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Intel Unveils Tiny Next Unit of Computing To Match Raspberry Pi

Posted by samzenpus on from the small-like-you dept.

MrSeb writes "Details of a new, ultra-compact computer form factor from Intel, called the Next Unit of Computing (NUC) are starting to emerge. First demonstrated at PAX East at the beginning of April, and Intel's Platinum Summit in London last week, NUC is a complete 10x10cm (4x4in) Sandy Bridge Core i3/i5 computer. On the back, there are Thunderbolt, HDMI, and USB 3.0 ports. On the motherboard itself, there are two SO-DIMM (laptop) memory slots and two mini PCIe headers. On the flip side of the motherboard is a CPU socket that takes most mobile Core i3 and i5 processors, and a heatsink and fan assembly. Price-wise, it's unlikely that the NUC will approach the $25 Raspberry Pi, but an Intel employee has said that the price will 'not be in the hundreds and thousands range.' A price point around $100 would be reasonable, and would make the NUC an ideal HTPC or learning/educational PC. The NUC is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2012."

5 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Not bad, but still missing the point... by Junta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A design that, sans CPU, optimistically would cost 4 times as much as raspberry pi? CPUs that by themselves notably cost at least $250 right now?

    To get to the Raspberry pi functionality, looking at $350 investment. That's more than an order of magnitude more expensive. I know the solution will be more powerful than raspberry pi, but the nearly all the excitement around raspberry pi revolves around price point.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Not bad, but still missing the point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sorry, but nobody's missing the point.

      Intel didn't draw any comparison to the Raspberry Pi (unsurprisingly, since this is far more comparable to the Mac Mini platform), so they're not missing the point.

      Extremetech knew that controversy generates page views generates ad revenue, so when they drew a NUC/R-Pi comparison, they knew exactly what they were doing -- bullshitting to generate controversy. They're not missing the point of a modern, ad-fueled tech site, this is how it's "supposed" to work.

      Slashdot is just like a modern, ad-fueled tech site, but with lower overhead due to no writers and no real editors -- the more stories they approve, the better, and again, if it contains "controversy" (i.e. bullshit) from upstream, that just means more page views, cha-ching! So they're not missing the point.

      If anything, maybe you're missing the point -- you seem to think these sites are about news, not about selling your eyeballs to advertisers for money. It's all about money, nothing about news.

  2. They don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that embedded computing is not about HDMI and USB ports. Give me serial peripherals, I2C, Ethernet, and all this in a *single* system-on-chip, so I don't have to add support chips around the core.

    1. Re:They don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Who said 8-bit AVR? Atmel also makes single-chip 32 bit SoCs. With *drumroll* on-chip USARTs and ethernet, exactly what GGP asked for.

  3. Re:Nicely expandable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The headline is complete sensationalist bullshit. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Raspberry Pi and doesn't compete with it in any appreciable way. Fucking Slashdot.