The Dell Latitude E6430 ATG is the latest in a long line of rugged and semi-rugged laptops from Dell. The company gotten very good at taking some of the rugged tech used in the tank-like Dell Latitude E6420 XFR and applying it to the semi-rugged E6430 ATG. Think business in work boots and blue jeans. This is the pick-up truck of laptops, designed to do business where the usual suit-and-tie-laptop risks being damaged. Sturdy construction is joined by a long-lasting battery, speedy solid-state drive, and Intel Core i7 processor, delivering solid performance in a wide range of circumstances. It's enough to earn our Editors' Choice for ruggedized laptops.

Design
While the E6430 ATG may not have the boxy look or tank-like survive-it-all ruggedness of the Dell XFR or the Panasonic Toughbook CF-31, it's still a good deal more rugged than your average business laptop. MIL-STD-810G testing is used to certify that the E6430 ATG will withstand unusual amounts of abuse: shock, drops, temperature, and altitude. It's also certified IP5x, a rating that requires meeting stringent requirements for withstanding dust and moisture, which do the most damage by working their way into a system's insides and wreaking havoc.

The E6430 ATG is hardened from the outside in, starting with an aluminum lid, steel hinges, and magnesium alloy frame. Sturdy rubber port covers keep out dirt and dust. A layer of textured plastic armor—similar to the spray-on liner in truck beds—covers the edges of the closed laptop, and rubber bumpers on the corners add a bit more protection from drops and bumps. All this armor, however, adds both thickness and weight; thus, the E6430 ATG measures 2.6 by 14.5 by 10.5 inches (HWD) and weighs a hefty 6.3 pounds.

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The 14-inch 1366-by-768 display has an anti-glare coating and an extra-bright backlight for superb outdoor visibility, and 180-degree visibility ensures clarity at any angle. The backlit keyboard is also spill resistant, and has a pointing stick to join the multitouch touchpad, similar to that seen on the HP EliteBook 8460p.

Features
Rubber port covers may be spurious on premium systems that won't ever venture outdoors, but on the E6430 ATG, they are a necessity for keeping out unwanted moisture and grime. One cover protects a USB/eSATA combination port , one USB 2.0 port, and a USB 3.0 port while the other safeguards a USB 2.0 port (with power), VGA output, and a headset jack. On the back of the system, you'll find a covered Ethernet port, covered HDMI port, an open power connector and case lock slot. On the front of the laptop is an integrated SD card reader. An ExpressCard slot, SmartCard reader and Intel vPro are available for use with specialized equipment and security. Multiple 3G and 4G Gobi wireless broadband solutions are also available.

Our review unit was equipped with 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and Intel's Wireless Display technology WiDi, which lets you stream HD content to a television equipped with a WiDi adapter—like the Netgear Push2TV —instead of using the HDMI connection. A removable optical drive reads and burns CDs and DVDs, and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) makes for speedy performance and fast boot times, while having no moving parts that could be damaged by vibration or physical shock. Because the E6430 ATG is meant to be deployed by businesses and organizations, it comes bloatware-free, but isn't entirely without preinstalled software. Dell includes its Backup and Recovery software, Dell Data Protection (for drive encryption), and covers the E6430 ATG with a three-year hardware warranty, which includes onsite servicing.

Performance
The E6430 ATG is outfitted with a 2.9GHz Intel Core i7-3520M dual-core processor and 6GB of RAM. When combined with a SSD, the E6430 ATG scored 5,021 points in PCMark 7 and 3.43 points in Cinebecnh R11.5, giving it a comfortable lead over other rugged and semi-rugged business laptops, like the HP 8460p (2,065 points PCMark 7, 2.4 points Cinebench) and the Panasonic Toughbook CF-S10 (2,164 points PCMark 7, 2.01 Cinebench).

The E6430 ATG is also equipped to handle multimedia tasks, something that couldn't really be said of comparable semi-rugged business laptops. It finished Handbrake in 1 minute 25 seconds and Photoshop CS5 3:15, well ahead of the HP 8460p (1:46 Handbrake, 3:56 Photoshop) and Panasonic CF-S10 (1:48 Handbrake, 4:22 Photoshop). The one area where the E6430 ATG didn't perform well was in graphics rendering, where it was beaten out by systems with discrete graphics processors, like the HP 8460p and the Panasonic CF-31.

We were most impressed with the Dell's battery-life, which backs up all that rugged toughness with serious endurance. Using a giant 97Wh, 9-cell extended battery, the Latitude E6430 ATG lasted 10 hours 11 minutes when tested in MobileMark. By comparison, the Panasonic Toughbook CF-S10 and the previous Dell Latitude E6420 ATG lasted 9:07 and 8:46, respectively. For anyone looking for a combination of durability and long-lasting power, the E6430 ATG is the best we've seen.

From the armored exterior to the all-day battery, the Dell Latitude E6430 ATG is the best laptop you can buy for business-class capability and a design that will survive anything from splashes to dust storms. Compared even to other semi-rugged laptops, the Dell Latitude E6430 ATG leads the pack in terms of performance, durability, and battery life. While the heavy-duty design is expensive overkill for the office-bound, it's definitely the smart choice for anyone who has seen a regular laptop fall to the hazards of the elements, and earns our Editors' Choice for rugged laptops.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:
Check out the test scores for the Dell Latitude E6430 ATG

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Dell Latitude E6430 ATG with several other laptops side by side.

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