Why You Need to Customize Your Rugged PC: The Proof is in the Fine Print

So you need a computer that can withstand rough handling (shock, vibration) or extreme temperatures? Easy enough. Buy a rugged computer!

But how do you know if the rugged computer you are looking at is rugged enough?

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you are looking at the Neousys Nuvo-9160GC Series (a fantastic rugged edge AI computer, by the way).

You pull up the product specifications and you see this:

Operating temperature: -25°C to 60°C

In this hypothetic scenario, let’s say your operating temperature often reaches 60°C.

So, this computer right off the shelf will be perfect.

Right…?

Well, it depends. If your Nuvo-9160GC is operating at 65W mode, the highest operating temperature is actually 50°C, not the 60°C shown prominently on the specification sheet.. If your environment is above that, you may experience throttling, ultimately making the PC less powerful than the specs detail.

To expand on these variabilities, if you are operating in sub-zero temperatures, you would need a wide temperature HDD or SSD to maintain performance.

In the fine print, Neousys explains that you can configure the CPU power in the BIOS to allow higher operating temperatures.

To reference another example, the popular Nuvo-9531 series supports both the Intel® 13th-Gen and Intel® 12th-Gen processors as seen on the specification sheet.

However, the fine print tells us that a BIOS update may be required to recognize the 13th-Gen processors. So, out of the box, the prominent information on the spec sheet may not actually be accurate.

The Kings of the Fine Print

The moral of the story is that there is not one single use case for an industrial computer. Your environment, your application… it’s all unique to you.

At Industrial PC, they call us “the kings of the fine print.” Nobody has actually ever called us that out loud, but we’re sure that everyone is thinking it.

When you reach out to us for an embedded computer, panel PC, rackmount computer, motherboard or even accessories, we will ask the important question to make sure that the product you receive will provide the optimal performance over a long period of time.

If you need a specific drive, a BIOS update, a specific port or processor, memory, storage, operating system – you name it, if it’s something you’ve thought of, or perhaps even something in the fine print that you hadn’t thought of, we’ll get to the bottom of it, and make the necessary customizations before shipping it off to you.