As expected, Intel is making its tiny PCs a bit bigger. The company’s NUC computers are tiny desktop PCs with Intel processors. But up until now they’ve been so small that there wasn’t even room for a hard drive. Instead you had to use an mSATA solid state drive for storage.

This year Intel will introduce new models which are still the size of a small stack of CD cases, but which are a bit taller — and which have room for a 2.5 inch hard drive or SSD.

Intel NUC bigger

Legit Reviews got an early look at new model, which is about 0.6 inches thicker than the original, but still small enough to hold in the palm of your hand.

Intel also added new ventilation holes to help keep the drive cool.

According to Legit Reviews, the system takes just about 20 seconds to boot whether you use an mSATA or full-sized SATA III solid state drive. But the advantage to that new drive bay is that you can now fit two drives in this tiny PC, and choose between the speed of a solid state drive and the low cost-per-gigabyte value of a large hard drive.

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7 replies on “Intel’s new NUC mini PC is bigger, but more expandable”

  1. “[It is] big, like can of Pepsi.” -Borat (sorry, couldn’t resist)

  2. What is the user experience for the bay trail nuc with Windows and xbmc. Will it be able to dual boot android? Would like to have a little swiss army knife pc for multiple uses.

  3. Is the fan quieter now? I’d get a fanless case but they cost too much for what I’d use the NUC for.

    1. I’d imagine it is, with the new vent holes and added vertical height for air to move around in. Or, Intel engineers would have to be really bad for it to be worse somehow

      1. Well, the first NUCs were too loud for my liking. These design changes could just be enough to accomodate the additional heat from the 2.5″ drive so fan noise could still be the same.

      1. I’ll have to see of a Bay Trail chip is good enough for what I want to do. Supposedly, they’re as good as a Core 2 Duo (don’t remember which chips were compared though). That might be okay for me.

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