OnLogic Factor 101: Fanless mini PC sports 8-core ARM CPU and plenty of ports

OnLogic is a well-known entity in the realm of industrial and edge computing devices, offering a plethora of systems with healthy feature sets. The brand's latest mini PC happens to be the Factor 101, equipped with a decently capable 8-core ARM CPU.

8-core ARM CPU with NPU for decent amount of compute power

The Qualcomm Kryo 670 SoC powering the mini PC packs a total 8 cores, consisting of a Kryo Gold high-performance core clocked at up to 2.7 GHz, three Kryo Gold high-performance cores clocked at up to 2.4 GHz, and four Kryo Silver efficiency cores clocked at up to 1.9 GHz. In this mini PC, however, the SoC is locked at up to 2.1 GHz only. Being a fanless system, the limit was likely deemed necessary for sustained performance.

Memory requirements are handled by up to 8 GB of LPDDR4X-3200 memory, and there appears to be no option for LPDDR5 memory which the mini PC's QCS6490 IoT platform does support. A Hexagon 770 NPU is also present, offering up to 12 Dense TOPS of compute performance. Finally, storage requirements are handled by 128 GB of onboard UFS storage.

The Factor 101 mini PC's I/O on offer, as can be expected from an industrial mini PC, is quite decent for its size. The detailed list of ports can be found below:

• 1G Ethernet, 10G Ethernet
• Four USB 3.0 Type-A
• One USB 3.0 Type-C
• HDMI (1920x1080@60Hz)
• 8-channel DIO (4x DI, 4x DO)

The OnLogic Factor 101 mini PC measures in at just 94 x 157 x 70.5 mm, or roughly 3.7 x 6.2 x 2.8 inches. At just around 570 grams or 1.26 lbs, the mini PC sports a lightweight design that can be wall mounted. Courtesy of its steel enclosure, build quality should be decent for longevity.

Pricing and availability

The Factor 101 is already available for purchase from OnLogic's website, priced at $599. Volume pricing may differ greatly, and interested customers are requested to reach out to OnLogic directly for more information. Normal consumers, however, will definitely be better served by something like the M4 Mac mini (currently $569 on Amazon), also based on the ARM architecture.