News - Intel’s new ultra compact form factor - the 10cm square NUC

[DDY]

where is the CPU? I can't see a socket or even the pin pattern for one.

If the CPU is soldered on like I think it is, the CPU would be packaged on a BGA and surface mounted which means it wouldn't show on the the side of PCB we can see in the article, although the rectangle of SMD capacitors would give a suggestion as to where the CPU would be soldered on the opposite side of the board.

[bbo320]

The ATOM is going to be replaced with a NUC?

[DDY]

The ATOM is going to be replaced with a NUC?

Not really, the Atom is a line of CPUs and the NUC is a proposed form factor, so I guess there could even be an Intel Atom NUC board.

[Noli]

Sandy Bridge i3 or i5 compared to Raspberry Pi? Just because it's small, that's an absolutely daft comparison! It's comparing a Ferrari to a toddler on a tricycle. With a wonky wheel. To suggest that a multi-billion multinational like Intel are releasing this in response to a tech toy like Raspberry Pi (and I'm not trying to undermine it - I think R. Pi is absolutely brilliant) is a joke. This form factor/standard will have taken months and months to develop anyway so certainly not done in response to R. Pi as is suggested by the article.

[kingpotnoodle]

Small is the new fashion, personally I think it's great and as for the cost I'm not surprised, equivalent ITX boards have always been pricier than mATX or ATX although that has come down with increasing volume.

I have a media PC in the bedroom, I wanted it small but the best I could do with reasonable compute power was an ITX H67 & Pentium G620T in an Antec ISK 100 (could have used AMD Ax but already had the ITX board), it's pretty small but it could be better. I don't find Atom and AMD E-xxx to be fast enough, they basically suck unless HD content can be HW decoded. I tried a Zotac Nano, performance was crap and it was noisy, so I built the above which flies through media centre and is as good as silent and can software decode if necessary.

So if the ITX form can be shrunk further and allow my system in a small case then I'm all over that. Well I would be if I didn't already have something working well...

[crossy]

To suggest that a multi-billion multinational like Intel are releasing this in response to a tech toy like Raspberry Pi (and I'm not trying to undermine it - I think R. Pi is absolutely brilliant) is a joke. This form factor/standard will have taken months and months to develop anyway so certainly not done in response to R. Pi as is suggested by the article.

Hmm, don't want to dampen your Intel-lust (I'm kidding!) but R.Pi isn't exactly a secret and has been getting increasing amounts of "buzz" for a considerable time now. So there's definitely been time for Intel to push something they were planning to do anyway.

I remember folks saying that Intel got slightly wrong-footed by VIA's Mini-ITX and smaller form factors - a "mistake" that they're not going to repeat. So it's entirely possible that NUC was already "on the boards" and Intel took the decision to announce it now to cash in on the current focus on small/cheap* computing, (* although as others have said NUC isn't exactly cheap), that's come as a result of the coverage of R.Pi.

So while the product itself isn't necessarily a reply to R.Pi, the timing of the announcement does look a little ... "interesting". But hey, if NUC falls in price (<£100 with the processor would suit me) then I'll probably buy one - as you say it's a darn site more capable than R.Pi.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hmm, don't want to dampen your Intel-lust (I'm kidding!) but R.Pi isn't exactly a secret and has been getting increasing amounts of "buzz" for a considerable time now. So there's definitely been time for Intel to push something they were planning to do anyway.

I remember folks saying that Intel got slightly wrong-footed by VIA's Mini-ITX and smaller form factors - a "mistake" that they're not going to repeat. So it's entirely possible that NUC was already "on the boards" and Intel took the decision to announce it now to cash in on the current focus on small/cheap* computing, (* although as others have said NUC isn't exactly cheap), that's come as a result of the coverage of R.Pi.

So while the product itself isn't necessarily a reply to R.Pi, the timing of the announcement does look a little ... "interesting". But hey, if NUC falls in price (<£100 with the processor would suit me) then I'll probably buy one - as you say it's a darn site more capable than R.Pi.

Remember the OLPC and the Intel Classmate??

Edit!!

Have you got a link regarding Intel considering mini-ITX a mistake??

[crossy]

Have you got a link regarding Intel considering mini-ITX a mistake??

You've picked me up wrong - I didn't say that Intel regarded Mini-ITX (and other very small form factors) a mistake, rather that VIA had that market to themselves for a long time. Although I'll be the first to admit that when Intel did finally move in that the products they did were pretty reasonable.