Thread: Anandtech News

With industry and research, computers are needed everywhere, including various harsh environments for which companies develop ruggedized PCs, tablets, or smartphones. But there are also hazardous environments that not only pose danger to devices for whatever reasons, but which are potentially explosive because they are filled with gases, vapors, combustible gases, and other flammable components. The use of regular electronics in such environments is dangerous, but Dell has developed its Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet just for this purpose.
The Dell Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet is designed for engineers working in agriculture, chemical, manufacturing, and oil & gas sectors who encounter potentially explosive environments every day. To meet their safety requirements, Dell took its recently introduced Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet and redesigned it in order to eliminate any possibility that the device could be the source of an explosion (which may be caused by an overheating or malfunctioning component, a spark caused by an unsealed electric circuit or whatever other reason).
To ensure that the Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet is safe and meets all formal safety requirements in the North America, Europe, and other parts of the world, the machines are Class 1, div 2 certified in NA, ATEX certified in the EU, and IECEx certified for International markets. Meanwhile, in a bid to incorporate

Since the Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet is a version of the non-EX model, their technical specifications are very similar. The tablet is equipped with an 11.6-inch Full-HD display with 1000 nits brightness to make it usable even under direct sunlight. Inside the tablet designed for the most extreme environments is Intel’s Core i7-8365U (Whiskey Lake) processor with four cores and Intel’s UHD Graphics 620. The SoC is accompanied by 8 GB of LPDDR3-2133 memory and a 512 GB Class 40 M.2 SSD with a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface.
When it comes to wireless connectivity, the machine is equipped with Intel’s AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0 adapter, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X20 4G/LTE modem. On the wired side of I/O matters, the Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet includes a USB 3.1 Type-C connector that can be used for charging and external display connectivity, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a micro RS-232 port, a POGO connector for the keyboard, an SD card reader, and a 3.5-mm audio jack for headsets. Interestingly, the tablet also retains all the imaging and multimedia capabilities of the original one, which includes Windows Hello-compatible front camera, a rear camera with a flash, and stereo speakers. As for security, the machine is equipped with a fingerprint reader, Dell’s ControlVault advanced authentication, Intel vPro remote management, a TPM 2.0 module, optional encryption for SSDs, and NIST SP800-147 secure platform.

Dell’s Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet is powered by two hot-swappable batteries, each with a 34 Wh capacity, but the manufacturer does not disclose battery life of the device because special-purpose software used by the target audience will have different effects on power draw.
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Specifications of the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme Tablets
		Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme	Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme
LCD	Diagonal	11.6"
Resolution	1920×1080
Features	Brightness: 1000 cd/m² Outdoor-readable, anti-glare, anti-smudge, polarizer, glove-capable touchscreen
CPU		Intel Core i7-8665U: 4C/8T vPro	Intel Core i7-8665U: 4C/8T vPro Intel Core i5-8365U: 4C/8T vPro Intel Core i3-8145U: 2C/4T
Graphics		Intel UHD Graphics 620 (24 EUs)
RAM		8 GB LPDDR3-2133	8 GB or 16 GB LPDDR3-2133
Storage		Class 40, 512 GB, PCIe 3.0 x4	M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs: Class 35: 128 GB; Class 40: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB; Class 40 SED: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB.
Wireless	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth options	Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200, 2x2, 802.11ax with MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0	Wireless LAN Options: Intel Wireless-AC 9560, 2x2, 802.11ac with Bluetooth 5.0 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200, 2x2, 802.11ax with MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200, 2x2, 802.11ax with MU-MIMO, without Bluetooth
Mobile Broadband (optional)	DW5821E Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 4G/LTE Wireless WAN card for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint	optional DW5821E Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 4G/LTE Wireless WAN card for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint
GPS	Dedicated u-blox NEO-M8 GPS card
Additional	?	?
USB	3.1	1 × USB 3.0 Type-C w/ DP, PD
3.0	1 × USB 3.0 Type-A
Cameras	Front	5 MP RGB + IR FHD webcam with privacy shutter
Back	8 MP rear camera with flash and dual microphone
Security		Steel reinforced cable lock slot TPM 2.0; ControlVault advanced authentication; Dell Security Tools; Dell data protection encryption Contactless/Contacted SmartCard reader; Fingerprint reader; NIST SP800-147 secure platform; Dell Backup and Recovery.	Steel reinforced cable lock slot Optional Security includes: TPM 2.0; ControlVault advanced authentication; Dell Security Tools; Dell data protection encryption Contactless/Contacted SmartCard reader; Fingerprint reader; NIST SP800-147 secure platform; Dell Backup and Recovery.
Other I/O		TRRS audio jack, micro RS-232, SD Card reader, etc.	TRRS audio jack, micro RS-232 (optional), POGO, SD Card reader, etc.
Battery		Dual Hot-swappable 34 Whr, 2 Cell, ExpressCharge, Lithium Ion Battery or Dual Hot-swappable 34 Whr, 2 Cell, Long Lifecycle	34 Wh Primary (ExpressCharge) 34 Wh Secondary (optional?)
Dimensions	Width	323.4 mm | 12.73 inch	312.2 mm | 12.29 inch
Height	214.2 mm | 8.43 inch	203 mm | 8 inch
Thickness	26.2 mm | 1.03 inch	24.4 mm | 0.96 inch
Weight		1650 grams | 3.65 lbs (tablet)	1330 grams (tablet)
Operating System		Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
Regulatory and Environmental Compliance	MIL-STD-810G	Transit drop (48”/1.22m; single unit; 26 drops), operating drop (36”/0.91m), blowing rain, blowing dust, blowing sand, vibration, functional shock, humidity, salt fog, altitude, explosive atmosphere, thermal extremes, thermal shock, freeze/thaw, tactical standby to operational.
Operating thermal range	-20°F to 145°F (-29°C to 63°C)
Non-operating thermal range	-60°F to 160°F (-51°C to 71°C)
IEC 60529 ingress protection	IP-65 (dust-tight, protected against pressurized water)
Hazardous locations	ATEX, IECEx certification for Zone 2 and Zone 22; ANSI/ISA.12.12.01 certification (Class I, Division 2, Groups A, B, C,D)	ANSI/ISA.12.12.01 certification capable (Class I, Division 2, Groups A, B, C,D)
Electromagnetic interference	MIL-STD-461F and MIL-STD-461G
Optional Accessories		?	Rugged Tablet Dock Keyboard with Kickstand Havis Vehicle Dock PMT Vehicle Dock Gamber-Johnson Vehicle Dock Carrying accessories Scanner module Extended I/O module Dell monitors (with USB-C or over a USB-C-to-DP adapter) Dell wireless keyboard and mice
Price		?	Starting at $1,899

Dell will start sales of the Latitude 7220EX Rugged Extreme Tablet in the near future. Pricing will depend on exact configurations and region.
Related Reading:

• Dell’s Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet Gets Quad-Core CPUs & 1000-Nits Display
• Dell Launches Three Rugged Latitude Laptops with up to 1000-nit Displays
• Dell Latitude 12 Updated: Rugged Tablet Gets Faster CPU, FHD LCD, Lower Weight, USB-C
• Cat at MWC 2018: S61 Smartphone with FLIR Cam, Laser Distance Measurer, Air Quality Sensor
• Innodisk Unveils Fire Shield SSD: Withstands 800°C Temperature & Direct Flames

Source: Dell



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One of the key battlegrounds of the next decade is going to be storage: density, speed, and demand. Naturally all the major players in the space want to promote their own technologies of that of their competitors, and Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) is no different. This year during their plenary talk at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) the company set forth its promotion of its BiCS flash product family, as well as its upcoming XL-Flash technology. What was interesting during this talk is a graph that seems to slam the long-term prospects of any of the upcoming Storage Class Memory (SCM) technologies like 3D XPoint from Intel and Micron.

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One of the news items that went under the radar at Supercomputing was from CoolBitts. The company focuses on fully immersed systems whereby the CPU, GPU, and all the components are put into a non-conductive liquid. There are two types of immersive systems: two phase, where the liquid turns to a gas on heating and then condenses back into a liquid, or single phase systems that rely on a pump and a radiator to help move the liquid. This is the latter, and if you’ve ever heard of the ‘mineral oil’ PC, this is something very similar, except this is a case and coolant dedicated for immersion systems.

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In 2019, flash memory prices have leveled out and have even crept back upward a bit, and new technologies have been slow to roll out, although we are currently on the cusp of a PCIe 4.0 revolution. The pace of R&D is still keeping up, so as we move into 2020, we should start seeing plenty of interesting developments build on the backbone of 2019 designs. Here is our Year In Review 2019 for SSDs.

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Dell’s Alienware was among the first brands to offer a 27-inch Fast IPS gaming display featuring a 240 Hz refresh rate back in August, 2019. This spring, the company will in turn be one of the first suppliers to start selling a 25-inch "Fast IPS" monitor, which will combine high quality color reproduction with the kind of extreme performance that the Alienware brand is known for.
The Alienware 25 (AW2521HF) gaming monitor is based on a 25-inch "Fast IPS" panel featuring a 1920x1080 resolution, 178°/178° viewing angles, a 1 ms GtG response time, and a variable refresh rate of up to 240 Hz. Officially, the monitor supports AMD’s FreeSync technology, but it is also pending for the NVIDIA G-Sync compatible logotype. For now, Dell does not disclose other characteristics of the display, but expect its brightness and contrast ratio to be similar to that of the Alienware 27 launched in 2019.

Like other products carrying the Alienware brand, the new AW2521HF monitor uses the ‘Legend’ futuristic design language with addressable AlienFX RGB LEDs. Obviously, the monitor comes with an adjustable stand and versatile connectivity with integrated cable management, in line with other higher end gaming LCDs.

The Alienaware 25 IPS Display with 240 Hz Refresh Rate
		AW2521HF
Panel		25-inch class IPS
Native Resolution		1920 × 1080
Maximum Refresh Rate		240 Hz
Dynamic Refresh	Technology	AMD FreeSync
Range	?
Brightness		? cd/m²
Contrast		?
Viewing Angles		178°/178° horizontal/vertical
Response Time		1 ms GtG
Pixel Pitch		~0.2883 mm²
Pixel Density		~88 PPI
Color Gamut Support		99% sRGB
Inputs		?×DP 1.2 ?×HDMI 2.0
Audio		audio input audio output
Stand		Height: +/- ? mm, Tilt: ?° to ?° Swivel: ?° to ? Pivot: ?° to ?° Built in cable management
Warranty		3 years
MSRP		?

Dell will start sales of the Alienware 25 gaming monitor on March 11, 2020. The company yet has to announce pricing of the device, but it is safe to say that it will be lower than that of its 27-inch 240 Hz counterpart which carries an MSRP of $599.99.

Related Reading:

• 280 Hz Fast: ASUS Releases TUF Gaming VG279QM IPS Monitor w/ 280 Hz
• Supersonic: ViewSonic’s Elite XG270 240 Hz IPS Monitor w/ VRR & HDR
• Need for Speed: The LG UltraGear (27GN750) 240 Hz IPS Monitor with G-Sync
• Fast & Furious: The Alienware 27 (AW2720HF) 240 Hz IPS Monitor with FreeSync
• HP's Omen X 27: A 240Hz QHD Monitor with FreeSync 2 HDR
• It Hurtz a Lot: ASUS's New 300 Hz Laptops
• Blink Quickly: Acer’s Predator Triton 500 Gets a 300 Hz Display

Source: Dell

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Dell has introduced its new 25-inch and 27-inch displays that are aimed at artists and designers with color-critical workloads. The new UltraSharp U2520Q and U2720Q monitors feature a 3H anti-glare coating and are factory calibrated to a Delta-E

Samsung had to stop production of DRAM and V-NAND memory at its fab near Hwaseong, South Korea, due to power outage earlier this week. Damage caused by disruption of production is something that is yet to be determined, but the company told local news agencies that it would take days to restore operations of the fab.
The power outage lasted for about a minute and was caused by an explosion of a power transmission cable at a local substation. According to media reports citing sources with knowledge of the matter, it will take Samsung two or three days to restore operations of the production facility, but the sources declined to reveal whether or not manufacturing equipment was broken.
It is unclear how many wafers containing DRAM and V-NAND memory were processed at the time of the outage and how many of them were damaged, but we do know that the fab complex produces both types of memory at the same time.
Power outages tend to happen on various semiconductor plants. Back in March 2018 a blackout took place at Samsung’s memory fab near Pyeongtaek, South Korea, whereas in June 2018 an outage happened at Yokkaichi Operations complex operated by Toshiba/Kioxia and Western Digital. In both cases the outages damaged production and caused massive financial losses.
Samsung is currently gearing up to release its new high-end smartphones in the first half of the 2020. Typically, the company (just like its rivals) is stockpiling DRAM and V-NAND memory ahead of major launches, so the consequences of the outage remain to be seen.
Related Reading:

• Power Outage at Samsung’s Fab Destroys 3.5% of Global NAND Flash Output For March
• Toshiba & WD NAND Production Hit By Power Outage: 6 Exabytes Lost
• Samsung to Expand 3D NAND Fab in China
• Japan Partly Removes Restrictions on Photoresists Exports to South Korea
• Samsung Launches Single-Chip uMCP Packages with LPDDR4X DRAM & UFS 3.0 Storage

Sources: Reuters, Yonhap

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I’ve constantly stated for the last two years that the next battleground in performance for the semiconductor market is going to be in the interconnect – whether we’re speaking about on chip with new manufacturing technologies or new topologies, or between chips with new communication standards or connectivity paradigms that shake up both bandwidth and efficiency. Moving from monolithic designs to chiplets and stacked silicon requires a fundamental shift in thinking that most of the industry is not yet ready for, from silicon engineers to vendors who design the software that enables silicon engineers to do their thing. You might not be surprised that Intel has a whole department dedicated to these new interconnect and packaging technologies. Ramune Nagisetty works across Intel's broad range of process and packaging technologies as Director of Process and Product Integration, and I finally got a chance to meet Ramune at this year’s IEDM conference. We sat down for an interview to discuss the area.

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Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon and ThinkPad X1 Yoga are perhaps the company’s best known laptops in the west. The company puts tremendous amounts of effort to make its flagship PCs stand out from the crowd in terms of features and performance, which is why it typically introduces updated versions every CES. This year is not an exception, so Lenovo is rolling out its 8^th Generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon as well as 5^th Generation ThinkPad X1 Yoga, which are receiving a new keyboard, additional security features, and Wi-Fi 6 support.

The upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Lenovo X1 Yoga will borrow a lot from their direct predecessors, the 7^th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the 4^th Gen ThinkPad X1 Yoga. The systems share chassis and therefore retain weight and thickness of previous-generation models (1.09 kilograms/14.9 mm and 1.3 kilograms/15.25 mm, respectively). Furthermore, they are based on the same Intel’s 10^th Generation Core processor platform (Comet Lake) with up to six cores that is paired with up to 16 GB of soldered-down LPDDR3 memory as well as an up to 2 TB SSD.

Instead, Lenovo had made three major improvements elsewhere to differentiate the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Lenovo X1 Yoga systems from their predecessors. The first one is the new keyboard that still uses scissor mechanism, but now has a set of buttons for instant Voice-over-IP access. Considering that services like Skype are used widely these days, the special buttons will make life of many people easier.

The second improvement for the new ThinkPads is Wi-Fi 6 support, with the latest Wi-Fi standard starting to gain serious traction.

The final new feature that will be optionally available on select 8^th Generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon as well as 5^th Generation ThinkPad X1 Yoga is a new Full-HD display with 500 nits maximum brightness. The new display is also available with Lenovo’s PrivacyGuard screen filter, which helps to protect against prying eyes by giving the screen a narrow viewing angle. In addition, select machines will come with ThinkPad PrivacyAlert software technology that warns users when someone is staring at their screen and turns on PrivacyGuard on supporting LCDs. Meanwhile, flagship models of both mobile PCs will come equipped with an Ultra-HD display featuring 500 nits luminance and Dolby Vision support.
Rounding out the package, the new ThinkPads use a 51 Wh battery that offers 10 – 15 hours (Yoga) or 10 – 18 hours (Carbon) of battery life depending on exact configuration. Furthermore the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is once again part of Intel’s Project Athena program, meaning it meets Intel's performance and battery life standards there.
Lenovo will start sales of its 2020 ThinkPad X1 machines later this year. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop will start at $1,499, whereas the ThinkPad X1 convertible will start at $1,599.
Related Reading:

• Lenovo Launches ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7: Thinner, Lighter, Comet Lake Inside
• Lenovo’s 2019 ThinkPad X1 Yoga: An Ultralight Convertible with Comet Lake
• Lenovo at CES 2019: 7th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gets Thinner
• Lenovo: Foldable ThinkPad X1 to Launch in 2020

Source: Lenovo

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Continuing our run of CES 2020 announcements, Lenovo has announced its new ThinkVision Creator Extreme top-of-the-range professional-grade display. The new 27-inch Ultra-HD monitor features a Mini LED-based full-area local dimming (FALD) backlighting that enables a very high brightness in HDR mode along with matching contrast ratios.
As its name suggests, the Lenovo ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 is designed for various content creators who need a 3840x2160 resolution display with accurate colors (100% of the sRGB and 99% of the DCI-P3 color gamut). The high-end monitor also offers HDR support, with a peak brightness of 1000 nits. The P27 comes factory calibrated and can be used for color-critical workloads by designers or videographers right out of the box.

The key feature of Lenovo’s ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 is its Mini LED FALD backlighting, which offers 1152 zones (and 10,368 LEDs), three times as many zones as the first generation of FALD PC monitors. This allows the P27 to enable higher contrast ratios, deep blacks (when compared to LCDs with regular WLED backlighting), and the necessary total brightness required for HDR. Lenovo is not disclosing an official contrast ratio specification, though it is safe to say that we are talking about something considerably higher than that of typical IPS displays. The company also does not say which HDR transport formats are supported by the monitor, which is a little bit odd given its positioning.

To meet requirements of users with different computers, Lenovo equipped its ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 with four display inputs: one DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.0, and one USB Type-C port with DP 1.4 Alt mode support and 90 W Power Delivery. One interesting feature of the new professional display from Lenovo is a special holder for a smartphone which lets users to follow lock screen announcements and save some space on the desk.

Lenovo’s ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 will be available this April for $2,499. Considering the fact that to date only Acer and ASUS have introduced Mini LED-enabled professional-grade monitors, the very high price tag of Lenovo’s monitor does not come as a surprise.

ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 Specifications
Panel		27" IPS
Resolution		3840 × 2160
Refresh Rate		60 Hz
Response Time		14 ms gray-to-gray
Brightness		Normal: ? cd/m² HDR mode: 1000 cd/m²
Contrast		?
Viewing Angles		178°/178° horizontal/vertical
Color Saturation		100% sRGB 99% DCI-P3
Display Colors		1.07 billion
3D-LUT		? bits
Pixel Pitch		0.1557 mm²
Pixel Density		163 PPI
Anti-Glare Coating		?
Inputs		1 × DP 1.4 2 × HDMI 2.0b 1 × USB Type-C
USB Hub		4-port USB 3.0 hub
Audio		none 3.5-mm mini jack
Mechanical Design		Chassis Colors: black, metallic. Tilt: yes Height Adjustment: yes Swivel: yes
Power Consumption	Idle	?
Active	?
Price		$2,499

Related Reading:

• ASUS ProArt PA32UCG: The Ultimate Mini LED 4K 120 Hz Monitor with HDR 1600
• ASUS Mini LED Professional Monitors Update: Available This Year
• Acer Joins Mini LED Monitor Club with Professional-Focused ConceptD CM7321K
• ASUS at CES 2019: ProArt PA32UCX 4K Monitor with 1000-Zone FALD Unveiled
• AUO’s Mini LED Monitors: 32-Inch 4Kp144, 65-Inch 4Kp144, VR, & Others
• Lenovo Announces ThinkVision P32u LCD: 32-inch, 4K, TB3 with Daisy Chaining

Source: Lenovo

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