Earlier this year Intel unveiled its NUC 11 Essential line of mini computers featuring lower price tags (and lower-performance processors) than most members of the Intel NUC family.
Also known by the code name “Atlas Canyon,” these compact computers measure about 5.3″ x 4.5″ x 1.4″ and sport 15-watt Intel Jasper Lake processors and support for up to 32GB of RAM. They’re now available for purchase from Simply NUC, Newegg, and several other retailers with prices starting as low as $150 for entry-level configurations.
While all Atlas Canyon NUC systems have the same basic design, feature set, and ports, Intel offers three different processor options:
Atlas Canyon model | Processor | Cores / Threads | Max Burst freq | GPU execution units | GPU max freq |
NUC11ATKC2 | Celeron N4505 | 2 / 2 | 2.9 GHz | 16 | 750 MHz |
NUC11ATKC4 | Celeron N5105 | 4 / 4 | 2.9 GHz | 24 | 800 MHz |
NUC11ATKPE | Pentium Silver N6005 | 4 / 4 | 3.3 GHz | 32 | 900 MHz |
At this point, it seems like the NUCATKC4 with a Celeron N5105 processor is the most widely available, with Newegg offering models that pair that chip with as little as 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or as much as 32GB of RAM and 4TB of storage. Most models also come with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed.
Looking for something cheaper? A barebones Intel NUC11ATKC2 with a dual-core processor and no memory, storage, or operating system starts at around $150.
The little computer feature has two SODIMM slots for DDR4 memory, an M.2 slot for a PCIe NVMe SSD, built-in support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, and a set of ports that includes:
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x DispliayPort
- 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
- 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x 3.5mm mic input
- 1 x 3.5mm headphone/speaker out
Intel also plans to offer the NUC11ATBC4 mainboard as a standalone product for folks that want to bring-their-own-case, but I haven’t found any retailer that’s shipping that yet. Simply NUC is taking pre-orders for $199 and up though.
Brad, you might want to correct that “prices starting as low as $150” statement. The lowest price listed from newegg and simplynuc is $300
https://www.newegg.com/p/1W8-002G-00089
I like it, simple, practical, and it has a reasonable IO panel. Too many other low-end Mini PCs have annoying IO port choices, like VGA, etc.
Whats the little block thing hanging off the front? Is that like a big power button?
It’s a plug to cover up the 9-pin serial port header.