In a forum private message someone has asked about the configuration of the Airtop, and whether it might be possible to add a Thunderbolt card in support of an expansion chassis. what follows are my notes about the device, which I've been using since April.
The Airtop has Intel Iris Pro 6200 GPU on the motherboard, which has 2xHDMI and 1xDisplayPort.
It also has one, solitary 16X PCIe slot. In most versions the PCIe slot is occupied by an nVidia GPU. Mine has a GTX750Ti with 3 outputs.
Newer models come with a GTX1060.As far as I can tell, all Thunderbolt 3 interfaces are PCIe cards.
The Desktop version of the Airtop leaves the PCIe slot unused. That means that if you can get by without the nVidia GPU, you could install a Thunderbolt 3 card and connect to an expansion chassis.
I suppose if you had such an expansion chassis, that would be where you installed the nVidia GPU. Not sure since I've never used such hardware.
There are some alternative ideas for video capture.
1. There are 2 mPCIe slots in the Airtop. Magewell (and a few others) make
mPCIe HDMI/SDI capture cards. Each mPCIE capture card is one input.
These price the same as USB 3.0 capture dongles.
If going that route, you'd need to bring the connectors to the outside of the case. The Airtop supports what they call
FACE modules. These are actually small daughter-boards that install to the motherboard, presenting ports to the front of the unit. The default FACE module is a 4x USB 2.0 jack.
If using mPCIe capture cards, I'd be inclined to craft a FACE module that offered the HDMI or SDI jacks on the front panel. There's plenty of space to allow the wiring inside the case.
2. The optional USB 3.0 FACE module includes a third mPCIe/mSATA slot.The Airtop has a quad-core i7-5775C CPU clocked at 3.3 GHz and dissipating 65 watts. It's very capable, directly comparable to the more common i7-6700K @ 4.0 GHz or i7-4790k @ 4 GHz.
There are 4x slots for 2.5" SATA drives. Also, 2x m.2 mSATA slots (not NVMe capable.)
The PSU is external, delivering 19 VDC. There are redundant PSU connections.
Power consumption is displayed on a front panel LCD. My unit cruises around 30 watts under normal desktop operation. Running vMix and a bunch of other things it can get up to 80 watts.
It need to be mounted vertically to ensure the convection airflow that keeps it cool. My unit does not show the CPU temperature on the front panel LCD, I gather that newer models do.
The case is not airtight or watertight. It opens and closes easily, with a small lock to hold it closed. Being all metal, it's hefty (15.4 pounds) for its size.
I hope this helps. It's easily the most impressive, fanless computer I've ever encountered. I prefer it to the Skull Canyon NUC for the industrial build quality and expansion opportunities.