Expand Your Office With These Portable, Powerful Devices

Take a look at this rugged tablet for the field, colorful display for the road, and powerful stocking stuffer for the engineer in your life.

It’s that time of year again: the end. Don’t let 2022 slip away before you check out these three gadgets that will redefine your office.

A Rock Solid Tablet

Your office can be anywhere, says Juniper Systems, a Utah-based provider of rugged mobile devices. The company’s latest rugged tablet, the Mesa Pro, extends that credo to field engineers running CAD programs, viewing construction plans, mapping and more.

The Mesa Pro rugged tablet. (Source: Juniper Systems.)

The Mesa Pro rugged tablet. (Source: Juniper Systems.)

The Mesa Pro rugged tablet features a 10.1-inch, 1920×1200 display that Juniper Systems says offers best-in-class sunlight viewability for those bright days in the wild. The tablet runs Windows 11 and can be configured with multiple processors up to an 11th-Gen Intel Core i7. Users can also configure the memory (8GB or 16GB) and storage (128GB to 1TB) and even customize the rugged tablet with a company logo or colors.

The real selling point of the Mesa Pro is its durability. Juniper Systems says the rugged tablet is designed to meet MIL-STD-810H test procedures for altitude, temperature, humidity, vibration, shock and more. The touchscreen is made of chemically-strengthened Dragontrail High Ion-Exchange cover glass that Juniper Systems says provides excellent impact and scratch resistance. It works with a stylus and gloves and even works in wet conditions.

The Mesa Pro is available directly from Juniper Systems, though the company does not list prices on its website. Third-party retailers sell the rugged tablet at prices starting from $2,795.

ColorPro on the Go

ViewSonic’s latest portable display is both light and dark in all the right ways. The 15.6-inch ColorPro VP16-OLED weighs just 2.2 pounds and achieves a 100,000-to-1 contrast ratio thanks to its true-black OLED panel. Made for color-critical work, the VP16-OLED is Pantone Validated and provides 100% DCI-P3 coverage with a color accuracy below two Delta E, meaning any deviations are virtually indistinguishable to the human eye. The portable display has an HD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels.

The ViewSonic ColorPro VP16-OLED portable display. (Source: ViewSonic.)

The ViewSonic ColorPro VP16-OLED portable display. (Source: ViewSonic.)

The VP16-OLED includes two USB-C ports, one Micro HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio out as well as integrated speakers. It’s built with a foldable stand that allows users to position it at five angles, according to ViewSonic. The stand also includes an integrated tripod mount. The display comes with a protective cover that doubles as a shading hood to block interference from other light sources.

The ColorPro VP16-OLED is available through ViewSonic’s website for $572.

Outdo Your Outlets

Engineers are hungry for power, and Huntkey is serving them a feast with its new SMD407C multi-plug outlet extender equipped with four AC power outlets, two USB-A ports and one USB-C port.

The Huntkey SMD407C multi-plug outlet extender. (Source: Huntkey.)

The Huntkey SMD407C multi-plug outlet extender. (Source: Huntkey.)

The highlight of Huntkey’s outlet extender is its high power delivery: the USB-C port provides up to 30 watts of charging power—among the highest in its class and enough to charge many electronic devices up to 60 percent in about 30 minutes, according to Huntkey.

The Huntkey outlet extender features a “cat ear” design that provides a convenient cradle for mobile devices as they charge—a detail sure to satisfy design engineers and feline fans alike. The SMD407C multi-plug outlet extender is available on Amazon for $20.

Written by

Michael Alba

Michael is a senior editor at engineering.com. He covers computer hardware, design software, electronics, and more. Michael holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Alberta.