Fanless, rugged mini PC from Asus boasts 12-core CPUs and up to four Ethernet LAN ports
Asus has introduced a new fanless mini PC with a rugged enclosure. Aimed primarily at industrial edge computing, the PE1000U mini PC is powered by capable Intel Core Ultra Series 2 CPUs, and boasts MIL-STD810H certification that allows it to withstand a lot of abuse.
Rugged mini PC with Intel Meteor Lake-U and Arrow Lake-U CPUs
In terms of CPU options, customers can choose between the Core Ultra 7 265U and the Core Ultra 5 235U chips. Although they both carry the 200 branding, the faster 12-core Core Ultra 7 265U belongs to the Arrow Lake-U family, while the cheaper 12-core Core Ultra 5 235U belongs to the Meteor Lake-U family.
Performance-wise, the 265U commands a rather modest, but noticeable 12% lead over the 235U in multi-core synthetic benchmarks, and is roughly as powerful as the Apple M2 SoC. For light-to-moderate workloads, both chips should more than suffice. As mentioned earlier, the mini PC is completely fanless, and depends on passive cooling to keep the 15W chips going.
I/O is crucial for any system targeted at industrial use, and the Asus PE1000U mini PC packs the following ports:
- Four USB 3.2 Type-A
- Up to four COM ports
- Up to four Ethernet, with dual 2.5G Ethernet as standard
- HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort
Other expansion options include M.2 E and B-keys for WiFi and cellular, M.2 2280 M-key for solid-state storage (PCIe Gen 4) , 2.5-inch drive bay, and built-in dual CAN bus. Memory requirements are handled by dual SODIMMs, up to 64 GB of DDR5-6400. At just 63 x 110 x 160 mm, the PE1000U mini PC is plenty compact and weighs around 1 kg or 2.2 lbs.
Pricing and availability
Pricing and availability details are unclear as of this writing. As is typical for industrial mini PCs, interested clients will most likely have to contact Asus sales directly in order to get a quote, which might depend on order volume. For normal consumers, the much more powerful Apple Mac mini (currently $549 on Amazon) would be a great alternative.
Source(s)
Asus, spotted by TechPowerUp
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