We've been reviewing Intel NUC systems for years and so we're quite familiar by now with their traditional blue box packaging. The latest NUC 11 with Tiger Lake, however, definitely caught us off guard when it arrived in the mail yesterday. As a sort of reflection of the worldwide pandemic we all live in at the moment, Intel has redesigned the packaging for the NUC 11 into something more visually appealing.
As shown by the pictures below, the chipmaker has transformed what would have otherwise been an anemic cubic box into a tiny house. The change, of course, was inspired by families working and learning from home and that the NUC mini PC would be the perfect fit in such scenarios. The bottom of the house even doubles as a sizeable drawer that owners can reuse for other items.
One particular aspect we don't like about the new design is that it is significantly larger than the boxes from previous years even though the actual mini PC and its accessories remain small. It's not the most environmentally friendly way to package a product as a result. Maybe future NUCs can come in smaller houses as a compromise.
Expect our review on the NUC 11 in the coming weeks. The latest model is notable not just for its Core i7-1165G7 Tiger Lake CPU but also for its support for PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives and its built-in Qi wireless smartphone charger.