What’s new? M.2, Apollo Lake and mini PCs at the workplace

Green IT: Federal Environment Agency recommends mini PCs

The Federal Environment Agency has presented a 6-point plan for the environmentally conscious and resource-saving use of computers in the workplace. A key component is the recommendation to equip purely stationary workstations with mini PCs. These are characterized by lower electricity consumption and therefore also have a better greenhouse gas balance. In addition, the service life is much longer than that of laptops. Long-term availability makes it easier to install and set up the systems, as the same platform can be used for years.

Current Atom chips: Apollo Lake

Following the news about the high-end processors of the Kaby Lake generation, Intel has now also introduced more cost-effective models, which are also manufactured using the 14nm process. Celeron and Pentium processors with two or four Goldmont CPU cores and a TDP of 10 watts are referred to internally as Apollo Lake. They are considerably faster than their predecessors and are suitable for use in mini PCs. The first spo-comm models with the  new Atom technology are planned for 2017.

Even smaller and even faster: M.2 SSDs

Solid state disks in M.2 format are also increasingly being used in the embedded and industrial PC sector. One advantage over the standard SSDs in 2.5" format is the much smaller design. Furthermore, the integrated SATA 3 port ensures faster transfer rates than previous card formats. M.2 SSDs will also be part of some spo-comm PCs from 2017.

Windows 10 IoT: New license areas

Microsoft has now provided specific details regarding the licenses for Windows 10 IoT. The former Windows Enterprise area is now divided into three licenses: Entry, Value and High-End. These depend on the hardware used.

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