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Intel plans to release 6 W Chaco Canyon fanless rugged NUCs

The NUC 8 Rugged is even smaller than your high-end smartphone. (Source: KoolShare)
The NUC 8 Rugged is even smaller than your high-end smartphone. (Source: KoolShare)
No larger than a smartphone, the NUC 8 Rugged is powered by refreshed Apollo Lake CPUs with ultra-low-power TDPs of only 6 W. Gaming on these systems is clearly out of the question, as the HD Graphics 500 iGPU is only aimed at IoT applications. It comes with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB eMMC storage. which are both soldered, but users can add an NVMe or SATA SSD through a spare M.2 slot.
by Bogdan Solca, 2019/09/10
Desktop Internet of Things (IoT) Smart Home

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Intel has been focusing on launching more powerful NUCs that are supposed to be decent replacements for gaming PCs lately, but low-power IoT variants are still planned for the foreseeable future, at least based on reports and reviews provided by KoolShare forum users. One such ultra-low-power variant appears to be the yet-to-be-announced NUC 8 Rugged that is codenamed Chaco Canyon.

Even though it is not yet official, the NUC 8 Rugged seems to already be available in China with a NUC8CHK product code. Since it is rated for 6W TDP, this model is powered by a refreshed Apollo Lake Celeron N3350E dual-core / dual-thread CPU that comes with an HD Graphics 500 iGPU, so gaming is out of the question. It is equipped with 4 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 64 GB of eMMC storage. Unfortunately these are both soldered, but Intel does provide an M.2 2280 Key-M slot for NVMe or SATA SSD upgrades.

Other key features include:

  • Rugged fanless plastic case measuring only 154 x 108 x 32 mm for a total weight of 545.7 g
  • GbE NIC with jack + Wi-Fi card
  • 2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 ports plus 1x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 internal headers
  • Dual HDMI outs (1.4 + 2.0)
  • Serial port header
  • Audio jack

The fact that Intel already uploaded the chipset drivers for this model on its official site should offer a clue about its imminent availability. TigerDirect has the NUC 8 Rugged listed for US$247.99, but it is not yet in stock.

Back panel port selection (Source: KoolShare)
Back panel port selection (Source: KoolShare)
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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 09 > Intel plans to release 6 W Chaco Canyon fanless rugged NUCs
Bogdan Solca, 2019-09-10 (Update: 2019-09-10)
Bogdan Solca
Bogdan Solca - News Editor
I stepped into the wonderous IT&C world when I was around 7. I was instantly fascinated by computerized graphics, be them from games or 3D applications like 3D Max. I like to keep myself up to date with all the new technologies that get released at an ever increasing rate these days. I'm also an avid SciFi reader, an astrophysics aficionado and, as of late, a crypto geek.