Intel's NUC computers are incredibly compact, upgradeable, and even powerful — but they're now being discontinued. ServeTheHome first reported that Intel is exiting the personal computer business and will no longer make the cute little computers.
See also: First details on Intel NUC 13 Extreme and Shrike Bay Element
In an email to The Verge, Mark Walton, Intel EMEA communications manager for client computing and graphics, confirmed the news and issued the following statement:
We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business and shift our strategy to enable our ecosystem partners to continue innovating and developing NUCs. This decision will not impact the rest of the Intel Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. In addition, we are working with our partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition and to fulfill all of our current commitments – including continued support for NUC products currently in the market.
We asked Intel if this means the company will no longer be making consumer-grade PCs, but we didn't hear back. The end of the NUCs comes after the company announced it would no longer sell servers, handing over the business to Taiwanese company Mitac in April.
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While it didn't make sense for Intel to package and sell servers that competed with bigger names like HP and Dell, it's sad to see the company abandon mini-PCs as well. Intel's NUC was essentially the company's gift to IT departments and enthusiasts who wanted small, quiet, and powerful drop-in computers. NUCs could be preconfigured for professional office use cases or even come barebones so users could build them themselves.
Intel also made “Extreme” NUCs that could be converted into gaming rigs, with models like the “Beast Canyon” NUC 11 even able to accommodate full-size graphics cards. Intel expanded the NUC Extreme chassis from eight liters to 13.9 – pushing the compact PC into more versatile workstation territory and supporting Nvidia’s RTX 40- series behemoth cards
Intel's NUC computers were hard to buy and expensive, starting at over $1,000 for a nearly bare-bones unit. Despite their small design, excellent performance, and adaptability, the NUC's upgradeability was limited by product discontinuation. The "Element" motherboard, which was key to the NUC's upgradeability, likely won't be upgraded to support newer-generation processors and technology.
Also read: NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti will get 16GB option on July 18th
source of information:theverge.com
