The French mini PC designer Bleu Jour is launching a new computer whose case and motherboard are made in France. A first on the Old Continent and an example of the relocation of part of the production chain.
Needless to explain that almost all of the computers and components manufactured in the world come mainly from Asia, and more particularly from China and Taiwan. So when a European actor, who is moreover French, launches on the market, we are necessarily interested in it.
Bleu Jour is a computer designer still little known, although he has been talked about from time to time for a few years. The company offers PCs and mini PCs with original aesthetics that fit well on a desk, in particular thanks to a wide range of shells made in France in various colors and materials. For example, you can choose a Kubb model (mini PC barely 12 x 12 cm) in very sober gray aluminum, or pink, blue, green and so on, or a Wood Kubb in walnut or worked ash by a cabinetmaker.
Scalable mini PCs
This small company based in Toulouse has partnered with Intel, which supplies the components found in the brand’s NUCs. You can configure your mini PC at purchase with Core i3, i5 or i7 processors normally dedicated to laptops, up to 64 GB of RAM, 2 TB of SSD and an optional second storage (SSD or HDD). The connection is made up of six USB-A ports, two USB-C Thunderbolt ports, two HDMI 2.0b ports and an RJ-45 port (an adapter is provided to benefit from a microphone/headphone output, as well as an HDMI cable ). Everything is scalable since the design is based on Intel’s Compute Elements, modular motherboards that allow you to change the processor part in a few seconds. Finally, the ventilation is active (but silent according to the manufacturer) and a passive variation of the Kubb exists just in case, limited to the Core i3 or i5 however.
A motherboard made in France
The components therefore inexorably come from Asia, but Bleu Jour intends to shake things up since it has just unveiled a European version of its Kubb, whose Compute Elements motherboard is this time manufactured and assembled… in France! We are still far from a 100% computer made in Francebut it is an interesting first step, especially in a market where successive shortages have shown the limits of supply on the other side of the world and where logistics costs have increased drastically in recent months.
The price of these Kubbs varies a lot from one configuration to another, but count (without OS) €660 for a basic model with Intel Core i3, 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD; and around €1150 for a Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM. At the moment we do not know if the versions made in France will be sold at a higher price.