French manufacturer Bleu Jour has unveiled the Kubb Fanless mini PC, a compact aluminum desktop that eliminates cooling fans while incorporating workstation-class Intel hardware.
The device relies entirely on a sculpted aluminum chassis for thermal dissipation, featuring a cube-shaped enclosure measuring roughly 120 mm across every side. Vertical fins surrounding the chassis increase thermal surface area and enable heat dissipation through natural convection rather than traditional airflow.
Most fanless compact systems typically employ weaker processors with heavily restricted power limits, but Bleu Jour took a different approach by integrating the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, a high-end Panther Lake mobile workstation processor. This chip features 16 cores (4 performance cores, 8 efficient cores, and 4 low-power efficient cores), can reach boost clocks of up to 4.8 GHz, and includes Intel Arc B390 graphics with all 12 Xe3 cores enabled.
The processor also incorporates a 50 TOPS NPU for dedicated neural processing tasks. While most fanless systems compromise on graphics performance, the integrated Arc B390 delivers surprisingly capable visuals for a silent compact system.
Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and Thunderbolt 4 compatibility. Configurations support up to 64GB of DDR5-6400 memory and 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD storage, with upgrade options to 2TB or 4TB.
Pricing begins at approximately €1,495 for the base model, with the Core Ultra X7 358H configuration reaching around €1,850 before memory upgrades. Bleu Jour positions the device as a premium computing solution prioritizing acoustic comfort and industrial design over raw benchmark performance, targeting creative studios, executive offices, and minimalist workstations where noise reduction is valuable.
However, passive cooling does impose thermal limitations during prolonged heavy computational activity within the compact enclosure. The success of the Kubb Fanless will likely depend on how much buyers value absolute silence versus sustained high-performance operation.
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