Israeli manufacturer of computer boards for embedded systems Compulab has unveiled Airtop, its latest miniature fanless PC that relies on natural air flow to stay completely silent.
Fanless desktop PCs don’t represent a novelty, it’s just that until now they weren’t built with impressive components, and they certainly didn’t come in such a ridiculously small form factor. Launched in three different versions that have different applications, Compulab’s Airtop fanless desktop PC is firm proof that it’s possible to have a dead-silent computer without having to spend a lot on sound dampening materials.
“Compulab’s key corporate-value is innovation” said Gideon Yampolsky, Compulab CEO. “For several years we have been researching a new concept of natural air-flow (NAF) cooling and for the last 3 years we developed Airtop as a practical implementation of the technology. It is noteworthy that Airtop’s cooling capacity surpasses that of similar active cooling desktops. However, the real breakthrough in NAF technology is its scalability. Unlike conventional fanless cooling that scales with surface area, NAF scales with volume, making it an effective solution for many real-world cooling problems.”
Airtop relies on a patent-pending passive-cooling system that’s based on natural airflow. Thus, it is able to dissipate up to 200W of thermal power, much more than what the energy-saving components it has could ever produce. Airtop-W is powered by an Intel Xeon Processor E3 and a full-height NVIDIA Quadro M4000, suggesting that it’s meant to be used as a workstation. Airtop-S, on the other hand, has the same CPU, but comes with 32GB ECC RAM, 4 HDDs in RAID and 6 Gbit Ethernet ports, fact that indicates at its application as a server. Airtop-G, which is running on an Intel Core i7 CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce 950 GPU, is meant for living-room entertainment or gaming. On top of these all, there’s an Airtop-DIY that comes without a CPU. All models can come with Linux Mint or Windows pre-installed, or can be offered without any OS.
“Compulab believes users should have the freedom to fit their computer to their exact needs, and Airtop is our most user-friendly computer to-date” added Irad Stavi, Chief Product Officer at Compulab. “It was very important to us to allow users to choose hardware, install and upgrade it at will. Too often, passive-cooling stands in the way of easy service, so Airtop is noteworthy for addressing the challenge of excellent serviceability of a fanless system.”
Compulab is already taking pre-orders, and the miniature fanless PCs are expected to ship in Q1 ’16. As such, Airtop-DIY starts from $1,128, Airtop-S will start at $1,810, Airtop-G starts at $1,968, and last but definitely not least, Airtop-W will cost upward of $2,999. All Airtop models come with a 5-year warranty.
For more details about these fantastic fanless PCs, head over to the manufacturer’s website. There you’ll find the complete technicals specs, along with comprehensive explanations of how the NAF cooling system works.
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