Intel’s NUC line of computers are tiny desktops that generally have laptop-class processors. But laptop processors are getting pretty powerful these days, and so are NUCs.

The Bean Canyon model I’ve got on my review desk features a 28W processor with surprisingly strong performance. The Hades Canyon line of NUCs are even more powerful — with Intel Kaby Lake-G chips featuring AMD graphics.

Now it looks like Intel is planning to launch a few new NUC models in the next year or two, including the first to feature 45 watt processors with up to 8 CPU cores (and 16 threads).

The news comes courtesy of a set of leaked product roadmaps. In a nutshell, here’s what they tell us to expect in the next year or so:

  • “Islay Canyon” NUC with 15 watt, quad-core “Whiskey Lake-U” chips and AMD Radeon 540X graphics – early 2019
  • “Frost Canyon” NUC with 25 watt, quad-core “Comet Lake-U” chips and Intel UHD graphics – mid to late 2019
  • “Ghost Canyon” NUC with 45 watt, quad-core, hexa-core, or octa-core “Coffee Lake-H” chips and Intel UHD graphics – late 2019 or early 2020.

As with any leaked product roadmap, it’s probably a good idea to take those details with a grain of salt. But given the direction Intel has been taking with its mini PC lineup, there’s nothing implausible in the descriptions.

Update: FanlessTech has the first picture that allegedly shows what the upcoming Ghost Canyon NUC might look like.

via VideoCards

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6 replies on “Intel NUC roadmap shows octa-core mini PCs are on the way”

  1. The INtel GPU options are confusing. What’s the difference between UHD and the different Iris variations?

    1. Excactly, benchmarks or capability would be great. I would love to be able to support multiple 4K monitors for day to day work (not including gaming)

    2. I am guessing the number of execution units but I could be wrong. I remember that being the difference between 505 and 530 which have 18 and 24 respectively.

  2. Still have a Win7 4th gen Intel i7 Dell Inspiron desktop with plenty of power going. But when it gets weak or expires, I plan on utilizing a NUC or similar device. It’s small size with plenty of power is a no brainer for me, and most.

    1. It looks like your current box will last a long time. I bet your NUC will be a 7nm SOC with discrete Intel graphics with optane memory.

      1. “Ghost Canyon” are “Coffee Lake-H” chips, meaning these are only 14nm. Don’t expect this coming anywhere near to as close to AMD’s 7nm offerings which also just leaked. This may have been an injected leak by Intel to try to balance out the AMD Zen 2 leak hype.

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