The Zebra 8585 and 8595 vehicle mounted computers, like most fixed mount mobile computers, are designed to be mounted on your fork lift truck and used in rugged environments like warehouses, ports and manufacturing plants. The main difference between the 8585 and the 8595 is the screen size which also affects the size and weight of a unit: the 8585 has a 10.4 inch SVGA (800x600) sunlight-readable touchscreen display and weighs 6.6 lbs while the 8595 has a 12.1 inch XGA (1024x768) touchscreen display and weighs 7.7 lbs.

Two of the distinguishing features of a vehicle mobile computer are its power source and mounting method. Unlike a desktop computer, vehicle mounted computers like the 8585 and 8595 are powered through the FLT's battery. Both the 8585 and 8595 support either 12-24 VDC or 24-48 VDC (internal power supply). The 8595 has a thin design which makes it simple to mount; there are mounting accessories like a Quick Release Mount, standard RAM mount, and adapters for existing mounts (as well as heavy duty and cantilever mounts).

Both of these vehicle mount computers are available with either an Intel Atom Single Core (1.1 GHz) processor or AMD G-T40e Dual Core (1.0 GHz) processor. Available interfaces include one RS-232 port, two USB 2.0 host ports, one USB 2.0 service port, and an RJ45 Ethernet port. They also support WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n but do NOT have any built-in cellular capability.

The 8585 and 8595 fork lift computers are available with either Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP Professional or Windows Embedded Standard 7 (WEC 7) operating systems.