Smartphones made by Planet Computers look like pocket computers thanks to a QWERTY keyboard (barely) large enough for touch typing and support for both Android and Linux software.
Now the British company is branching out by launching a line of compact desktop computers. PlanetPC XR Series mini PCS are powered by Rockchip ARM processors, with a color touchscreen display on the front and Ubuntu Linux software built in. Due to go on sale in September 2023, one can be pre-ordered from Planet Computers or for a much lower price by supporting the PlanetPC XR Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
PlanetPC XR1 with a four-core processor, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage costs $610 for pre-order. The PlanetPC XR2, with the RK3588 octacore processor and the same amount of storage, can be pre-ordered for $769 (IT House notes: about $5,283 currently).
Early Bird backers of the crowdfunding campaign can reserve the above devices for $461 and $656, respectively, for about 4,507 yuan.
Planet Computers also offers the XR1 with up to 2TB SSD or 14TB extra hard drive, while the XR2 comes with up to 32GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and up to 2TB SSD for additional storage.
Both models feature a 1424×280-pixel color touch-screen display on the front, which can be used to display system information or controls, and the computer can be connected to one or two external displays.
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The bottom front panel also has an RGB light strip with 16 leds for displaying status information. Built-in stereo speakers and a microphone can be used with a voice assistant, voice calling or other applications without the need for external hardware. There are also two gigabit Ethernet ports and support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.