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GETAC B360

Full ruggedness and state-of-the-art performance in a machine no larger or heavier than the semi-rugged competition.
By Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, photography by Carol Cotton)

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On June 23, 2023, Getac introduced the next generation of its B360 that according to the company is the first Sub-6 5G certified rugged laptop. The speed, low latency, reliability and network capacity of 5G opens up a whole range of new applications for industry, public service agencies, field forces and other key vertical market rugged computer customers. And the updated B360 also jumps from the 10th to the 12th generation of Intel Core processors.

Where does the Getac B360 fit into the overall rugged laptop landscape? It's a feature and performance update to a platform that revolutionized the fully-rugged laptop market three years ago with a design that brought full ruggedness in a package that measured and weighed no more than traditional "semi-ruggeds" — computers with a lower level of build quality, sealing and protection.

In essence, when compact size and light weight mattered, Getac had a fully-rugged machine that could take on the competitions' semi-ruggeds such as the Panasonic Toughbook 55, the Dell Latitude 5420 Rugged or the Durabook S14I, all with only moderate ingress protection against solids and liquids, and with less drop drop resistance.

Getac had baked full and not just "semi" ruggedness into the B360 platform, even though it had the compact footprint, thin profile and low weight of a semi-rugged. That was quite remarkable, and the B360 went on to be a big success.

And the original B360 wasn't just impossibly light and compact, it also leapfrogged the competition with the latest available Intel processors and related tech, it had by far the brightest screen, it used superfast PCIe NVMe solid state disk technology, and more. It set a new benchmark in every respect. But time moves on, and now we have the new, second generation Getac B360.

So what do you get with the next-gen Getac B360?

What you get with the new generation of the Getac B360 is still a light and compact tool for the job designed and built by one of the very pioneers in rugged laptops. Depending on how one looks at it, the B360 has great appeal for those who may have considered rugged laptops in the past but found them just too bulky and heavy. And the B360 is very interesting for those who like the lesser weight and sleeker build of a semi-rugged but not their lack of full ruggedness and protection.

What general size class is B360? Its 13.3-inch display is right where rugged laptop screens have been for literally decades, though, of course, the B360 has a modern wide-format display with full HD resolution. Compared to today's super-slender consumer and business laptops, even a compact rugged like the B360 is fairly substantial. Its footprint of 13.5 x 11.1 inches, it's 1.4 inches thick and it starts at 5.1 pounds. The table below shows where the B360 fits into Getac's roster of semi-rugged and fully rugged laptops:

Getac Rugged Windows Notebooks: Where the B360 fits in
Model V110 B360 S410 X500 X600
Display size 11.6-inch 13.3-inch 14.0-inch 15.6-inch 15.6-inch
Ruggedness Fully rugged Fully rugged Semi rugged Fully rugged Fully rugged
Resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080 1200 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Pixels/inch 190 ppi 166 ppi 112 or 157 ppi 141 ppi 141 ppi
Aspect ratio 16 : 9 16 : 9 16 : 9 16 : 9 16 : 9
Luminance 1000 nits 1400 nits 1000/1000 nits 1000 nits 1000 nits
Size 12.3 x 9.4 x 1.5 inches 13.5 x 11.1 x 1.4 inches 13.8 x 11.5 x 1.5 inches 16.1 x 12.6 x 2.5 inches 16.2 x 12.7 x 2.1 inches
Volume 173.4 cubic inches 209.8 cubic inches 222.2 cubic inches 507.2 cubic inches 432.1 cubic inches
Weight (lbs.) 4.6 5.1 5.25 11.4 9.7
CPUs 12th gen Core 12th gen Core 11th gen Core 7th gen Core 11th gen Core
CPU Code Alder Lake Alder Lake Tiger Lake Kaby Lake Tiger Lake
Max RAM 64GB 64GB 64GB 64GB 128GB
Max primary storage 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD 2TB SATA SSD or 1TB HDD 6TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Std. Battery 46.6 whr 46.6 whr 74.5 whr 99.8 whr 149.0 whr
Operating temp -20° to 145° F -20° to 145° F -20° to 145° F -4° to 131° F -20° to 145° F
IP rating IP65 IP66 IP53 IP65 IP66
5G Optional 5G Sub-6 Optional 5G Sub-6 Optional 5G Sub-6 No No
Pro version No Yes No No Yes
Server version No No No Yes Yes

The B360 comes with up to 64GB of fast DDR4 RAM and up to 2 terabyte of fast PCIe NVMe solid state disk for primary storage. Optional secondary storage is up to another 2 terabyte of SSD storage, now also of the PCIe NVMe variety (in the last gen, secondary storage was using the slower SATA interface).

The B360 display (which is of the IPS variety, as on most recent Getacs) measures 13.3 inches diagonally and offers 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, making for 166 pixels per inch, and 16:9 aspect ratio. Its 1400 nits luminance is extremely bright, brighter than almost anything else out there. There's, of course, 10-point capacitive multi-touch and a hard tip stylus.

Due to weight and space issues, battery capacity is always a tricky thing with laptops. To get down to that slim profile and low weight compared to traditional rugged laptops, Getac had to do without a big, beefy power pack. Instead, the B360 was designed with two smaller and very thin (just 3/8th of an inch) hot-swappable batteries with only 23.31 watt-hour capacity each. That remains unchanged in the latest generation, despite the more powerful processors with higher TDP ratings.

Despite its remarkably light weight, the Getac B360 feels tough and substantial. It's an elegant, purposeful design where form follows function. Most rugged laptops use a black/dark silver color scheme with fine powder coating, and the B360 is no exception. Surfaces are attractively contoured. Much of the housing is metallic. A sturdy carry handle is part of the design. Below is a look at the B360 from the top and from all four sides:

Unlike phones and consumer tablets, rugged laptops have a full complement of standard-size ports. Sealing and protection of those ports is an important design consideration, one that is nowhere near as easy to implement as it sounds. Getac's solution for the B360 are elaborate hinged plastic doors with rubber seals. The doors must be pushed into place, which can be a bit tricky. Once in place they can be snap-clicked into a locked position. You do have to be careful to get them sealed properly and snapped into place the proper way, but once you get the hang of it, it's a decent, albeit not super-obvious, solution (the new lock/unlock icon is an improvement over the last generation's).

Below is a look at the backside of the new B360, with all of its protective doors removed (each is bolted on with two small Philips screws). From left to right, there's a Kensington lock slot, a Thunderbolt 4 port using the USB-C plug, a USB 3.2 gen 2 ports, an RJ45 connector, an HDMI 2.0 port, two areas for optional and configurable I/O (our unit came with just a DB9 legacy serial port), a DisplayPort connector, and finally the power jack.

Below are the two side views of the B360, again with all protective doors removed. On top is the left side view with, from left to right, the tether anchor hole for the stylus, the stylus slot, the fan/heat exchanger grille, primary and secondary mass storage, and smart card reader.

On the bottom is the right sideview. Here we see, from left to right, the area for an optional barcode scanner (which our tester didn't have), optional SIM and SD card reader slots, 3.5mm audio jack, and a PowerShare USB 3.2 Type-A port.

What are the changes here from the last generation of the B360 to the new one? In the back there's now the Thunderbolt 4 port and the Type-A port is now of the faster USB 3.2 Gen 2 variety. On the left side, the secondary solid state storage drive is now using the fast PCIe NVMe interface as well. And on the right side, the PowerShare USB Type A port is now USB 3.2 instead of the old 2.0.

Note that Getac offers a good number of customization options. The I/O area in the back, for example, can be equipped with various I/O combos, such as 9-pin D-sub serial and 15-pin VGA, 9-pin D-sub serial and DisplayPort, 9-pin D-sub serial + 15-pin VGA + 2nd RJ45 LAN, and 9-pin D-sub serial + DisplayPort + 2nd RJ45 LAN. Likewise, the laptop can be equipped with optional fingerprint scanner or an HF RFID reader.

The bottom side of the B360 is mostly unadorned. The two batteries fit flush into the body of the laptop. A springloaded lockable mechanism keeps them securely in place, but also makes them replaceable within seconds. Unlike other Getac tablets and laptops, the B360 doesn't have extended life battery options (the also available B360 Pro does).

In the center of the bottom is the surface-mount docking connector for the B360's optional office and vehicles docks. Next to that appear to be antenna pass-throughs.

Note here that Getac chose a different customization path with the B360 laptop than, for example, their UX10 rugged tablet. The UX10 tablet has three different expansion areas that each can accommodate one of the several available options, which makes for a very large number of possible permutations. With the B360, Getac gave the device a good number of expected I/O and a lesser number of optional configurations.

Exemplary design

Designing a laptop is like designing a car. Inside is what makes the car and the laptop go. Around that is the structure and packaging, and outside an attractive, functional shape. A laptop is a box with keyboard in it and a hinged screen that's like the cover of the box. Form follows function to the extreme.

Coming up with an elegant, attractive laptop design that communicates toughness, competence, professionalism, and a unique brand identity isn't easy. But Getac has decades of experience with that and the B360 is a very good-looking piece of equipment. Colors, materials, textures, lines, corners, labels, everything looks, works, and fits just right.

The attention to detail on this laptop is more than impressive. Yes, form follows function, but form also contributes to ergonomics, ease-of-use, and also eye-pleasing visual design. Just like the big Getac X600 and X600 Pro rugged workstations we reviewed a few months ago, the Getac B360 convinces on all levels.

And that includes the details. The mustachioed German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once observed that that's where the devil is, in the details. In all the small little things that often get overlooked, and that, if not properly designed and attended to, will come back to haunt you.

A laptop has lots of details, and Getac quite obviously thought them through. Below are some of the details that showcase this impressive attention to every detail:

Clockwise and starting from the upper left, you can see:

  1. The clasp that secures the LCD screen against the computer case with the keyboard is one of the most important parts of every laptop. You don't want for the screen to open up when it shouldn't, and you don't want a clasp/lock that's clumsy and hard to operate. Getac got it just right with a spring-loaded clasp that automatically locks, but also easily lets go with just a tap on the clasp.

  2. If a rugged computer gets dropped (and it will), the screen must not be jarred open upon impact. Two steel bolts make sure that would never happen in the B360.

  3. If you use a stylus with your laptop, it should be tethered and it should have a stylus garage in a convenient and easily located spot. The B360 has that. And it says "Getac" on it. Most of us have many styli. To know which one goes with which device is a very good idea.

  4. Too many buttons are confusing, especially if they are poorly labeled. Getac gave the B360 just three, a good number. They are backlit and clearly labeled. A green power button and two programmable function buttons. Excellent.

  5. Annunciator lights tell the user what the computer is doing. All too often such lights are poorly labeled and in hard-to-see places. On the B360 they are clearly labeled and where you can easily see them, as it should be.

  6. The Getac B360's hot-swappable batteries are flush-mounted into the bottom of the computer case. It'd require a big seal to keep the entire battery compartment dry. So Getac used just an O-ring seal around the battery connector. A common solution, but especially well implemented here.

And another set of nice details: clockwise and starting from the upper left, you can see:

  1. It's great to have hot-swappable batteries, but do you always know if your spares are actually charged? And how much? With the B360's batteries there's never any doubt; just push a button and five LEDs show the charge level.

  2. Many touch pads are too deeply recessed for convenient use. The B360's 3-1/2 x 2 inch capacitive multi-touch pad is recessed only as much so you can easily sense its perimeter with your finger(s). It's also very responsive and has the exact right surface stiction.

  3. You want to be able to replace hot-swappable batteries quickly and easily, but you don't want to have them come loose or fall out by mistake. The B360 has lockable spring-loaded levers that work just right.

  4. The B360 has a small fan and a fan grille. Have no fear, though: the fan's housing is completely sealed to the interior of the laptop, and the fan itself works even underwater.

  5. This is the port sealing method Getac uses on the B360. Sealing external standard ports is never easy, designing such ports isn't easy, and making sure they are properly secured requires a conscious effort. It takes a bit of getting used to the ports on the B360, but they get the job done.

  6. Hard carry handles are almost a must on a rugged laptop, but many are bulky and not all are convenient to use. We like the B360's design where the handle is nicely integrated but then clicks into a carrying position when you need it.
Per Getac's request we did not dismantle the B360 to get an idea what it looks like inside, how easy or difficult it is to disassemble and reassemble the unit, and get an idea of the type of thermal management system. We did, however, use our FLIR One IR thermal imaging camera to see heat flows and heat dissipation. The images below show the B360's thermal signature while it was running the demanding PCMark10 benchmark. Temperatures are a bit higher overall than in the prior generation B360, as is to be expected with the more powerful new processors. Still, even with the cooling fan going, exhaust air remained at just 106F.

Keyboard and hardware controls

A good keyboard is very important in a notebook for the field. If it isn't good, one might as well use a tablet. Getac has used a variety of keyboard technologies in its rugged and semi-rugged notebooks over the years. Initially Getac laptops used older-style beveled keys. Over time, keyboards became more water-resistant and used mechanical membrane technology. The B360 likewise uses an LED backlit membrane keyboard, with an optional LED backlit rubber keyboard also available.

In terms of layout and look, these days almost everyone uses the "island-style" look with fairly short key travel but good tactile feedback. That's important in the field; everything must be optimized for functionality, clarity and ease of use. The thick type and white-on-black icons make the B360 keyboard look a bit busy and cluttered. Function labels are icon-style black on white, sometimes below and sometimes to the right of the default character of the key. The whole design looks and feels much like the standard Apple keyboard, which today is as much praised for its "look and feel" as the original IBM PC keyboard was at the dawn of personal computing.

Placement of the keyboard in relation to the slightly recessed capacitive multi-touch touchpad and the two "mouse" buttons is just right. The touchpad itself is a bit larger in the prior version. And, almost needless to say for full-size laptop, the all-important QWERTY layout is 100%-scale. That means the distance between the center of the letter Q and the center of the letter P is exactly 6-3/4 inches. missing imageThis way, anyone used to a standard keyboard will have no problem finding the key and feeling at home, even if they are not full touch typists.

The LED-based backlight can be toggled on/off via a function key combination. Illumination is reddish-tinted white, and it clearly illuminates the keys in semi and full darkness.

Unlike some earlier Getac rugged laptops we reviewed, illumination doesn't bleed out much around the keys in the dark. That makes the layout easier to read in the dark.

Powered by Intel 12th generation "Alder Lake" Core processor technology

This new generation of Getac's B360 platform is powered by Intel "Alder Lake" 12th generation Core processors. That's a two-generation jump up from the Intel 10th gen "Comet Lake" chips in the original B360. It must be a little frustrating for manufacturers of rugged laptops — which generally have a longer life cycle than consumer versions — to quickly fall behind in processor technology due to Intel's rapid-fire succession of chip generations. Because, truth be told, with rare exceptions, the difference between processor generations isn't that big.

More often than not, one of the faster chip options of a prior generation is likely to still be quicker than one of the lower-end options of the next generation or even the one after. As stated, there are exceptions. One was when quad-core processors became available for the first time. That made a big difference. Another was the "Tiger Lake" 11th generation that brought manufacturer-side dynamic tuning, Thunderbolt 4 support, Iris Xe, and was just generally a great design.

Is the "Alder Lake" 12th generation one of those exceptional ones? Hard to say. It is different, because it is Intel's first mainstream "hybrid" architecture. What does hybrid mean in this context? It means that "Alder Lake" chips have two different kinds of processing cores. There are complex, powerful P-cores (power cores) and smaller, less complex E-cores (efficient cores). The idea behind this is that the P-cores, which draw a lot of power, do the heavy lifting, whereas the economical E-cores do all the less-demanding routine everyday tasks. That's the way the ARM-based processors used in virtually all smartphones have been doing it for many years: power cores for maximum performance, and economy cores to save battery life — packing the best of both worlds into one chip.

But who makes the decision of what ought to run where and when? That task falls to a scheduler program designed to make sure everything runs as quickly as possible AND as economically as possible. For that to happen, Intel and Microsoft worked together on a hardware/software approach. On the hardware side, Intel Alder Lake chips have a special embedded controller — a Thread Director — that keeps track of all the metrics and passes on that information to the operating system scheduler program that then uses all that information to make intelligent decisions. This teamwork between hardware and software, however, requires Windows 11. Alder Lake chips can, of course, run Windows 10, but to take full advantage of Intel's new hybrid technology, you need Windows 11. To read our interpretation of all of this, see Intel's 12th generation "Alder Lake" Hybrid processors.

The B360 comes by default with an Intel Core i5-1240P, but Getac also offers four higher level chip options. The table below shows all five of them:

Getac B360 G2 available CPUs (see full specs)
CPU Intel Core i7 Intel Core i7 Intel Core i7 Intel Core i5 Intel Core i5
Model 1280P 1270P 1260P 1250P 1240P
P-Cores/Threads 6/12 4/8 4/8 4/8 4/8
E-Cores 8 8 8 8 8
Total Threads 20 16 16 16 16
P-cores Max Turbo 4.80 GHz 4.80 GHz 4.70 GHz 4.40 GHz 4.40 GHz
4-cores Max Turbo 3.60 GHz 3.50 GHz 3.40 GHz 3.30 GHz 3.30 GHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 28/64 watts 28/64 watts 28/64 watts 28/64 watts 28/64 watts
Smart Cache 24MB 18MB 18MB 12MB 12MB
Integrated graphics Iris Xe Graphics Iris Xe Graphics Iris Xe Graphics Iris Xe Graphics Iris Xe Graphics
Execution Units 96 96 96 80 80
Graphics max speed 1.45 GHz 1.40 GHz 1.40 GHz 1.40 GHz 1.30 GHz
Relative CPU cost 482 438 480 320 353

Looking at the table, you'll see right away that Alder Lake's hybrid technology means a lot more computing cores. All five options have eight efficiency cores. On top of that, there are four power cores in four of the five options, and six in the top-end chip. Each of the power cores has two threads. So these new chips have 12 to 14 cores and 16 to 20 threads!

And the different kinds and numbers of cores is not the only thing that has changed. The two types of cores have different default and top frequencies. And whereas the 10th generation processors in the original B360 were all rated as having a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 15 watts, the 12th generation chips are all listed as having 28 watts "base power" and 64 watts "max turbo power." What is TDP in the first place? It's a somewhat vague Intel measure of how much heat a tablet or laptop must be able to dissipate for a certain processor. So a jump from 15 watts to 64 watts is quite large. And it is also large compared to Intel's 12/28 watts designation for "Tiger Lake" 11th generation processors.

So we're a little bit in uncharted water here, what with Intel's changing classifications and specifications. As is, Getac chose "P-Series" processors for the new B360. Intel designates those for "thin and light laptops," which would make them the perfect chice for a machine like the B360. However, for years rugged laptops and tablets have been using "U-Series" processors, and that also goes for the few rugged systems that have already switched to Alder Lake. So it's not entirely clear if "P" is the new "U" in premium rugged systems, or if the choice signals Getac's return to using high-powered CPUs even at the cost of higher power draw, as the company has in the past?

In order to get a sense of where the new Getac B360 stands in terms of raw performance compared to its primary fully-rugged laptop competition, we ran our standard benchmark suites (PassMark 6.1 and 9, CrystalMark, PCMark10, 3DMark, and GeekBench 5). The results are as follows:

Getac B360 G2 in context
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON Getac Dell Durabook Panasonic
Model B360 G3 Latitude 7330 DURABOOK Z14I TOUGHBOOK 40
Year tested 2023 2022 2021 2024
Processor Intel Core Intel Core Intel Core Intel Core
Processor Model i7-1280P (G12) i7-1185G7 (G11) i7-1165G7 (G11) i7-1185G7 (G11)
Code name Alder Lake Tiger Lake Tiger Lake Tiger Lake
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 28/64 watts 12/28 watts 12/28 watts 12/28 watts
CPU Clock 1.60GHz 1.90GHz 1.60GHz 1.60GHz
CPU Turbo 4.20GHz 4.20GHz 3.40GHz 4.10GHz
CPU Cores/Threads 14/20 4/8 4/8 4/8
Graphics Intel Iris Xe Intel Iris Xe Intel Iris Xe Intel Iris Xe
Display 13.3-inch 1920x1080 13.3-inch 1920x1080 14.0-inch 1920x1080 14.0-inch 1920x1080
Display Luminance 1549 nits 1348 nits 1150 nits 1235 nits
Cooling Active (fan) Active (fan) Passive Active (fan
Weight 5.17 lbs as tested 6.00 lbs as tested 8.75 lbs as tested 7.87 lbs as tested
Minimum Power Draw 4.2 watts 3.2 watts 6.1 watts 5.6 watts
PassMark 6.1 8,921 9,788 8,788 9,725
PassMark 9.0 5,750 6,030 4,800 4,631
CrystalMark 553,462 521,004 463,662 435,530
PCMark10 Overall 5,488 5,231 4,623 4,835
-- PCMark10 Essentials 10,308 10,253 9,472 9,177
-- PCMark10 Productivity 6,914 6,896 6,441 6,519
-- PCMark10 Content Creation 6,296 5,498 4,395 5,128
PCMark10 Drive 1,841 1,818 1,232 1,248
PCMark10 Battery 4:32 hours (46.6 whr) 15:22 hours (105 whr) 9:41 hours (84.2 whr) 5:55 hrs (68.0 whr)
PCMark10 Battery (whr/hr) 10.28 6.01 8.67 11.49
3DMark Time Spy 1,452 1,818 1,232 1,163
GeekBench 5 Single Core 1,588 1,560 1,391 1,358
GeekBench 5 Multi Core 7,784 5,779 3,640 3,816
GeekBench 5 Open CL 15,989 17,533 12,168 12,419

What do the benchmarks show? Some of the results are obvious and expected, others less so.

First, the new B360 is a very powerful machine, outperforming the original B360 we tested in almost all benchmarks, even though the early test machine had the optional discrete graphics which our new B360 didn't have. That said, the overall margin of extra performance wasn't quite as much as we had expected from P-Series chip. Why might that be? The most likely reason is that the new hybrid architecture hasn't matured yet to a point where the OS and software can take full advantage of the powerful hardware with all of its processors. So it's quite possible that Windows 11 updates, especially on the thread director, will unlock additional performance over time.

We're usually showing a broader range of competitors in the comparison tables, but when it comes to fully rugged premium laptops, these four are likely what most customers will consider. It'd be interesting how the Panasonic Toughbook 40 would do here. Panasonic pretty much pioneered the field and has been a longtime leader, but, alas, Panasonic hasn't made one available to RuggedPCReview.com yet.

Battery life

Just as is the case with electric vehicles, balancing range with battery size, weight and cost is a never-ending challenge for designers of rugged computing gear. Back when rugged laptops were heavy and bulky, there was room for a big battery, and customers didn't mind the weight so much. But that has changed. The Getac B360 is, for a rugged system, a thin & light design, and that required some concessions, the onboard amount of battery power one of them. How does that affect battery size and power in the B360?

Battery technology has come a long way, but progress remains slower than overall progress in electronics and miniaturization. Does that mean today's slender power packs have less capacity? Often they do. Rugged devices of the past routinely had standard batteries with 90 or 100 watt-hour capacities. Today it's often just half of that. Combined, the B360's two slender (just 3/8-inch thick) batteries, for example, only pack 46.6 watt-hours, a far cry from the semi-rugged Getac S410's 74.5 watt-hours, let alone the Getac X600's default 149 watt-hours.

Getac specs don't list expected battery life in the B360's specs, probably because battery life depends on so many cariables. So, given the B360's substantial performance and super-bright screen, what will we find?

Getac B360 BatteryMon Power Draws (at idle)
Backlight level Darkest 50% Brightest
Max Battery 4.2 watts (11.1 hrs.) 5.6 watts (8.3 hrs.) 10.7 watts (4.4 hrs.)
Max Performance 5.5 watts (8.5 hrs.) 6.5 watts (7.2 hrs.) 12.2 watts (3.8 hrs.)

We used PassMark's BatteryMon to measure basic power draw. Selecting the Getac "Best Power Efficiency" mode, and screen brightness toggle set to its lowest setting, we saw a minimum of 4.2 watts, not bad, but a lot more than the original B360's minimum draw of just 2.0 watts. With the backlight set to 50% it was 5.6 watts (compared to the old machine's 2.9 watts), and with the backlight at 100%, amazingly, 10.7 watts — more than the predecessor's 7.9 watts but really not much given the very bright screen. Dividing the full available 46.6 watt-hours by the lowest observed power draw of 4.2 watts would indicate a theoretical battery life of 11.1 hours.

Putting the B360 into Windows' "Best Performance" power mode and toggling the backlight to 0%, power draw was 5.5 watts, good for a theoretical 8.5 hours. With the backlight set to the 50% level, it was 6.5 watts, still good for 7.2 hours.

With the backlight at 100%, power draw rose to 12.2 watts. This means that in "Best Performance" mode and backlight as bright as Windows sets it, theoretical battery life is down quite a bit, to just 3.8 hours.

Getting 11 hours of (theoretical) run time out of two small batteries combining to just 46 watt-hours would be adequate — anything that can cover a full shift is. And the batteries are hot-swappable, carrying a spare or two means that battery life should be less of an issue. If the lowest possible weight is desirable, you can operate a B360 with just one battery. It then weighs just 4.825 pounds. We would, however, not recommend hitting the road with just one single battery.

All that said, of course, the power draw we measured was at idle. In real life use, computers go into standby mode after a period of idling, using even less power, but when called to do actual work, they use much more. Which mean that real life battery life will vary. And, in fact, when we ran the PCMark10 Battery benchmark, which continuously exercises the computer until the battery is exhausted, we saw just 4:32 hours. So, given the new B360's powerfull processor with all its cores and higher power draw, we'd have liked to see an increase in battery capacity in this new generation.

Ruggedness

Despite being significantly thinner and lighter than traditional fully rugged laptops, the B360 is a fully rugged machine and designed to reliably perform under extreme working environments where weather conditions and physical abuse are an ever-present reality. The machine can operate between -20° and 145° Fahrenheit (-29° to 63°C). Sealing is at the IP66 standard, and the machine fills MIL-STD-810H testing requirements for humidity, altitude, shock, drop, vibration and others, and the B360 is also compliant with MIL-STD-461G (electromagnetic interference). The pictures below show samples of the kind of ruggedness testing Getac performs on all of their computers.

To go into a bit more detail on the individual ruggedness testing categories:

IP ratings refer to Ingress Protection standards for electrical enclosures, with the first number describing the protection level against solids and the second protection against liquids. The B360's IP66 rating indicates total protection against dust, and the laptop is also protected against strong jets of water from all directions. That is far above semi-rugged laptops' IP52 or IP53 ingress protection ratings.

In terms of temperature resistance, the B360's extremely wide -20 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit operating temperature range was measured in accordance with MIL-STD-810H, 501.5 Procedure II and 502.5 Procedure II. The computer also passed non-condensing humidity testing up to 95% per MIL-STD-810H, 507.5 Procedure II, and can operate in altitudes up to 15,000 feet (and obviously in aircraft with pressurized cabins) per MIL-STD-810H, 500.5 Procedure II.

The device is RoHS-compliant. RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances and regulates the use of certain hazardous substances in electronic equipment. The RoHS standard is fully implemented in Europe, with lesser restrictions applying in the US.

Shock, vibration, drop and ESD resistance are all tested according to MIL-STD-810H and other relevant regulatory procedures. Not all results are in the promotional literature or owner's manual (which for now only states "vibration & drop resistant"), so inquire with Getac for specifics and also check Getac's certification and compliance testing document (see here).

With respect to the ever important drop spec, Getac's web page specs don't mention a particular drop height, just that the tests performed on Getac units include MIL-STD-810H Method 516.6. — transit drop. That one generally requires 26 drops from four feet. Why four feet? Because when designing the drop tests, the government figured that if you drop something while standing, it'll drop about four feet, as opposed to something that falls off a table or counter, which is 2.5 to three feet. The Getac B360 passed the tests from a drop height of six feet. That is impressive.

I should mention that optionally available is ANSI/UL 121201, CSA C22.2 NO. 213 certification as electrical equipment for use in Class I, Division 2 hazardous locations (i.e. places where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases, vapors or liquids may happen). There are multiple configuration options to fit desired usage scenarios in potentially explosive environments typically found in the oil and gas, petrochemical, aviation and related industries.

Finally, Getac's rugged mobile computer decontamination document (see here) recommends a number of commonly available disinfectants for the B360. Those have all been tested for 10,000 swipe-downs at a pressure of 14.22 psi.

LumiBond® 2 display works well indoors and out

Computer displays have come a very long way since the early days of the PC, with many of today's displays being pretty much perfect. Indoors, that is. Outdoors, the sun can overwhelm the brightest display, and there are reflections that can make a screen difficult to see and use. Clearly, outdoor/sunlight viewability is of crucial importance to users of rugged laptops such as the Getac B360.

As a result, rugged computer manufacturers have long been in a race for the best possible outdoor/sunlight-viewable display technology.

Several years ago, Getac came up with their "QuadraClear®" (see QuadraClear® page) display technology. The term refers to its four core features: a bright backlight, anti-reflective coatings, linear polarizer, and circular polarizer.

All major manufacturers of outdoor-usable mobile computing equipment use those technologies, and so the difference boils down to a) backlight brightness and b) the extent to which the expensive optical coatings are applied and how the various layers are bonded (the fewer reflective surfaces, the better). Getac calls their layer bonding process "LumiBond®" (see LumiBond® page).

What constitutes a "powerful" backlight? That's where luminance, the intensity of light emitted, comes in.

Luminance is measured in candela per square meter, where candela refers to luminous intensity, the power emitted by a light source. Since "candela per square meter" is a bit cumbersome, the industry uses "nits" which really is just short for "units".

A standard laptop display is generally in the 200 nits range, and rarely reaches 300 nits. Premium tablets are in the 400-600 nits range. Some heavy-duty rugged gear went as high as 1500 nits, but that generally required a massive, heavy battery.

The Getac B360 display is listed as 1400 nits, which is very bright. And its various optical treatments cut down the percentage of incoming ambient light. That's important because the ratio between the backlight and the reflected incoming ambient light determines the effective contrast ratio, which then translates into the degree of real world outdoor readability of a display. And as if 1400 nits weren't bright enough, in our own testing we actually saw a maximum of almost 1550 nits!

The matrix below shows the B360 display under a wide variety of viewing conditions.

Overall, its sheer brightness precludes the picture from washing out, the way it does on lesser screens, under almost any lighting condition. The semi-matte surface also totally eliminates the sharp reflections that bedevil standard "glossy" displays outdoors.

There are, however, no completely perfectly solutions to outdoor viewability with current display technology. Getac made this display as bright as possible while, with prudent use of full brightness, still offering generous battery life. But even with a semi-matte displays surface, reflections manifest — not in a distracting mirror-like way, but a degree of milkiness when the display diffuses light.

As is, the B360 display is excellent. Both glossy and semi-matte screens have their pros and cons, but outdoors and in the sun, semi-matte's ability to diffuse the sharp reflections of glossy screens can be a distinct advantage. This is about as good as it currently gets.

One thing, though: It's time to increase screen resolution. Machines such as the Getac B360 are increasingly used to perform complex and very detailed imaging tasks and computations, and the old "Full HD" 1920 x 1080 pixel is starting to be a weak link. It'd be nice to get 1440p 2560 x 1440 resolution at least as an option.

Glove touch and handling rain

One of the limiting issues with capacitive multi-touch is that in its generic form, it only works with human fingers or, to a lesser extent, with capacitive styli. Capacitive touch doesn't like rain and it won't accept thick gloves and such. Unfortunately, wetness and the need for gloves is exactly what one encounters out there where machines such as the Getac B360 are often used.

Getac was one of the first to address these issues, and solutions have been part of the LumiBond® 2.0 technology for several years. There's a special G-Manager "Touch Screen" display where users can select "Touch," "Glove," or "Pen." Here's how it works:

Drops near the hand on the "Touch" icon indicate that touch continues to work "with direct exposure to rain." How exactly Getac does that is part of their intellectual property.

Water is so conductive that it affects the capacitance between two electrodes, which is the concept upon which projected capacitive touch is built. What can be done is switching from a standard mutual capacitance mode to self-capacitance where the capacitance between one electrode and the ground is measured instead of the capacitance between two electrodes. That would preclude a capacitive pen from working in this mode because a fairly large touch area is required. The capacitive pen does work, however, so what Getac did is make sure the light touch of a rain drop is not interpreted as a finger touch.

"Glove" allows the B360 to be operated with gloves. That is done by increasing the sensitivity of the touch controller, so that it can recognize a finger even a brief distance away from the screen, as in the distance that the material of a glove adds to the finger's distance from the screen. That's the way Getac seemed to have done it, as not only do gloves work in this mode, but the cursor now follows the finger even when it is a short distance away from the surface, and touch operations no longer require a firm touch.

"Pen" mode is for use with the dual-mode input option. Touch continues to work in pen mode, but the system will not recognize touch when it sense the pen in use, and vice versa. Pen mode is also for use with narrow-tip capacitive pens, where the smaller contact area of the stylus takes priority over the large contact of finger touch.

Summary: Getac B360 fully rugged notebook computer

With the next generation of the B360, Getac leapfrogs its primary competition in the modern, full-size, fully rugged laptop race. The B360 is a fully-rugged computer for the field that isn't bulky and doesn't weigh a lot. In fact, even in this new and more powerful version, Getac does the seemingly impossible: make a machine that can handle whatever hazard or abuse comes its way, yet is no bulkier, and weighs no more, than most semi-ruggeds. That is remarkable.

So to just quickly reiterate, the Getac B360 still only weighs just a little over five pounds even with two batteries, offers excellent performance thanks to using state-of-the-art technology (like Intel 12th gen Core chips and PCIe NVMe storage), and sports the kind of full, uncompromising ruggedness needed on so many jobs.

Now add to that a smoothly operating capacitive multi-touch display that's also the brightest available screen in this class (or most others), hot-swappable batteries, things you don't usually get in laptops (like an optional integrated scanner), and also the availability of a B360 "Pro" model for those who need additional features and build options as well as more on-board battery power, and you have a platform that is hard to beat. – Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, July 2023

Getac B360 G2 fully-rugged laptop Specs
Status Introduced June 2023, full review July 2023
Type Fully rugged notebook
Processor Intel Core i7-1280P (6 P-cores/8 E-cores, 4.8 GHz max turbo)
Intel Core i7-1270P (4 P-cores/8 E-cores, 4.8 GHz max turbo)
Intel Core i5-1260P (4 P-cores/8 E-cores, 4.7 GHz max turbo)
Intel Core i5-1250P (4 P-cores/8 E-cores, 4.4 GHz max turbo)
Intel Core i5-1240P (4 P-cores/8 E-cores, 4.4 GHz max turbo)
Thermal Design Power 28/64 watts (all available processors)
Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics, opt. NVIDIA GTX 1650
OS Windows 11 Professional (64-bit)
Memory 8GB DDR4 expandable to 64GB
Storage Main storage: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Optional 2nd storage: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB NVMe SSD
Expansion slots 1 x SD card, 1 x Smart Card
Display type IPS TFT LCD, LumiBond® 2.0 sunlight readable LED display
Display size/res 13.3"/1920 x 1080 pixel (166 ppi) 1400 NITs (measured 1549 NITs)
Digitizer 10-point capacitive multi-touch
Keyboard LED backlit membrane keyboard; optional LED backlit rubber keyboard
Housing Unknown
Size 13.46" x 11.06" x 1.37" inches (342 x 281 x 35 mm)
Weight Starting at 5.1 pounds (2.3 kg); weight as tested with two batteries and stylus: 5.17 lbs.
Operating temperature -20° to 145°F (-29° to 63°C)
Drop test MIL-STD-810H 6-ft drop
Ingress protection IP66
Vibration e-Mark certified for vehicle usage
Humidity 95% RH, non-condensing
Disinfectants See Getac rugged mobile computer decontamination
EMI MIL-STD-461G certified
Power Hot swappable dual 11.1V 2,100 mAH 23.3 whr Li-Ion batteries
Cameras Front-facing FHD webcam or optional Windows Hello webcam
Scanning Optional barcode scanner
Security TPM 2.0, cable lock slot, Smart Card reader, opt. HF RFID reader
Interface 1 x Headphone out/mic-in combo, DC-in Jack, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type A, 1 x PowerShare USB 3.2 Type A, 1 x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, 1 x LAN (RJ45), 1 x HDMI 2.0, Docking connector.
Configurable I/O Options:
1. 9-pin D-sub serial + 15-pin VGA
2. 9-pin D-sub serial + DisplayPort
3. 9-pin D-sub serial + 15-pin VGA + 2nd RJ45 LAN
4. 9-pin D-sub serial + DisplayPort + 2nd RJ45 LAN
Wireless Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, 802.11ax Bluetooth (v5.3); opt. dedicated GPS OR opt. 4G LTE mobile broadband with integrated GPS, opt. 5G Sub-6 with integrated GPS, opt. RF antenna pass-through for GPS, WLAN and WWAN
Price Inquire
Web page Getac B360 web page
Brochure Getac B360 brochure/specs
Warranty 3-year bumper-to-bumper warranty standard