Asus showed off a few new small form factor computers at CES earlier this month, but it looks like that wasn’t the complete set — Asus has added another mini PC to its website and this one appears to be one of the company’s most versatile and powerful to date.
The Asus VivoMini VC65-C1 supports up to an Intel Core i7-8700T processor, support for up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 RAM and multiple storage devices, and support for an optional DVD or Blu-ray drive.
The computer measures about 7.8″ x 7.7″ x 2.4″ (or 1.9″ depending on the configuration), which makes it pretty small by desktop standards, but almost twice as large as an Intel NUC.
But it’s also a lot more powerful than a typical NUC, with 35 watt processor options ranging from an Intel Celeron G4900T to an Intel Core i7-8700T.
Asus positions this as a module device with multiple chassis configurations depending on whether you need support for an optical disc drive and/or more than two storage devices.
The smallest version has an M.2 2280 slot for a solid state drive and room for a single 2.5 inch hard drive or SSD. But you can also opt for a taller version with the same storage options plus a disc drive or a quad-storage model with support for four SSDs and/or hard drives.
The system also has an SD card reader, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0. And it has a good selection of ports including Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, VGA, and line and mic jacks, plus five USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port and a serial COM port.
Asus says the computer can be used for a variety of applications — you can outfit it with multiple storage devices and use it as a multimedia machine, or go for a more compact version and use it as a work machine, for example, And that COM port could come in handy in business or retail settings.
Pricing and availability haven’t been announced yet.
via AnandTech
No Thunderbolt 3 either. Current NUCs have it.
Very sexy! Will it run LINUX?
They have to beat the NUC on pricing otherwise they have absolutely no competitive advantage
This is a great concept for a NUC competitor, but I’m not really interested in the integrated power supply. An external PSU would be better for serviceability.
I’ll be interested to see what pricing is like.
I dig it.
A built-in power supply at that size always impresses me! I can’t even recall any NUCs that don’t come with external PSUs.
However, the fan noise will make all the difference, at least for me, with a computer on the desk right in front of me.
I guess the heat from the built-in PSU could be a concern when it comes to the fan noise.
The design makes me think I can push down on it from the top to make it shorter until you see the back.