Planet Computers launches two new mini PCs with ARM processors and touch screens

Planet Computers, based in the UK, is an unconventional company that has previously released smartphones with side-sliding or flip-out QWERTY keyboards, similar to the Nokia N97 but with more modern hardware and software support. Recently, they have entered the PC market by launching two mini computers.

According to Liliputing, the names of these PCs are PlanetPC XR1 and XR2. In terms of appearance, there is not much difference between them; they both have a futuristic design with a touch screen of 1424 x 280 resolution. They are both based on ARM processors from Rockchip and run Ubuntu as the operating system.

Of course, their differences are in the hardware. PlanetPC XR1 is equipped with a quad-core RK3566 processor, 4GB of memory, and 32GB of flash storage, while XR2 has an octa-core RK3588 processor, but its memory and storage space are the same as XR1. In terms of price, the official website shows that XR1 starts at $610, while XR2 starts at $769. Of course, if the budget allows, XR1 can be upgraded to a 2TB SSD or 14TB HDD, while XR2 can be upgraded to 32GB of RAM, 256GB of flash storage, and a 2TB SSD.

In terms of IO interfaces, they both provide 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, which should be quite popular with some gamers. The USB Type-A and Type-C, video output interfaces are also complete on this series of computers, and there is even a microSD card reader. In addition, the higher-end XR2 version also provides a VGA interface and a Wi-Fi antenna socket.

From the appearance design and hardware configuration, Planet Computers’ new computer should be positioned as a home entertainment computer in the living room. Overall, although these two computers do have some impressive features, they are still niche products like Planet Computers’ previous products.