Durabook Z14I Review | PCMag

The Durabook Z14I is a 14-inch fully rugged laptop that's built like a tank. A sturdy system made for first responders and military and field use, the Z14I (starts at $3,599; $4,615 as tested) is built to withstand the harshest environments. Its MIL-STD 810H, MIL-STD-461G, and IP65 certifications mean it can resist rain, dust, heat, cold, and drops from up to six feet. Pair that with myriad ports and customization options, and you've got an impressive package. But make no mistake: This laptop is for specific, extreme situations, and its uninspiring performance per dollar reflects the priorities of this niche.

Built for Bashing About

The Z14I might seem like a brutish behemoth at first glance, but its bulky, utilitarian design quickly grows on you. The aluminum-magnesium chassis helps keep weight under 8 pounds, though it's much heavier than other rugged laptops we've seen like the 5.8-pound Durabook S15AB or the 5.25-pound Getac S410. At 1.9 by 14 by 11 inches (HWD), it's much bulkier as well. Our review unit comes equipped with an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of solid-state storage. If that doesn't meet your needs, the system comes in a variety of different flavors, with CPU choices up to the Core i7-1185G7 and an optional Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU.

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The Z14I is a fanless machine, a rare Core i7 laptop that uses a passive thermal cooling solution instead of a spinning fan or fans. Heat pipes handle thermal dissipation by themselves, lessening potential damage from dust or other hazards. But the lack of an active cooling solution can hamper CPU performance, as you'll see in our performance tests a little later in the review.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

While the Durabook's computing performance isn't inspiring, its external features steal the show. The flexible rubberized handle provides ample support when carrying the machine, while extra-thick rubber corners ensure that it will likely do more damage to whatever it hits than vice versa. This notebook makes even indestructible units like the Dell Latitude 7424 Rugged Extreme seem meek in comparison. Unlike many rugged laptops we've seen that carry MIL-STD 810G certification, the Z14I is MIL-STD 810H certified. The H is the important part—it's the successor to the MIL-STD 810G standard, and includes both major and minor revisions to the durability test methods.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

MIL-STD, also known as MIL-SPEC, is how the U.S. Department of Defense measures equipment to get a baseline standard for durability. MIL-STD 810 pertains to consumer electronics and includes testing for a wide range of adverse environmental conditions, including temperature extremes or even such things as whether it can take a bullet. We hope you never find yourself on a battlefield, but if you do, you'll want your laptop to be MIL-STD certified. (Learn more about device certifications.)

With this in mind, we wanted to see if the rugged laptop could hold its own under duress, so we ran a drop and splash test ourselves to see if those certifications held any weight. A device that is IP65 certified should be able to withstand 15 minutes of projected water from any angle without any issue, which the Z14I did. The Z14I also claims that it could resist a drop from up to 6 feet—this also held up to scrutiny, but while the Durabook still worked as intended after surviving both a 6-foot drop and a waist-high drop, the chassis did show some visible scarring, with a small hairline crack developing on the underside after the higher drop. That said, sheer operating survival near the limit of its rated drop height to a hard surface is all any user can ask for.

On the Durabook's bottom, you'll find an expansion slot that can be outfitted with various modules to provide additional storage expansion, a VGA port for legacy displays, and even custom military-grade connectors that can transform the laptop into a server to fit any number of specific situations. 

(Photo: Molly Flores)

As for security options, you can make use of a TPM 2.0 trusted platform module that provides hardware-based key creation for encryption. You'll also find lockable latches on the doors covering the I/O ports, a Kensington lock slot, and optional fingerprint support for fast and secure logins.

A Panoply of Ports

The Z14I comes equipped with a 14-inch full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) touch screen that offers plenty of real estate, even if it's stuck between massive black bezels. A bulky privacy slot at the top of the screen hides the 2-megapixel webcam. This Durabook won't win any beauty pageants, but it still has a distinctive look that isn't necessarily unpleasant. The screen also gets incredibly bright, promising to reach up to 1,000 nits of brightness while maintaining readability. To my eyes, however, the picture quality was never particularly sharp, and the screen overall had a blurry quality that washed out images and video. (This could well be down to the special touch layer on the panel.)

The waterproof chiclet keyboard provides solid feedback, though it feels a bit too small for my taste. Keyboard space is likely sacrificed to make room for all of the ports. Otherwise, the keyboard is fairly standard, with two programmable buttons sitting beside the power button and status indicators.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The touchpad is small but responsive. Its buttons are clicky and satisfying as well. If the touchpad isn't your thing, the 10-point multitouch screen offers four touch modes (glove, finger, stylus, water) and comes with a stylus pen. South of the touchpad, you'll find two integrated speakers nestled beside the carrying handle. The sound is loud, but not very clear. We were also surprised to find that the chassis vibrates at high volumes.

Your typical 14-inch laptop comes with a few handy I/O ports on each side, but as we said the Z14I is anything but typical. On the right flank, you'll find an audio jack, a USB 2.0 port, USB 3.2 Gen 1 and Gen 2 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. You'll also see the battery compartment here.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

On the left side are a SIM card slot for mobile broadband; a flash card reader that supports SD (Secure Digital), SDXC, and Mini-SD (with adapter) devices; a SmartCard reader; an RF signal switch; and an optical disc drive. There's also the storage compartment, which houses the system's main boot drive.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The rear panel hosts the rest of the ports (yes, there are more), including HDMI and VGA video outputs, the AC adapter connector, the security lock slot, twin Ethernet jacks, and RS-232 ports for serial peripherals.

(Photo: Zackery Cuevas)

Testing the Z14I Durabook: Strength First, Performance Second

To see how the Durabook stacked up against the competition, we ran the machine and four competitors through rigorous CPU, GPU, battery, and display tests. For comparison, we chose the 14-inch Getac S410 G4 and two rugged 2-in-1s, the Panasonic Toughbook 55 Mk2 and the Panasonic Toughbook G2. Finally, there's the semi-rugged Acer Enduro Urban N3. All have similar specs, shown below.

The first test in our benchmark suite is PCMark 10, a UL performance test that simulates a variety of Windows tasks to give an overall performance score for office workflows. A score above 4,000 points indicates excellent productivity for apps like Microsoft Office. All the laptops in this group performed similarly, but the Acer Enduro broke away from the pack to claim the top prize, leaving the Z14I in fourth place.

PCMark 10 also has a Full System Drive storage test that measures program load time and the throughput of a laptop's boot drive. The Durabook trailed the field.

Next up are three CPU-focused benchmarks. HandBrake 1.4 is an open-source tool used to convert video files to different resolutions and formats; we time systems as they convert a 12-minute clip of 4K video to 1080p resolution. Cinebench is another multi-core test that exercises all of a processor's cores and threads while rendering a detailed image. Geekbench 5.4 is a stress test that simulates a variety of real-world applications. The Acer and Panasonic Toughbook 55 did well here, with the Durabook in the middle rear of the pack.

In our final productivity test, we run workstation maker Puget Systems' PugetBench for Photoshop, which puts Adobe Photoshop 22 through a series of exercises to measure a PC's content-creation and multimedia chops, using both CPU- and GPU-accelerated functions. The Z14I fell well behind once again.

Overall, the Z14I underperformed in our productivity testing, noticeably trailing the Acer Enduro which uses the same CPU. Its fanless design is a likely reason; Durabook made a conscious decision to reduce performance by using a passive cooling system instead of an active one.

Graphics Tests

Chances are, you won't buy a rugged laptop to play games, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider its graphics capabilities. None of these machines has a dedicated GPU; instead, they rely on integrated graphics that are suited mostly for simple and casual games at modest resolutions and frame rates. To that end, we test all non-gaming laptops with two benchmarks, 3DMark and GFXBench 5.0. The first is a DirectX 12 benchmark that offers several subtests; we use two, one more demanding than the other. The Z14I landed in the middle again, outperformed by the Getac and the Acer.

The second half of our graphics regimen is GFXBench 5.0, a simulator that stress-tests both low- and high-level routines. We run two subtests, the 1440p Aztec Ruins and the 1080p Car Chase, rendered off-screen to accommodate different display resolutions. The Durabook was a poor performer in both, ending up in fourth place again. Still, it did manage an average of 68 frames per second in the Car Chase test. (See our deeper dive into integrated graphics' suitability for recent games.)

Display and Battery Tests

In our final series of tests, we turn our attention to the display's brightness and color coverage and the laptop's battery life. For the last, we fully charge the system, then disable Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting while looping a locally stored 720p video with screen brightness set to 50% and audio volume to 100%. Durabook rates the Z14I's unplugged life at 16 hours, but our system tapped out after 10 and a quarter, placing behind both Panasonics.

We also make use of Datacolor's SpyderX Elite display calibrator and software to measure coverage of three popular color spaces or palettes, sRGB (internet), Adobe RGB (photos and design), and DCI-P3 (video and cinema), along with screen brightness in nits. The muddy picture quality I mentioned was reflected here, as the Z14I posted poor scores across all three color gamuts, though none of these rugged systems excelled (they're not content creation workstations, after all). It did get quite bright though, coming close to 1,000 nits, which is in keeping with its intended use in the great outdoors, where a dim screen is easily drowned out by sunlight.

A Rugged Model That Sticks the Landing

The Durabook Z14I isn't a blazing performer, but a rugged laptop rarely has to be. Its performance is good enough, and its plethora of customization and expansion options, as well as its plentiful ports, add to its appeal. The Getac S410 might be a better option for those looking for a rugged portable without spending too much money, and enthusiasts can find lighter options among semi-rugged and convertible systems, but the Z14I fills an appealing niche.