Fanless, tough, rugged and reliable workhorse with modern look and capacitive multi-touch
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, September 2021)

In this article we're looking at another of Winmate's very large lineup of Panel PCs. Panel PCs are workhorses — many are mounted into panels in factories, serving as the human touch interface to programs and machines. Others are in vehicles, on racks, on shop floors, on loading docks, on ships, and numerous other places where a small, handy panel computer is needed. Panel PCs come in many sizes and configurations, and chances are Winmate has just the right one.

The Winmate R10IB3S-GST2 is part of Winmate's GC-Series lineup of very rugged fanless industrial Panel PCs that come with capacitive multi-touch displays ranging in sizes from 7 to 24 inches.

The R10IB3S-GST2 fits in towards the lower end of this spectrum. Its compact 10 x 7.8 inch footprint means that this panel fits almost anywhere. Its 10.4 inch screen is both big enough to run Windows 10 applications, but also small enough to serve as a compact, dedicated human-machine interface panel.

As is often the case with Panel PCs, there are no buttons on the front at all, not even for power (power and reset are in the back). There's no need for that. All that most R10IB3S-GST2 customers will expect from this panel computer is that it reliably and consistently runs its custom-coded application(s). There is the by now almost ubiquitous capacitive multi-touch screen. Should a keyboard be needed for a particular application or deployment, it can be done in software or via a compact physical USB or wireless keyboard.

All I/O is on the back of the panel, facing down. And since this is a tough, rugged and well-sealed system designed to be as trouble-free and reliable as possible, there are just three ports, and all three of them use special waterproof screw-on M12 circular connectors with a 12-mm locking thread. They can handle multiple functionality in one connector, thus minimizing the required number of ports, they guard against inadvertent disconnections, and they are designed to handle washdowns and corrosive environments. The three M12 ports on our test unit provided power, an RS232 serial port, and one that offered both a USB port and an RJ45 LAN jack. The requisite cables come with the unit.

There will rarely be a need for customers to open one of their R10IB3S-GST2 panels, but at RuggedPCReview we always show what's inside. Undo 18 small Philips screws, and the backside comes off to reveal the type of logically organized, easy-to-work-on, and properly secured inside that we have come to expect from Winmate products.

The R10IB3S-GST2 is almost all metal and glass. Glass is mounted onto the hefty front part of the case that seems to be cast aluminum. The glass covers the entire front of the panel, making for smooth and easy multi-touch operation. A thick metal plate attaches to that, and serves as the mounting surface for all electronics. There's the embedded-style PC motherboard, the usual dollops of silicone glue to keep connectors in place even through bumps and vibration, and a variety of switches and expansion connectors common to PC style boards.

For processing, the Winmate R10IB3S-GST2 uses a quad-core Intel "Bay Trail" Celeron N2930 CPU. This is a reliable 64-bit 22nm chip that's been used in hardware for numerous embedded applications for a good number of years. It has a base frequency of 1.83GHz, and is capable of operating at burst frequencies up to 2.16GHz to quickly handle heavier loads. There's up to 8GB of DDR3L RAM. Mass storage is via a 64GB (optionally up to 512GB) mSATA M.2 SSD module.

Head-on, the Winmate R10IB3S-GST2 looks like any modern tablet with its completely flat flush glass front that's easy to clean and disinfect, an ever more important aspect in today's world.

The housing is designed to be mountable in a variety of ways. There are the standard 75x75mm and 100x100mm VESA screw holes for wall or arm mounting. There are also panel mount screw holes, and there's even a glass wall mount kit.

The table below shows how the R10IB3S-GST2 relates to a couple of other small Winmate industrial devices we've recently had in our lab.

Small Winmate Tablets and Panels

Model	R10IB3S	W10IB3S	M101BK
Introduced	2021	2020	2018
Screen size	10.4"/1024 x 768	10.1"/1280 x 800	8"/1280 x 800
Processor	Intel Celeron N2930	Intel Celeron N2930	Intel Celeron N2930
Clock speed	1.83GHz/2.16GHz	1.83GHz/2.16GHz	1.83GHz/2.16GHz
Digitizer	ProCap	ProCap	ProCap
Weight	2.2 lbs	2.5 lbs	3.0 lbs
Size (inches)	9.92 x 7.79 x 1.7	10.35 x 6.73 x 1.4	10.7 x 7.8 x 0.87
Sealing	IP65	IP65	IP65
Temp. range	5° to 131°	0° to 122°	-4° to 140°F
USB	1 x USB 2.0	1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0	1 x USB 3.0
CANBus	No	No	No
Serial	1 x RS232	1 x RS232	1 x RS232
Vehicle power	9V~36V DC	12V DC	NA
PoE	No	Yes	No
Battery power	NA	NA	38/76 whr battery
PassMark 6.1 CPU	2,118.9	1,519.7	2,090.6
PassMark 6.1 2D	104.3	122.6	96.5
PassMark 6.1 Memory	376.9	418.1	472.9
PassMark 6.1 Disk	2,607.4	2,598.9	2,611.6
PassMark 6.1 3D	138.5	141.8	143.4
Overall PassMark 6.1	1,192.6	1,039.6	1,201.4
PassMark 9 CPU	1,746.1	1,705.0	1,606.3
PassMark 9 2D	175.7	180.0	183.4
PassMark 9 Memory	671.7	724.0	718.8
PassMark 9 Disk	2,448.8	2,005.0	2,339.9
PassMark 9 3D	157.4	161.0	162.3
Overall PassMark 9	730.6	740.0	738.6
Overall CrystalMark	119,617	122,568	115,689

Ruggedness

The R10IB3S-GST2's 5 to 131 degree Fahrenheit operating temperature range makes it suitable for deployments both indoors and outdoors. The entire panel carries an IP65 ingress protection rating where the first "6" indicates the unit is totally dustproof and the "5" that the unit can even handle low pressure jets of water. Combined with the M12 connectors, this means the panel can be hosed doesn if need be.

Display

Bottom line: Winmate R10IB3S-GST2 Panel PC