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Intel's NUC 8 Mainstream-G mini PCs announced with Radeon GPUs and Whiskey Lake CPUs

The new Intel NUC 8 Mainstream-G mini PCs are designed for casual gamers and smart home entertainment. (Source: Intel)
The new Intel NUC 8 Mainstream-G mini PCs are designed for casual gamers and smart home entertainment. (Source: Intel)
Due to their small footprint, the new Intel NUC 8 Mainstream-G mini PCs have a limited number of upgradeable components. These models integrate Intel's 15 W i7-8565U and i5-8265U quad-core CPUs, but the 8 GB of LPDDR3-1866 RAM and the Radeon RX 540X GPU are soldered. There are variants with Intel Optane Memory, SSD + HDD storage combos, plus kits that come without any storage or OS.
Desktop Gaming Internet of Things (IoT) Smart Home Windows Whiskey Lake

A leaked roadmap with Intel’s upcoming NUC mini PC models for 2019 and 2020 was mentioning the scheduled launch of “Islay Canyon” models powered by 15 W Whiskey Lake CPUs for the first quarter of 2019, but it looks like Intel had to postpone the launch amid CPU shortage problems. The “Islay Canyon” models are now officially named the NUC 8 Mainstream-G and will begin shipping in the upcoming weeks.

These new NUCs are intended for casual gaming and smart home entertainment, as they also come with discrete GPUs from AMD. Due to their reduced size of only 4.6 x 4.4 x 2 inches, the NUC 8 mainstream-G mini PCs come with soldered components like 8 GB LPDDR3-1866 RAM and the AMD Radeon RX 540X GPUs with 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM that has similar performance to Nvidia’s GeForce MX150 laptop GPUs.

Intel will ship models with storage and kits that come without storage, letting users customize this aspect. Here is a list with all the models:

Intel Core i7-8565U
•    NUC8i7INHJA: 16 GB Intel Optane Memory + 1 TB HDD
•    NUC8i7INHPA: 256 GB SSD
•    NUC8i7INHX: no storage included, no OS (M.2 SSD slot + 2.5-inch SSD/HDD bay)
•    NUC8i7INHZ6 (China specific): 128 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD (no OS)
•    NUC8i7INHP6 (China specific): 256 GB SSD (no OS)

Intel Core i5-8265U
•    NUC8i5INHJA: 16 GB Intel Optane Memory + 1 TB HDD
•    NUC8i5INHPA: 256 GB SSD
•    NUC8i5INHX: no storage included, no OS (M.2 SSD slot + 2.5-inch SSD/HDD bay)
•    NUC8i5INHP6 (China Specific): 256 GB (no OS)

Other features that come standard with all models include:
•    HDMI 2.0b and Mini DisplayPort 1.2 video outs
•    3x USB-A 3.1 Gen 2, 1x USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports
•    Dual Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 + Intel GbE
•    SDXC card slot
•    Headphone / mic audio jack

No info on pricing for the time being.

Rear ports (Source: Intel)
Rear ports (Source: Intel)
Front ports (Source: Intel)
Front ports (Source: Intel)

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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 05 > Intel's NUC 8 Mainstream-G mini PCs announced with Radeon GPUs and Whiskey Lake CPUs
Bogdan Solca, 2019-05-24 (Update: 2019-05-24)