(opens in new tab)Meet the KUBB (opens in new tab), an outlandishly beautiful PC from a small French company called Bleu Jour (Blue day in English).
Announced at this year’s IFA 2020 (opens in new tab) in Berlin, the new KUBB seems to have emanated from the brain of celebrated French designer, Philippe Stark. It is a perfect cube with sides of 12cm, complete with sharp edges and corners.
Two versions of this tiny PC are available, one running an embedded Ryzen R1606G and the other a V1605B. Both share the same specification: 8GB LPDDR4 (upgradable to 32GB), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 and Gigabit Ethernet courtesy of Realtek.
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Despite its size, it also features five USB ports and two HDMI 2.0a connectors capable of delivering 4K content at 60Hz. However, the base unit doesn’t include any storage, so you'll need to plug in a 2.5-inch SATA drive or an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
The company offers a three-year warranty, as well as a surprising choice of operating system (Windows 10 Pro or Linux Mint).
The 4-core V1605B retails for €679 (about $800/£600/AU$1,100) with Linux Mint and without any interchangeable handmade shells. A wooden model sells for an extra €131, while Windows 10 Pro adds another €170 on top.
Bleu Jour chose aluminum and inox as the foundational materials for the KUBB. It is its shells - available in graphite, mirror, quartz, passion red, fuschia, chocolate, champagne - that makes it stand out from the sea of sameness that afflicts the PC market. Encore! Encore!
- IFA 2020 (opens in new tab) is Europe's biggest tech show (although much smaller this year due to global restrictions), and TechRadar will bring you all the breaking news and first impressions as new TVs, wearables and other devices are announced.