Hello, I work IT at a mid-sized hospital. We currently have bulky computers carts with slim-desktop PC’s on them and then battery units to power everything. Some of the carts are newer and work out fine. Other carts are older and need replaced.
We have been tossing around the idea of going to laptops on carts. The only issue with this is that we need a laptop that has some major battery life. It would be great if it lasted 4 hours with continuous use. Then we could get a non-powered cart to put the laptop on (much cheaper). Lots of laptops advertise the battery life, but we have found it not to be close with the laptops we have purchased in other areas of hospital (which are laptops that are crossed off of our list for this project).
Was just curious with other IT departments in hospitals on what kind of setup or laptops you use in areas like ER where you may have time to charge the laptop or you may be wheeling it from room to room for a few hours.
@Dell_Technologies
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maxsec
(maxsec)
2
NHS use carts with laptops, keyboard covered for infection control
Seen lots of Dell latitude e64x0 series about
peterw2300
(peterw2300)
3
I have found that Chromebooks and I believe the Windows direct equivalent have good battery lives. They start at about 8 hours and after 3 years of service it will still be about 6 hours. These machines have a small ssd and integrated flat battery and are quiet frugal having some of the 14 nm CPUs. It then depends on what you want to run on them. I suspect that it will be mainly for entering data and checking records and so you don’t need a particularly powerful machine. As Martin2012 says in the UK these laptops have covers for infection control and I guess that is the same where you are.
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Robert5205
(Robert5205)
4
We use Dell 6430s with a 9-cell battery and the battery slice extra battery - a total of 18 cells. They make it through an entire 4-hour med pass without a problem.
Problems? Getting the staff to plug them in when they’re not on a pass. And we had to put short security cables on them to tie them to the carts because the nurses kept prying them off (and breaking them) so they could sit on the couch and type their notes.
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dbeato
(dbeato)
5
I highly recommend the Rugged Dell Latitude Laptops xd which last long and can have two sets of batteries. Their batteries last as long as they describe. Reason for rugged is for durability which we use in Assisted living and urgent care.
MI50
(MI50)
6
What about something like this that has battey power supplys on the carts:
We have used the Dell latitude 7280 and the 5280 battery life is close to 10 hours…only thing we found out we had to add cooling pads they get hot on bottom.
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glenn-p
(Glenn_P)
7
Don’t forget to add the power consumption of any peripherals to the considerations. We have a cart that has a digital stethoscope and otoscope for capturing data for telemedicine (both powered by the usb ports on the computer).
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Thanks to those that recommended Dell!
OP- we definitely have some laptops that would do the job for you here. Our machines are versatile and well-suited for any environment that may be a little demanding, like yours seems to be. I’m going to link below to all we offer, but I’d specifically take a look at the Latitudes that a few others have already mentioned.
Please give me a shout if you have any questions!
@Dell_Technologies
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Good diagram but it is missing
Handheld bar code reader and a paper scanner
Hi Bob, I could definitely suggest some laptops from HP’s line, but I do want to ask if there are any other requirements you have about said laptops aside from the 4 hour battery life with continuous use. What does your budget look like? What size screen would be ideal for you?
We use a combination from an HP Prodesk 600 G2/G3 mini pc ( with internal WiFi module ) on a cart combined with a 19" LCD from HP, a Zebra ZT230 label printer and Zebra DS3678 bar code readers all connected to an Eaton UPS that lasts about 8 hours. The mini pc is mounted with a bracket behind the LCD screen ( like in the picture below ). If you want something that can withstand the tough environment then opt for the mini pc. We’ve had trolleys tilt over and the screens & mini hitting the concrete floor and the mini’s keep on working. We also had one slowly being cooked ( surface temp on the casing was 140°F ) and it just continues to work.
If you want to go for an unpowered cart i’d suggest the HP Spectre X360 which has an advertised battery life between 13 and 16hrs.
That way you wouldn’t require a UPS to be charged nor the use of an external LCD monitor.
Check the link here
@HP
@mikedecamp @bobbanks2674
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We use the following at my Hospital
Rubber maid Medical M38 Cart non powered
Dell Power Companion (18000 mAh) PW7015L
Manufacturer Part VK70XDell Part 451-BBKV
Dell Latitude 3550 laptops
add a 4 port USB hub for the Bar code scanners and Proximity card readers the remaining 2 ports are for KB and Mouse.
They stay up for about 10-12 hours.
You could use bluetooth scanners if you want then no connection is needed if the laptop has a bluetooth adapter…
But to be save do install the bluetooth CLI on those laptops and set a batchfile to run at shutdown/logoff with the following info in it
btpair -u
Got about 200+ pc’s with a BT adapter running and the lousy users frequently forget to unpair. The command above resolves the issue…
For BT bar code readers we use this.
If you need some info on how to configure them feel free to ask… Took us a while to iron out the user bugs.
nealcamero
(NealCameron508)
14
we are migrating to Dell AiO wyse thin clients and love it! so much easier to work on.
we have both Flo carts and Rubbermaid’s.
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Hey OP, I just saw this and wanted to quickly hop in to let you know that @Samsung_USA certainly has some solutions and ideas that are well-suited for healthcare environments and could be worth checking out if you are still in search of a solution! Some healthcare organizations opt to go with our Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Tab A tablets with keyboard and S Pen options as these are slim, light and exceedingly portable, providing secure mobile access to patient data virtually instantaneously. In terms of battery life, the Galaxy Tab S3 for example can offer up to 12 hours of battery life and fast charging that can get you up and running again quickly when you do need a charge.
Additionally, in case you are interested in looking into them I wanted to let you know that we do have some other healthcare specific solutions that could be helpful. One of these is the ReadyDock RD5 with Samsung Double Disinfection which addresses both the concerns of disinfecting shared devices and wiping patient data at the same time. The solution combines ReadyDock’s RD5 charging, UV disinfecting technology and locking station with Samsung tablets and Tachyon software. During the disinfection process, ReadyDock triggers the Tachyon software, which takes care of data wiping without IT intervention. The process combines disinfection, data wiping, charging and locking of shared devices in a single step which you can learn more about here should you be interested.
Hope some of this helps, but feel free to check out more ideas on our Healthcare Industry Technology section of our blog! Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to give me a shout anytime, I am always available and would be more than happy to help 
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Dell has the All in one series , wireless key board and mouse .
