Category: Panel PC

The Difference Between a Panel PC and a Tablet

Michelle

The Difference Between a Panel PC and a Tablet

 

An industrial grade touchscreen panel PC may have many of the same features as a tablet, but its purpose is to provide an incredibly durable, impenetrable, fast, and powerful computer system that will last for many years.  Tangent offers four lines of industrial panel PCs to meet business needs ranging from elegant office spaces to extremely harsh environments to the open air outdoors. How is this sort of longevity achieved? For one, industrial touchscreen panel PCs are constructed with materials that are much stronger and resistant to wear than a consumer grade computer. Second, Tangent’s panel PCs (for the most part) are completely fanless and have no moving internal parts that can wear out and fail. Tangent’s panel PCs also go through rigorous testing to ensure that the temperature and enclosure protection rating given to it is accurate. In the performance category, an industrial touchscreen panel PC is a full-fledged computer system with the same type of hardware capacity as many high end desktop solutions, far outweighing the capacity of any tablet.

 

The tastefully classic and clean looking  KW series of Tangent’s panel PC gives any space a professional look, yet this system is much more robust than appearances can tell. The chassis is cast aluminum and has a protection rating of IP65 against water or dust ingress into the internals. Because of this rating, the computer can be wiped down throughout the day if needed. The panel PC also has versatile VESA mounting options, so it can be placed nearly anywhere. It works well in a number of capacities like as an informational kiosk in high traffic areas or a front desk computer for answering phones using touchscreen interfaces.

Flat Panel PCs

The incredibly sturdy and resilient S series of industrial panel PCs are perfect for the most harsh of working conditions. They are well suited to food processing plants, grimey industrial factories, farms, heavy weather stations, and anywhere else where a standard consumer computer will not survive. The S series are rated at an IP69K level of protection, which guarantees the internals are safe from the use of high pressure, hot water jets on the enclosure, cleaning solutions, and any sort of contaminate intrusion.  These industrial touchscreen panel PCs are housed with corrosion resistance stainless steel, are shock and vibration resistant, and have sunlight readable screens with UV coating. Not only is the S series panel PC fanless, but like the other offerings from Tangent, it’s has best-in-class integrated media and graphics performance backed by Intel Core processors.

 

It doesn’t take much to see that an industrial panel PC is so much more than just a big tablet. The more you look, the more that will surprise you in such an unassuming package.

Toss the Mouse and Keyboard, the Future is Touchscreen

Michelle

Toss the Mouse and Keyboard, the Future is Touchscreen

We are truly living in the age of touchscreen technology. According to eMarketer, 2.4 billion people were using smartphones worldwide in 2017, and 1.2 billion people were using tablet devices. The adoption figures are projected to increase even more over the coming years. An entire generation of children have now grown up using touchscreen tablets and telephones. So considering that most of the world is comfortable with touchscreen computing, it makes perfect sense that touchscreen panel PCs are gaining a lot of traction in businesses.

 

For a very long time, keyboards and mouse devices were cumbersome requisite peripherals to the computing experience. The roller balls in computer mice were like magnets for dust and lint and that would foul up the device very quickly. Optical and wireless mice were an an improvement, but contaminants could still block the sensors and running out of battery was a major inconvenience to one’s work day. The amount of gross things a keyboard can collect over its lifetime is a whole topic on its own. And at the end of the day, if either device failed, one had to pray that they had a backup on hand lest they lose valuable work time.

 

An industrial grade panel PC with a touchscreen that is built to work with gloved hands is perfect for medical settings where contamination or infection control is a critical factor for health and compliance. The Vita KW series of panel PCs from Tangent offers a wide range of sizes from
15 inches to 24 inches and many mounting options to suit a variety of uses, for example, a patient information kiosk, a medical cart panel PC, an in-room computer, a medical records and billing panel PC, and so much more. For medical computers that don’t require the use of gloves, but do need to be kept clean, the KW series panel PC can be sprayed and wiped with disinfectants without any threat of harming the panel PC or worry that it won’t be completely cleaned. The  KW series panel PCs are rated at an IP65, meaning that they highly protected against dust and water ingress. That cannot be said of keyboards or mice for the most part. Unless a waterproof mouse and keyboard are used (which are also offered by Tangent), there’s a good chance that contaminants are lurking in the cracks and crevices of the device.

 

For harsher environments that are even tougher on a panel PC like industrial meat packing plants, food production facilities, and any other enterprise requiring high levels of sanitation and hygiene, the Tangent S Series panel PC is best suited to the job due to it’s IP69K rated, fully waterproof enclosure. The S series touchscreen panel PC can be sprayed with hot, high pressure jets and endure stringent wash downs without any damage to the unit. The S series is also offered in a variety of panel sizes and mounting options. Workers can used gloved or ungloved hands on the touchscreen equally well to conduct their business. It’s quite remarkable how a touchscreen panel can be both sensitive and very durable at the same time. This is the level of ingenuity and quality that Tangent offers.

Shaping up Shipping and Receiving : One Panel PC at a Time

Michelle

Shaping up Shipping and Receiving : One Panel PC at a Time

Staying on top of technological advancements for shipping and receiving operations is important for a good number of reasons, but the most pivotal are business process improvement for increased revenue, and ensuring safety in the workplace. E-commerce is greatly driving the need for detailed warehouse dock data as more businesses ship direct to customers. Online shoppers have grown accustomed to same-day delivery and real-time visibility into an order’s status.The shipping industry is now able to be centered around speed and accuracy while maintaining a safe work environment due to specialized computers like vehicle mounted PCs, handheld tablets catered to industrial use, and industrial panel PCs.

 

The majority of warehouse dock work and shipping processes rely on barcodes to identify and track the movement of inventory, and RFID and Geofencing (using GPS) are gaining popularity for tracking as well, so flexibility is important for the computer systems in use. Tangent has a variety of panel PCs to suit these ever-evolving needs of business. The Vita KW series fanless panel PCs offer a 2D barcode scanner, IC card reader, MSR, and RFID capabilities. Because screen size requirements vary for industrial settings, the Vita KWs come in 15”, 19”, 22”, and 24” touchscreen sizes. The Tangent F15 industrial grade panel PC can be equipped with a 3G module and with a GPS module. In terms of power and capacity, the Vita KW’s are equipped with Intel 6th Gen Core i3/i5 processors (except the 24”), up to two terabytes of storage, and 8GB of memory. In addition to robust computing speed, the systems are fanless and contain no moving parts, which is a huge benefit for enterprises looking to reduce downtime. Supply chain is all about streamlining and adhering to strict schedules, so a reliable and durable system is key.

f15

For forklift operators, vehicle-mounted industrial panel computers are usually the most productive and operationally safe option. Working a computer while operating a lift truck obviously carries some inherent risk. The aforementioned F15 model rugged tablet has ten programmable function keys on the front panel that allow for one-hand operation and efficiency for repetitive processes. The F15 Panel PC is also flexible in its mounting options. It has VESA 75/100 mounting capabilities for a number of applications, including in vehicles and forklifts. Another point of safety on the Tangent industrial panel PCs is that they are built to be IP65 or higher rated to protect against water and contaminant ingress into the system.  And who doesn’t love a bold safety orange on a tablet casing?

 

As businesses and consumers push for faster processing and more accurate data, flexible and customizable computing solutions from Tangent continue to provide the highest of quality and efficiency to its customers. The many panel PCs offered can be mounted in shop vehicles, on walls,  telescoping arms, or on stands. They can be configured for wifi, scanning/tracking technologies, and multi-touch features. They can withstand the wear and tear of a warehouse environment and the varying temperatures that might be encountered in them all over the globe.