Asus will be first to release mini PCs with AMD Ryzen 4000 Renoir APUs this summer
Earlier this year, it has come to our attention that Intel may be offering incentives to all its mini PC partners in order to not focus too much on up-to-date AMD-based NUC alternatives. While this information may sound an awful lot like Intel’s more blatant market controlling schemes from the past, it is now easily refuted by fresh reports coming from Korean publication iT DongA and further reinforced by leaks from Swedish online retailer Inet, which present several Renoir-based mini PCs that will be released this summer by Asus, one of Intel’s largest mini PC partners. Given the growing demand for the highly-acclaimed Renoir APUs, we could expect other Intel partners like Dell and MSI to come with similar offers.
According to iT DongA, the Renoir APUs will be integrated with the upcoming Asus PN50 mini PC models and will feature SKUs like the 4-core / 4-thread Ryzen 3 4300U, 6-core / 6-thread Ryzen 5 4500U, 8-core / -thread Ryzen 7 4700U, and 8-core / 16-thread Ryzen 7 4800U as the top-of-the-line.
The Inet database entries show that the PN50 models measure 4.5 x 4.5 x 1.9 inches ( 115 x 115 x 49mm) and weigh around 1.5 lbs (0.7 kg), making it a viable alternative for Intel’s NUC 10 Performance mini PCs. The spec side has always been dominated by Intel’s NUCs, but the PN50 mini PCs are willing to challenge the status quo with some impressive features that include:
- support for up to 64 GB DDR4-3200 RAM
- M.2 slot for PCIe NVMe SSD plus 2.5 inch bay for SATA HDD / SDD
- Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.1 + GbE jack
- Port selection: 2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 3x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, audio jack, HDMI 2.0 + DisplayPort 1.4 video outputs (4x 4K monitor support via the USB-C ports), microSD card reader
Based on the prices displayed by Inet, we could expect the Ryzen 3 4300U models to retail for ~US$325, while the Ryzen 5 4500U should cost around US$334. These two models are expected to launch this July. The other two models should be released in August, with the Ryzen 7 4700U costing ~US$385 and the Ryzen 7 4800U priced at ~US$505. Prices do not account for the RAM and storage solutions that need to be provided by the users.
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