Intel has devoted much of its time to this year’s virtuals CES on his new desk and mobile processors, as well as the laptops of the new hardware that will debut in the next few months. But what did not get much attention was the line from Intel mini-computers, or NUCs, en NUC position. Intel gives those a Tiger Lake Refreshment at a fairer price, depending on the configuration and where you buy a unit.
First is Intel’s enthusiast model, or the NUC 11 Enthusiast, which is available as a complete mini-computer or as a package. The full-featured PC features an 11th-generation Core i7-1165G7 processor with Iris Xe integrated graphics, RTX 2060 graphics card, 16GB DDR4-3200 memory, Intel Optane Memory H10 (32GB + 512GB) and even ‘ a geospecific power cable option for the US, Europe and China. Windows 10 Home is also preloaded.
There are also a variety of ports: HDMI 2.0, Mini DisplayPort 1.4, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, Intel 2.5 GB Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 support, plus six USB 3.1 Gen2 ports.
The kit contains the same CPU and GPU, plus the same type and amount of ports, but the memory, storage and operating system are a BYOB situation – although it can support up to 64 GB of memory. Also note that the board supports PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSDs, not PCIe 4.0, if you are interested in following this route. There are also additional power cord options for the UK, Australia and India.
The NUC 11 Performance model has the choice of a Core i7-1165G7, Core i5-1135G7, or Core i3-1115G4, with the i7 and i5 options, including Iris Xe graphics and the i3 with standard UHD. None of the pre-built mini-computers have a discrete GPU. They also all have 8GB DDR4-3200 memory, 500GB NVMe SSD PCIe 4.0 storage (strange because the enthusiastic model does not have Gen4, but maybe the Intel Optane memory has something to do with it), Windows 10 Home preloaded, and the same amount of ports minus three USB ports.
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The final model, the NUC 11 Pro Mini, has a Core i7-1165G7 or Core i5-1145G7 with Iris Xe graphics, a 500 GB Gen 4 NVMe SSD (again, odd), 8 GB DDR4-3200 memory and Windows 10 Home preloaded. Just like the Enthusiast kit, the Performance and Pro kits are BYO memory, storage and operating system. And if you go to the support pages for both the Pro Mini computers, Intel already has an end date somewhere in the first half of 2024. The other NUC computers did not.
Unfortunately, all of these models have a soldered BGA connector, which means that the processor cannot be easily removed and upgraded in the future. The CPU you get is the CPU you get.
But there is a saving grace: the price. A fully featured enthusiast model of SimplyNUC starts at $ 1,350 – but with 8 GB of memory and only a 128 GB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD. If you start specifying the NUC 11 Enthusiast with the same components as Intel advertises, the price jumps fast, although it is still better than the NUC 9 Extreme Kit reviewed us last year.
[TechRadar]