Intel’s NUCs are perhaps best known for cramming powerful hardware into tiny packages, but there is a sizable market for low-powered small-form-factor (SFF) PCs. A handful of new devices are coming to the NUC market with 10-watt Jasper Lake CPUs in tow, but it may be a while before they get here.
Recent leaks have spotted a new NUC family. Dubbed “Atlas Canyon,” the new NUCs will use Intel’s Jasper Lake Intel Celeron and Pentium Silver CPUs. The leaked spec sheet notes options for an Intel Pentium Silver J6005 (4C/4T, 2-3.3 GHz), Intel Celeron J5105 (4C/4T, 2-2.9 GHz), or Intel Celeron J4505 (2C/2T, 2-2.7 GHz) CPU. Otherwise, the other specs are similar between the three NUC models:
- RAM: up to 16 GB DDR4-2933, dual-channel, SODIMM
- M.2 2280 PCIe drive slot (supports SATA and PCIe x4 NVMe drives)
- 64 GB of built-in eMMC storage (OPTIONAL)
- Intel WiFi 6 AX101 (1x1)
- Bluetooth 5.2
- 4x USB-A 3.1 (2 on rear, 2 on front)
- 2x USB-A 2.0 (on rear)
- 1x HDMI 2.0b (HDCP 2.2 support)
- 1x DisplayPort 1.4 (HDCP 2.2 support)
- 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
- 1x audio/mic in
- 1x audio out
All three NUCs come with a three-year warranty and will support a three-year product life cycle.
Jasper Lake chips, which are built on a 10 nm process, are expected to bring up to 35% more performance than the previous generation Gemini Lake Refresh. TDP ranges from 6 to 15 Watts, depending on OEM specifications.
While the new NUCs are welcome additions, they likely won’t debut on the market until early 2022 due to the global chip shortage. Still, low-powered but competent mini-PCs are nice options to have.
What do you think of the Atlas Canyon NUCs? Let us know in the comments below.
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