Intel has been showing off a small form-factor PC called the Next Unit of Computing, or NUC for months. It’s a little desktop computer with an Intel Core i3 Ivy Bridge processor and Intel HD 4000 graphics.

Now the NUC is almost ready to ship. AnandTech reports it should hit online retailers including Amazon and Newegg in early December, with prices starting at around $300.

Intel NUC

At that price you basically get a barebones computer which includes a case, motherboard, processor, and not much else. You’ll have to add your own memory, storage, and operating system. Even the power cable is sold separately.

There will two different models. One features 2 HDMI ports and Gigabit Ethernet, while the other has just one HDMI port and no Ethernet jack… but it does have a Thunderbolt port.

Both models feature 2 memory slots, 3 USB 2.0 ports, a half-height mini PCIe slot, and a full-height mini PCIe slot with mSATA support. You can use that to add a mSATA solid state disk, since there’s no 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch bay for a traditional hard drive.

While the NUC looks a lot like a nettop, it’s powered by an Intel Core i3-3217U Ivy Bridge processor.

AnandTech found that the computer performs reasonably well for a small-form factor computer with 17W processor. The Core i3-3217U CPU isn’t nearly as fast as some of Intel’s other recent chips… but it can run circles around the company’s netbook-class Atom processors, which is what we’ve often seen in computers of this size over the past few years.

via CNET

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12 replies on “Intel’s NUC mini-PC coming soon for about $300”

  1. no space for a 2.5 ssd? no power supply? by the time you add stuff you should be in the new mac mini arena…. i want this for my media servers, but will still be better off building m-itx severs….. lots more cost effective….. but this does show promise….. lets see how newegg discounts…..

  2. So… you can’t fit a HDD inside the case? If that’s true, this thing would look ugly as a htpc.

  3. This is a couple hundred more than it should be for how bare bones it is. and when you do spring on wifi, bluetooth, storage, ram and an os you’re well into mac mini territory.

  4. I assume Intel will release an upgraded version with usb 3.0 and perhaps an intel i5/i7 processor next year…this unit comes as a tester/taster in how successful the mini PC form could be in the near future…

  5. The price seems about right for what you get. Too bad it’s still too high for what my cheap self is willing to pay for. Also, too bad about no USB 3.0.

    1. Hopefully, OEMs will use this as a reference platform and make their own less expensive versions with probably the same or better features.

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