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Hands-On With Intel's "Next Unit of Computing" Mini PC
crookedvulture writes "Intel's Next Unit of Computing has finally made its way into the hands of reviewers. The final revision is a little different from the demo unit that made the rounds earlier this year, but the concept remains the same. Intel has crammed what are essentially ultrabook internals into a tiny box measuring 4" x 4" x 2". A mobile Core i3 CPU provides the horsepower, and there's a decent array of I/O ports: USB, HDMI, and Thunderbolt. Users can add their own memory, storage, and wireless card to the system, which will be sold without an OS for around $300. Those extras raise the total price, bringing the NUC closer to Mac Mini territory. The Apple system has a bigger footprint, but it also boasts a faster processer and the ability to accommodate notebook hard drives with higher storage capacities than the mSATA SSDs that are compatible with the NUC. If Intel can convince system builders to adopt the NUC, the future of the PC could be a lot smaller."
...will be a worthy challenge.
Need to be smaller and cheaper and plug together like lego to allow me to add processing power. Now that I'd buy.
After pushing PC makers into going after the MacBook Air, Intel wants them to also go after the Mac Mini. News at ten...
Seems a bit too pricey to succeed, though.
Holy shit. I just realized you're right. There's no wired network port.
You kidding me, Intel? You want me to pay ~$500 for a computer without a network port? Who do you think you are, Apple?
You're right. Only Apple has the magic powers to remove functionality, raise the price, give it rounded corners and earn tons of money off it.
trollololol
Not a troll, just a comment that is more a history reference, in a world where its been impossible to buy a PC without an OS for years http://www.zdnet.com/top-five-pc-manufacturers-fail-naked-pc-test-3039286228/ this is an article describing how difficult it was in 2007. The truth is Microsoft created the [propaganda] term "Naked PC" for "its dramatic value and as a means for creating the impression that it is evil to sell computers without operating systems because they might be used for so-called software piracy" http://www.linfo.org/naked_pc.html
What didn't we like about the Mac Mini? I haven't used an expansion port on a PC about 15 years other than a 3Dvideo card. And if I want a gaming rig I'll get something big and airy with lots of fans. If I need a grunt box, I'll run up a VM on my servers at work. For everything else the Mac Mini is perfect. I never understood why PCs we're so big these days. 90% of them are simple Web/Email/Word processors, the Mac Mini and new this Intel thing are all most of us need.
No, this is a motherboard and case for half of what a Mac Mini in working order goes for. At $300, you still need to add a power supply, mSata storage, memory, ethernet, etc.
Mac mini's start at $599, ready to run, with an i5, 4gb ram, 500gb hdd, and have ethernet, firewire, sound ports, etc.
Not only these devices are significantly weaker, but Google is selling them for the manufacturing cost. Google wants you to use them so they can make money through advertisement and selling content. Intel is trying to provide a stand alone computer platform. They are selling hardware and if they don't make a profit on hardware sales, they won't make profit anywhere. The problem of these devices is not the price, but the lack of basic audio output ports and ethernet. Even for a device that I guess is supposed to be marketed towards the Average Joe Grandpa, this is unacceptable.
Indeed. If the price tag was lower I could see a market for it, but at $300 you can build/buy a significantly better box.
This "NUC" has an i3-3217U (1.8ghz / 2C)
You could get an A6-5400K (3.6ghz / 2C) for $65, an FM2 Micro ATX motherboard (USB 3.0 / SATA 6GB / DVI+HDMI / 2x DDR3 1866) for $50, and a MicroATX Slim case with 300W power supply for $75, totaling $190
Better CPU, better GPU, has multiple PCIE slots (with at least one 2.0 x16) and you can upgrade it. This Intel brick for $300..$320 (I read the article) has the CPU soldered on, and no PCIE slots so no upgrades of any kind ever, and the price quote doesn't include memory (which is why I didn't include any.)
I'm sure that you could also put together a better performing Intel box (using a Celeron G5xx series for instance) for about 60% of the money as well.
Looks to me like Intel over-produced some CPU's and/or chipsets and are looking to find a market for them.
"His name was James Damore."
I'm not getting the impression that the Mac Mini is so much more expensive. On the contrary...
- Core i3 vs core i5/i7.
- No RAM (2 * DDR slots) vs 4GB RAM
- No HD vs 500GB/1TB HD
- HDMI, Thunderbolt (or GigE and an extra HDMI), 3 * USB2 vs GigE, Thunderbolt, HDMI, WireWire, 4 * USB3, SD Card, Speaker In, Speaker Out
- No OS vs OS X
I haven't used an expansion port on a PC about 15 years other than a 3Dvideo card.
We could translate your argument as "I splash money around like its going out of style so things like expansion ports are stupid"
Many of us use those expansion slots about halfway through the life of the machine in order to upgrade them inexpensively (like adding SATA 3.0 to a machine purchased when SATA 1.0 was still new), repair them when a specific component goes tits up (The NIC died? Thats a $15 card for full-on b/g/n wireless), or to add specific functionality that only comes standard on much more expensive machines..
"His name was James Damore."
You have the choice between 2 gigabit ports or a thunderbolt port w/o ethernet. But not both. Intel's low end offerings seem to be deliberately crippled so as to not complete with their higher end stuff. You add in the memory and drive on one of these and you're about $100 short of a mac mini which has gigabit ethernet and thunderbolt together plus usb 3.0 and no fscking power brick.
..in a world where USB 3.0 has become standard on low end motherboards.
"His name was James Damore."
Ever seen one of those Acer Aspire Revo "nettops"? Mine is the original - 1.6 GHz Atom processor (64-bit), nVidia Ion onboard graphics, 7 USB ports, ethernet, HDMI and VGA. Current models use an AMD processor and graphics for $329 or Intel I3 and Intel graphics for $499. (The $329 model has no optical drive, the $499 model has an 8x DVD+/-RW drive.)
The case on all of the above is about 1.5"x8"x8".
Actually, given that I'm not certain what the NUC is supposed to be offering. Slightly smaller form factor, that's about it ...
When I saw it called the "unit" of computing I thought maybe it was modular so I could snap together a few "units" of them to make it faster, bigger, etc.
Shoot, make it NOT expandable at ALL and simply modular, so more ram, more hd, more proc, etc, just click it together. Have variations, different colors mean more ram or more hard drive. Pair a unit with more ram with a unit with more processor.
Otherwise, whats the point? They've made a nettop with an i3 rather than a atom? Ok...
Flappinbooger isn't my real name