ALLERLEI

When deciding on what kind and type of laptop to use in the field, users have a lot of choices. There are different sizes, different classes, different performance levels, and degrees of ruggedness and protection. 

As distributors, you can help your customers to make the right choices, choices that work for them, make them trust you, and make them come back to you for future business. 

In this video we’ll look at Winmate’s L156 Series of rugged laptops. What are they, who are they for, and what do they have to offer.

First, there is size. The L156 Series models are large laptops with, as the Series name implies, 15.6-inch displays. There are many applications that work better on a larger screen, and there are customers that do prefer larger screens. Rugged laptops and 2-in-1s generally come in display sizes of 11.6 inches, 13.3 inches, and 14 inches. A L156 Series laptop has 81% per display area than an 11.6-inch screen, 38% more than a 13.3-inch laptop, and 24-inch more than a 14-inch model. That can make a big difference in day-to-day use.

Then there is performance. There are many complex applications that simply need desktop performance to run well, and laptops generally don’t have that level of performance. That’s because high-powered processors draw a lot of electricity and generate a lot of heat, which means big batteries and a lot of cooling. Large, heavy batteries are undesirable in small laptops that need to be as light and handy as possible. In bigger laptops that is not that much of a problem, because those laptops are generally not carried around all day, and are often used in locations where they can be plugged in. 

As a result, large laptops like the Winmate L156AD models have near desktop-level processing performance. They use 12th or 13th generation Intel H-class CPUs with six performance cores, eight efficient cores, and 20 total threads. H stands for High-performance mobile processor. In our testing at RuggedPCReview.com, the Winmate L156AD-M1 with a Core i7 13700H processor scored very well against its primary competition in the 15.6-inch rugged laptop and rugged workstation class.

Note that many of today’s field and edge applications need more than just raw processing power. That is an area where desktops and laptops differ. Desktops can generally accommodate expansions cards, especially for graphics, whereas most laptops cannot. There are high level laptops that do have graphics options, but those are generally limited. 

The Winmate L156 Series is different. The company offers not one but three GPU options for extra graphics power, those being the Nvidia T1000, Nvidia A2000 Mobile, and the Intel Arc A370M. Each uses a different GPU architecture and reaches different TOPS and TFLOPS levels, which are performance metrics for advanced graphics and artificial intelligence operations. This brings performance to AI-driven applications to specially equipped L156 Series laptops .

As an industrial laptop, the Winmate L156 is designed and built from the ground up as a rugged piece of computing equipment. It has a very strong magnesium alloy frame and chassis, has been tested and certified in accordance with the US Department of Defense military standards, has a very wide operating temperature range, and can even be hosed down for cleaning. All of this extra protection, and its size, make it a large and heavy piece of equipment. A well-equipped L156 can weigh four kilogram.

We’ve referred to the L156 as a Series. That is because there are three different models, the L156AD, the L156AD-M1, and the L156AS-4KM1. The first is a economy model with a lower-performance U-Series processor, generally lowers specs, and no GPU option. The second is the one we described here. And the third is for those who need 4K video resolution to go with the big 15.6-inch display. 

So that’s the Winmate L156. A series of industrial laptops for customers who need desktop power in the field.