27.73 |
7-Zip Compression Benchmark
We also run the built-in benchmark in the popular archive tool, 7-Zip. This test only stresses the CPU, so we unsurprisingly saw almost identical results between these units.
| 7-Zip Compression Benchmark | ||
| Dell Pro Rugged (RTX 500) | Dell Pro Rugged (Integrated) | |
| Compressing | ||
| Current CPU Usage | 1137% | 1142% |
| Current Rating/Usage | 4.340 GIPS | 4.211 GIPS |
| Current Rating | 49.359 GIPS | 48.072 GIPS |
| Resulting CPU Usage | 1126% | 1137% |
| Resulting Rating/Usage | 4.300 GIPS | 4.300 GIPS |
| Resulting Rating | 48.432 GIPS | 48.882 GIPS |
| Decompressing | ||
| Current CPU Usage | 995% | 1081% |
| Current Rating/Usage | 5.381 GIPS | 4.688 GIPS |
| Current Rating | 53.519 GIPS | 50.689 GIPS |
| Resulting CPU Usage | 1047% | 1092% |
| Resulting Rating/Usage | 5.008 GIPS | 5.026 GIPS |
| Resulting Rating | 53.764 GIPS | 54.853 GIPS |
| Total Rating | ||
| Total CPU Usage | 1100% | 1114% |
| Total Rating/Usage | 4.654 GIPS | 4.663 GIPS |
| Total Rating | 51.098 GIPS | 51.867 GIPS |
Conclusion
The Dell Pro Rugged 14 thoroughly impressed us. It’s exceptionally well built, as we expect from a semi-rugged laptop, and the system’s durability is far above that of a typical laptop.
It’s relatively lightweight for this class and incorporates excellent connectivity. It also has some pleasant surprises, such as a keyboard that feels better than expected and hot-swappable batteries so it can run indefinitely. And while it’s not a barn burner for sheer performance, the optional NVIDIA RTX 500 GPU provides value for edge AI. We’re glad to recommend it for field use.
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