Computers

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure: Dell embraces a circular economy

Sustainability is at the core of everything Dell does

Published

June 11, 2019

Chay Lazaro

As consumers our top considerations when buying a new device are specs, performance, value for money, and design. We rarely think about the impact we and the technology we use have on the environment. The only time we probably ever do is when we need to dispose an irreparable phone or a dinosaur laptop. When that moment comes, we also don’t know exactly what to do or where to bring our old devices.

Fortunately there are companies like Dell that think ahead and consider the entire lifecycle of their products — from sourcing materials, to manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and recycling — and beyond. This approach is called a circular economy.

In a traditional, linear product cycle, recycling or refurbishing is thought of at the end of the product’s life, if at all. In Dell’s circular economy, the concept of waste is designed out of the system. This means sustainability is at the core of everything that they do. Here are some ways Dell is minimizing their footprint as a company while helping us consumers reduce ours as well:

Trade-in and recycling programs, not just for Dell products

Through Dell Reconnect, you can take that old computer sitting in your attic to a Goodwill store for recycling or refurbishing. The program also provides green jobs, and ensures that no environmentally sensitive materials are sent to landfills.

If you’re due for an upgrade, the company can also recycle your old laptop for you, no matter the brand. You may also trade in any eligible piece of electronics, including smartphones and consoles, to earn a gift card that you can use to buy yourself a shiny new Dell laptop.

Packaging made of bamboo, mushrooms, ocean-bound plastics

Photo from Dell

To solve mountains of packaging problems we face after unboxing a new device — large fancy boxes, plastic, and foam — Dell has come up with the 3Cs packaging strategy, which stands for cube (size and shape), content (material choice), and curb (recyclability).

For Dell, wasted space inside any packaging is just that — wasted — so the company is continuously finding ways to minimize the amount of material needed to create packaging, as well as reduce box sizes so as to fit more products in storage and during shipping.

More importantly, Dell uses the best possible material to protect the product, and consider that which makes most sense for each region by using what’s locally available. In 2009, Dell was the first to use packaging made from bamboo. Not only is it a renewable alternative to petroleum-derived foams, the bamboo they used also grew near their manufacturing facilities.

In 2011, Dell developed cushion packaging made of mushroom, which has a smaller footprint compared to the usual protective foam, and is compostable. Recently, the company also started taking ocean-bound plastics back to the economy where they can be reused to make the trays found inside Dell boxes.

The company reuses boxes up to 7 times before they are recycled. So when you buy a new laptop and the box is not in its most perfect form, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In certain markets, Dell also rewards customers for returning packaging that can be refurbished and reused.

Ink made of smog

Photo from Chakr Innovations

Here’s an unexpected way Dell is putting waste back into the economy and using locally available materials at the same time. Traditionally seen as a pollutant, the company is using ink made from smog in India to print some of its packaging.

A startup called Chakr Innovations developed the device called Chakr Shield which captures 90% of particulate matter emissions from diesel generators. The captured soot is then turned into carbon black, which is used to make ink. Dell is the first to use the ink on a larger scale and it works just as well as regular ink.

Backpack made of recycled windshields

Photo from Dell

Dell doesn’t just make computers and printers, they also make a whole array of accessories, and some of them are made with sustainability in mind. The Dell Pro Backpack 15 is made with a more environment-friendly solution-dyeing process. It’s also water-resistant, which is made possible by a layer of coating that’s made from reclaimed windshields.

Jewelry made of used computers

Photo from Dell

In its effort to reduce waste dumped in landfills, Dell also reclaims gold from motherboards through its recycling programs, reuses them to make not only new motherboards, but jewelry as well. So that old laptop you’re going to trade in for a new one? Parts of it will end up on someone’s finger or ears at some point, not in a developing country that becomes a dumpsite for other companies and countries.

Photo from Dell

Vivian Tai, Head of Global Environmental Affairs for the APJ region says the company is integrating sustainability efforts not for Dell’s benefit, but to provide better value for customers. She says sourcing and bringing what many consider “waste” back to life is challenging but is important to the company. Just this year, Dell already reached two of its 2020 goals: recover two billion pounds of used electronics and use 100 million pounds of recycled-content, plastic and other sustainable materials, one full year ahead of schedule.

Next time you need to buy a new laptop, take sustainability into consideration, too. Technology plays a big role in making our lives easier, and the good that it can do should not end at that but also extend beyond its usual lifecycle. It’s not just big companies who benefit from minimizing our ecological footprint — it’s also us, consumers, and the generations that come after us.

Computers

MINIX launches T4000, T5000 Generative AI Mini WorkStations

For businesses and creators

Published

April 27, 2026

GadgetMatch

MINIX has launched the T4000 and T5000 Generative AI Mini Workstations.

These powerful and space-saving solutions are built for professional generative AI, local large language model (LLM) inference, content creation, on-premise enterprise deployment, and lightweight model training.

The desktops are powered by the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Thor series modules with flagship Blackwell architecture. As such, they deliver exceptional on-device AI horsepower in a small desktop form factor.

The build features durable metal and plastic chassis, plus twin turbo intercooler for sustained performance.

The new offerings are engineered for professionals, developers, creators, and IT teams, redefining edge and on-premise AI without bulky server hardware.

At the core of the T4000 and T5000 are NVIDIA’s cutting-edge compute platform:

T4000: Up to 1200 Sparse FP4 TFLOPs AI performance
T5000: Up to 2070 Sparse FP4 TFLOPs AI performance
1536-2560 Blackwell GPU with fifth-generation Tensor Cores
Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) for parallel task efficiency
NVIDIA PVA 3.0 dedicated vision processing engine

The workstations natively support smooth local inference for 7B-70B parameter LLMs. This makes private, low-latency AI accessible for businesses and creators.

In addition, the offerings feature high-core-count Arm processing and large, fast memories of up to 128GB DDR5 on 12-core or 14-core Arm Neoverse-V3AE 64-bit CPU.

Designed for professional workflows, the mini workstations also include enterprise-grade networking and flexible expansion:

Dual 10GbE ethernet
Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth 5.3
2x HDMI 2.1 TMDS (4K@60Hz)
4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
24V DC input, up to 200W max power

Ideal use cases for the MINIX T4000 and T5000 include local LLM inference, generative AI creation, on-device AI computing, and lightweight model training.

Computers

Lenovo accelerates production-ready enterprise AI with NVIDIA

From AI inferencing to gigawatt-scale AI factories

Published

March 24, 2026

GadgetMatch

Lenovo has unveiled new Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA solutions designed to accelerate AI adoption, reduce time-to-first-token (TTFT), and deliver measurable business results across personal, enterprise, and cloud environments.

Building on the inferencing acceleration introduced at Lenovo Tech World, this next phase of Hybrid AI execution expands the solutions with device to data center to gigawatt-scale AI cloud deployments.

This enables real-time decision-making, operational efficiency, and intelligent automation across industries at global scale. The solutions boost productivity, agility, and innovation by enabling faster AI deployment.

The development comes as AI is seen moving from training models powering real-time decisions. Lenovo is prepared to address the demand for validated hybrid AI platforms built for production-scale inferencing, as organizations will need infrastructure to support such.

In fact, Lenovo’s Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA are now delivering ROI in less than six months. The new inferencing-optimized ThinkSystem and ThinkEdge servers are being utilized for real-time inferencing across retail, manufacturing, healthcare, sports, and smart city scenarios.

The expanded portfolio includes:

two Lenovo Hybrid AI platforms, featuring NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition and Blackwell Ultra
Hybrid AI inferencing starter platform with RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition
Lenovo ThinkAgile HX650a with Nutanix Enterprise AI and Nutanix Kubernetes Platform
Lenovo Hybrid AI platforms with Cloudian

Bringing inferencing directly to professionals

Lenovo and NVIDIA are bringing AI from development environments to real-world production at a global scale. This is thanks to new Lenovo AI inferencing platforms with NVIDIA Dynamo and NVIDIA NIM.

Meanwhile, Lenovo AI Cloud gigafactory platforms are powered by NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72. Industry-specific agentic AI solutions are also built with NVIDIA Blueprints and software.

For consumers, there’s next-generation NVIDIA RTX Pro Blackwell-powered mobile and desktop workstations. These will be rolled out across the ThinkPad P14s Gen 7, ThinkPad P16s Gen 5, and ThinkPad P1 Gen 1 lineups.

ThinkStation P5 Gen 2 desktops, meanwhile, will get up to two RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q GPUs. They will also have support for NVIDIA OpenShell.

For gigawatt-scale scenarios, the next-gen Vera Rubin platform accelerates deployment for hyperscale and sovereign AI cloud providers.

These fully liquid-cooled, rack-scale AI systems are engineered for faster deployment and dramatically improved token economics. They can achieve up to 10x higher throughput and up to 10x lower cost per token.

Computers

CIPTA debuts AI GPU server, edge workstation at CloudFest 2026

Malaysia-made AI infrastructure

Published

March 21, 2026

GadgetMatch

CIPTA Industrial Sdn Bhd steps onto the global stage with its European debut at CloudFest 2026. They introduced high-density AI infrastructure and edge-ready systems built for modern enterprise workloads.

Held at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany from March 23 to 26, the event marks the company’s first major international showcase under its own brand. Backed by InWin Development Inc., CIPTA positions itself as a new-generation EMS provider focused on AI, cloud, and enterprise systems.

At Booth R41, the company is highlighting two key platforms: the RG658 PRO GPU server developed with Phison, and the cubePRO edge workstation created in collaboration with Accordance.

Built for scalable AI workloads

Leading the showcase is the RG658 PRO, a high-density GPU server designed to handle large-scale AI training and inference without pushing costs out of reach for enterprises.

The system supports up to eight high-performance GPUs and integrates Phison’s Pascari aiDAPTIV alongside its PASCARI enterprise SSD lineup. This combination aims to improve data throughput, reduce latency, and streamline AI pipelines.

Thermal performance is a key focus. The RG658 PRO uses a dual-chamber design to separate heat zones, paired with up to 14 high-speed PWM fans for sustained cooling under heavy workloads. Power delivery is handled by a 3+1 redundant configuration of 80PLUS Titanium PSUs, scaling up to 9600W.

The result is a platform built to scale AI deployments on-site while maintaining efficiency and reliability.

Edge computing without downtime

Alongside its GPU server, CIPTA is introducing the cubePRO, a compact edge workstation designed for environments where uptime and data integrity are critical.

The system supports up to four PCIe slots for GPU configurations, making it suitable for AI workloads at the edge. It also features high-capacity multi-SSD setups and optimized airflow for continuous 24/7 operation.

Through its partnership with Accordance, the cubePRO integrates the Disk Array ARAID M500 solution, enabling high-availability storage and data protection. This ensures uninterrupted performance for use cases such as industrial systems, remote nodes, and enterprise branch deployments.

The focus here is clear: bring AI processing closer to where data is generated, without sacrificing reliability.

Strengthening Malaysia’s role in AI infrastructure

CIPTA’s debut also reflects a broader shift in global supply chains. Operating from Malaysia, the company offers end-to-end services—from concept to production—along with flexible manufacturing cycles and cost-efficient operations tailored for Southeast Asia and international markets.

With access to InWin’s server chassis ecosystem and infrastructure solutions, CIPTA combines global platform capabilities with localized integration. The goal is to help enterprises deploy AI and cloud infrastructure faster while diversifying their supply chain footprint.

As demand for AI systems continues to grow, CIPTA is positioning Malaysia as a key hub for scalable, production-ready infrastructure.

Visitors can find CIPTA at Booth R41 during CloudFest 2026 in Europa-Park, Rust, Germany.