Intel’s NUC line of computers are tiny desktop systems which pack most of the power of a full-sized PC into a package you can hold in one hand. According to leaked documents obtained by Fanless Tech, Intel’s next-gen NUC systems should start to hit the streets in early 2015.

The new “Rock Canyon” line of products will feature Intel Core i3 or Core i5 “Broadwell” chips. They should launch in the first quarter of 2015. In the second quarter of the year we should see the first “Pinnacle Canyon” models will sport lower-power Celeron chips based on “Braswell” architecture.

nuc roadmap_00

Intel will position the Rock Canyon/Broadwell models as systems that you can use for gaming, home theater use, or home office use. Basically these little systems are fully-functional PCs… just tiny ones.

They’ll feature 5th-gen Intel Core “Broadwell” chips which are expected to offer better performance and lower power consumption than the 4th-gen “Haswell” chips available today. The Core i5 and Core i3 chips chosen for Rock Canyon devices, for instance, is expected to have a 15W TDP.

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Intel expects to launch several Rock Canyon models, but most should feature 4 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and mini DisplayPort output with support for 4K video playback or the ability to power up to 3 displays at once. The systems also feature Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 7.1 channel audio, support for up to 16GB of RAM, and room for a 2.5 inch hard drive or SSD and/or an M.2 SSD card.

Models with a 2.5 inch drive bay will measure 4.5″ x 4.4″ x 1.9″ and models which only have the M.2 slot will be thinner, measuring about 1.2 inches thick.

Intel’s new “Braswell” chips are the company’s follow-up to the Bay Trail processors for low-power tablets, notebooks, and desktops. Like the Bay Trail family, Braswell chips will likely be available as Atom, Celeron, and Pentium chips. The Pinnacle Canyon NUC kit is expected to have a Celeron processor.

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While Intel hasn’t specified the TDP for this model, it’ll likely use significantly less power than the Broadwell versions. But it still supports 4K video playback, features 4 USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth, and supports 2.5 inch drives. This model has HDMI and VGA ports, support for up to 8GB of RAM.

All of Intel’s next-gen NUC systems due in the first half of 2015 drop USB 2.0 ports altogether, using only USB 3.0 ports. They also all feature support for user-replaceable third-party lids which will let you swap out the cover for a model with integrated support for NFC, wireless charging, or other features.

You can find more slides with product details at FanlessTech.

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9 replies on “Intel’s next-gen tiny desktop PCs coming in 2015 (leaked roadmap)”

  1. Shit, no big news, always the same, insignificant minor updates, no usb 3.1, no ddr4, same max capacity of ddr gb, no thunderbolt, in line with all from intel in the last more than 10 years, no evolution. It almost the same as firsts Nuc, well or poor as first nuc had thunderb.

  2. If it will let me play relatively new games at a decent resolution without trouble I would be interested.

    1. Intel often censors the model numbers for GMA’s not officially released yet… or just works with a code name until official release or at least closer to official release…

      Basically, Braswell and Cherry Trail will use the Airmont ATOM update that basically means advancing the FAB to 14nm from 22nm and the GPU will be advanced to be based on one developed from Intel’s upcoming Broadwell Gen 8 GPU…

      Presently, Bay Trail is using the older Gen 7 GPU that was introduced with Ivy Bridge and scaled down to just 4 EU’s and optimized for low powered mobile usage…

      So the move to gen 8 GPU should mean a good performance efficiency boost and they should increase the number of EU’s… Though, details on Braswell are still limited, Cherry Trail has been officially indicated to offer 8EU’s for the Value Edition models and 16EU’s for the higher premium models…

      A Ivy Bridge HD4000 for example has 16EU’s for comparison… While a typical Intel HD GMA has 6…

  3. Braswell should be a great chip for a HTPC / Bittorrent Sync / Miro box. It should have plenty of power and still be a fanless solution. Lets hope they don’t all end up in tablets.

    1. Shouldn’t as Braswell is the general replacement for Bay Trail and the version going into the Intel NUC is clearly a Celeron, like how the Bay Trail M’s are branded for similar devices…

      While for premium tablets, they’re also releasing Cherry Trail and that should be the only one that is tablet only…

    2. I’m running i7 4770k haswell with the coolermaster hyper z600 passive cooler with zero issues. System idles at 38c.

      Runny a crappy graphic card though. But I render videos and run photoshop, illustrator and watch live TV using a tuner with no issues so far.

    1. For Braswell that’s the main point… Besides the move to 14nm it’ll push for more affordable pricing and general reduced costs to system makers…

      This is one of the reasons, for tablets at least, they’re also releasing Cherry Trail, for the more premium tablet offerings and not just Braswell… Though, we may not see as much of a performance increase from Bay Trail for Braswell, aside from the improved GMA, but the next gen Goldmont architecture is suppose to come out before the end of 2015 with the Broxton update…

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