iRU, a major PC maker from Russia, has started volume production of systems that are based on key domestic components. These include the Baikal-M SoC, motherboard, and an operating system based off Linux. The systems don't boast with high performance but are designed primarily for office workloads in various government institutions and government-controlled companies.
The lineup of iRU's PCs based on the Baikal-M platform includes a 23.8-inch all-in-one desktop, regular desktops, and thin clients, the company announced on its website (via The Register). The PCs are powered by the Baikal-M SoC and can be equipped with up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, up to a 1TB SSD, and up to a 3TB HDD. The manufacturer installs Astra Linux, Alt OS, Red OS, and other operating systems as well as software designed in Russia.
The Baikal-M1 system-on-chip designed by Baikal Electronics integrates eight rather outdated Arm Cortex-A57 cores operating at 1.50 GHz and equipped with an 8MB of L3 cache. The SoC also includes an eight-cluster Arm Mali-T628 GPU. The SoC has six USB 2.0/3.0 ports (four USB 2.0, two USB 3.0), 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, two GbE ports, and two 10GbE ports. The SoC is made using TSMC's 28nm fabrication process and has a 35W TDP.
By today's standards, the Baikal-M1 isn't very powerful. Arm's Cortex-A57 was revealed in 2012 and first used for commercial SoCs in 2015. AMD used the Cortex-A57 core for its eight-core Opteron A1100 that never became popular, and Nvidia used the A57 in its Shield TV. Qualcomm also used this core for its Snapdragon 810, another less than stellar chip thanks in part due to it using TSMC's 20nm node.
Russia has been trying to migrate PCs and servers used by government agencies and state-owned companies from processors and software developed in the U.S. and Europe for several years now. While some organizations have adopted systems featuring domestic hardware and software, those who need high performance and compatibility with up-to-date programs still use Windows or Linux-based PCs with AMD or Intel processors inside.
In fact, the systems from iRU are not the first PCs based on the Baikal-M, but are the first to be made in high volumes. So far, the Baikal-M-powered computers have not gained a significant market share in Russia. While IRU's Baikal-M-based machines can offer enough performance for basic applications, they will not be able to compete for customers that need performance higher than that offered by high-end smartphones from the 2015–2016 era.
