The upcoming Intel NUC 13 Rugged is a small, fanless computer with a dust-resistant chassis and passive heat dissipation that should allow 24/7 operation.
Intel positions its NUC Rugged systems as solutions for use in warehouses, factories, digital signage, or other environments where a more traditional PC may not be the best option. But the last time the company released a Rugged model, it was powered by an Intel Apollo Lake processor. The new NUC 13 Rugged, also known by the code-name “Bravo Canyon,” should bring a serious performance boost thanks to the upgrade to Intel Alder Lake-N chips.
While Intel hasn’t publicly announced the new model yet, you can find details about the system in an NUC product catalog. Intel seems to have deleted that document from its own website, but you can still see a version without pictures via a Google cached page. Or you can just visit Mouser Electronics for the full catalog.
According to those documents, the NUC 13 Rugged will be available with three processor options:
| Chip | Cores | Threads | Base / Boost freq | L3 Cache | GPU | Power |
| Atom X7425E | 4 | 4 | Up to 3.4 GHz | 6MB | Intel UHD (24EU / up to 1 GHz) | 12W |
| Atom X7211E | 2 | 2 | Up to 3.2 GHz | 6MB | Intel UHD (16EU / up to 1 GHz | 6W |
| Intel Processor N50 | 2 | 2 | Up to 3.4 GHz | 6MB | Intel UHD (16EU / up to 750 MHz | 6W |
These chips are basically 12th-gen Intel Core processors that ship with Efficiency cores, but no Performance cores. That means they won’t deliver the same level of performance as other Intel Alder Lake chips, but they should bring significantly better CPU and graphics performance than other Atom-based chips released in the past few years.
The Bravo Canyon NUC also supports up to 16GB of DDR5-4800 RAM, which is user upgradeable thanks to a SODIMM slot, and features 64GB of eMMC storage as well as an M.2 2280 slot for PCIe x2 NVMe storage and an M.2 3042 B-Key slot for an optional SATA SSD.
Intel will offer customers a choice of a more compact model that measures 174 x 108 x 25.9mm and has an internal heat sink only, or a slightly taller version with an external heat sink featuring fins on the top for enhanced cooling. That version measures 3.58mm high.
Both models are rated IP50 for dust resistance, support Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, and feature a set of ports that includes:
- 2 x HDMI 2.1
- 2 x 2.5 GbE Ethernet (Intel i26
- 2 x USB 3.2 Type0A ports
- 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A ports
Most models also come with an Intel AX210 wireless card featuring WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Pricing and availability details haven’t been revealed yet, but Olivier from FanlessTech reports they’re expected to be priced “extremely competitively.”
Claymore Canyon