There’s tough, and then there’s seriously tough. Getac’s T800 is tough — but it won’t be cheap.
The Getac T800 is a Windows 8.1 tablet — currently shipping with either Windows 7 Professional or Windows 8 Professional, which means it’d be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10 — with an Intel Pentium Processor N3530 2.16 GHz, 4GB of RAM and either a 64GB or 128GB SSD. The display is an 8.1″ 1280×800 pixel 600 nit LCD with, it’s claimed, superior readability under direct sunlight. It measures in at 227 x 151 x 24 mm with a carrying weight of 880g.
All so far, so good and so essentially ordinary. Where the T800 sells itself is in its ruggedness. It’s certified to MIL-STD-810G and IP65, so water and dust-proofing is built in, but what it also adds to that mix is ATEX Zone 2 and 22 explosion proofing.
No, before its release landed on my desk, I didn’t have the faintest clue what ATEX Zone 2 and 22 explosion proofing was.
So I went and looked it up. ATEX Zone 2 qualifies equipment in “An area in which an explosive mixture is not likely to occur in normal operation and if it occurs it will exist only for a short time” relating to gases, while Zone 22 qualification is for dust and similarly covers “An area in which an explosive mixture is not likely to occur in normal operation and if it occurs it will exist only for a short time.”
So in other words, they’re heavy duty implements for heavy duty situations, but not quite the heaviest duty. Yes, there is a specification for areas where “an explosive mixture is continuously present or present for long periods”. I’m not keen to test anything out in such an environment.
Rugged PCs always attract a premium, and the Getac T800 is no exception. If you do want a somewhat-blast-proof tablet, pricing will start at a rather hefty $3,750. Then again, if you’re working in areas where there’s a reasonable enough expectation of explosions that you need this kind of ruggedisation, that’s probably cheap.