What Kind of Computers Does Thinvent Make?
Thinvent designs and manufactures four families of compact computing hardware: industrial PCs (IPC), mini PCs, thin clients, and all-in-one (AIO) PCs. Every family shares the same engineering philosophy — small physical footprint, wide-temperature tolerance, low power draw, and long-term availability of the same model so that a deployment does not have to be redesigned every few years.
Where a consumer desktop assumes a clean office and a short service life, these systems are built for shop floors, kiosks, warehouses, vehicles, and remote branch offices where dust, vibration, heat, and continuous 24/7 operation are normal conditions rather than exceptions.
Form Factors at a Glance
| Form Factor | Typical Mounting | Best Suited To | Typical I/O |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial PC | DIN rail, wall, VESA, cabinet | Automation, machine control, data logging, gateways | Multiple serial (DB9), dual Ethernet, digital I/O, wide-range DC input |
| Mini PC | VESA behind a monitor, shelf | Office productivity, digital signage, POS, light virtualization | HDMI, USB 3.2, Gigabit Ethernet |
| Thin Client | VESA, desk stand | VDI, RDP, cloud desktops, call centres, education labs | Dual display, USB peripherals, wired LAN |
| All-in-One PC | Desk stand, wall bracket | Reception, retail counters, kiosks, control rooms | Integrated 21.5"–23.8" display, touch options |
Processors, Memory and Storage
The range spans entry-level Intel® Celeron® and Intel® Processor N-series chips (N95, N100, N150, J4125) for fanless, always-on duty, up to Intel® Core™ i3 and i5 platforms in the 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th generations for heavier workloads. A representative industrial configuration pairs a 6-core Intel® Core™ i3-1215U running up to 4.4 GHz with 10 MB of cache, 16 GB DDR4 memory and a 1 TB SSD — enough headroom for SCADA, historians, edge analytics or a handful of virtual machines.
Memory is typically configurable from 4 GB up to 32 GB or 64 GB, and storage from 128 GB to 1024 GB of SSD. Operating system options cover Microsoft Windows 11 Pro, Ubuntu Linux 24.04 LTS, Thinvent's own Thinux™ embedded Linux, FreeDOS, or no OS at all for customers who image their own stack. Connectivity is standardised on Gigabit Ethernet — commonly with two ports for network segregation between a plant network and an office network — plus HDMI and USB 3.2 Gen 2 and USB-C where the enclosure allows.
Cooling, Power and Reliability
Many models are fanless, relying on a machined aluminium chassis as the heatsink. With no moving parts, there is no intake to clog with dust and no bearing to wear out, which is why fanless