AOPEN Now Marketing Military-Grade, Hyper-Rugged New Chromebox Mini 2

February 22, 2024 by Dave Haynes

The Taiwan-based computing firm AOPEN has started pre-release marketing for a second generation of its Chromebox Mini series – describing the Chromebox Mini 2 as not just commercial-grade, but military spec-grade.

The little units – roughly the same width as a smartphone – have MIL-STD-810H Certification, which means it has been successfully run through a battery of more than two dozen tests to verify it would work happily in the environmental conditions typical of, let’s say, a tank or armored personal carrier.

The key design elements include:

• AC Power Auto Recovery (APAR) – Ensures maintenance-free auto restart for critical kiosk and digital signage applications – a set-it-and-forget-it solution.
• External Power Switch – Eliminate the complexities of opening a kiosk or hard-to-reach digital signage when a manual reboot is required.
• Military-grade (MIL-STD-810H Certified) – Built to withstand environmental stressors that meet military requirements in the field; performs consistently in extreme temperatures, humidity, vibration, and more.
• Dual-Band Antenna x 2 – Equipped with dual-band external antennas, the Chromebox Mini 2 maximizes Wi-Fi reach, ensuring high-quality connectivity in large, challenging, or questionable signal areas.
• Input/Output & Components – Supports 2 HDMI out up to 4k, Peripheral Support 5 USB Ports, audio jack, 2x dual-band external antennas, Kensington Lock, L Bracket, and VESA Mount (optional), DC Power or USB Type-C.

The units are secured and managed using Google’s cloud based Chrome OS toolset.

“AOPEN brings over 200 patents and nearly three decades of experience to its partnership with Google and solution partners in the ChromeOS ecosystem,” says Christopher Longo, Director at AOPEN. “The AOPEN Chromebox Mini 2 is future-proofed for disruptive use cases such as Edge AI, smart signage, and seamless kiosk experiences – all of which are at the center of these partner solutions.” 

Commercial grade and ruggedized are great attributes. Going all the way to mil-spec is a differentiator, certainly, and might make a bunch of sense for digital signage and DOOH applications that involve some sort of movement, like screens tied in to vehicles and mass transport, and off-the-wall uses like media in elevators.

The units are supposed to be available in Q2. Unit prices are likely in the mid $200s.