Intel kills its NUC line, but the tiny PC will live on

Intel has determined to cease making its Next Unit of Computing (NUC), but the firm will encourage companions to maintain making the small form-factor (SFF) PCs, the firm stated Tuesday.

Update: Asus will take over Intel’s NUC enterprise as of July 18, although it received’t have unique entry to the know-how. Asus will help the NUC lineup primarily based on Intel’s tenth to Thirteenth-gen Core chipsand will design new fashions.

“Under the proposed agreement, ASUS will receive a non-exclusive license to Intel’s NUC systems product line designs, enabling it to manufacture and sell 10th to 13th Gen NUC systems products and develop future designs,” Intel stated in an announcement. “This will enable ASUS to provide product and support continuity for Intel NUC systems customers. ASUS will establish a new business unit called ASUS NUC BU.”

The authentic story follows.

Intel’s NUC championed compact PCs, whereas leaving bigger chassis choices to companions like Dell and HP. But Intel’s resolution looks as if a pure one, on condition that Intel has refocused on its core companies throughout a interval by which it additionally invested closely in its personal manufacturing operations and foundry enterprise.

An Intel spokesman confirmed an preliminary report by Serve The Home, saying that Intel will proceed to help the present NUCs it has already shipped into the market.

“We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) Business and pivot our strategy to enable our ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth,” the Intel spokesman stated in an e-mail. “This decision will not impact the remainder of Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. Furthermore, we are working with our partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition and fulfillment of all our current commitments – including ongoing support for NUC products currently in market.”

The resolution ends a couple of decade of labor by Intel to determine the NUC as a viable PC, opening up different makes use of for SFF gadgets. The first-gen NUC featured a third-generation Core i3 processor and have become the foundation for a house theater PC, with Intel difficult itself on subsequent iterations to shrink the chassis even additional. Intel’s NUC additionally appealed on two extra fronts. First, it was capable of set up the NUC as a compact gaming platform to rival conventional sport consoles, and, properly, it simply sounded cool. Etching skulls into the chassis and giving them names like “Hades Canyon” appealed to metalhead DIY builders.

Over time, although, opponents caught up, and Intel slowed down. In our 2021 evaluation of the “Beast Canyon” NUC, Alaina Yee famous that Intel’s transfer to proprietary elements and a extra fragile chassis actually undercut its attraction.

“Intel’s NUCs were once undisputed as the most bleeding-edge, incomparable gaming mini-PCs,” Yee summed up. “But despite its impressive hardware and neat modular riff on DIY building, Beast Canyon’s growth in size, more fragile case, and proprietary power supply introduces weaknesses that give the competition an advantage.”

Intel’s NUCs will at all times marketed as kits, with some choices so that you can set up your self and others that it equipped. Now, it appears like Intel will sundown its personal NUC line, ceding it to its ecosystem companions. For DIY fans, that’s probably not an issue; constructing SFF PCs comes with its personal points, but nothing you possibly can’t cope with.

Intels’ departure from NUCs, although, is a standard story: Any producer that designs and sells its personal elements and the techniques that they go into good points a theoretical benefit. (Microsoft’s entry into the PC enterprise with Surface generated grumbling from its companions, too.) As Serve the Home famous, Intel has additionally offered off its server enterprise. All this implies is that whereas Intel’s NUC could also be lifeless, the crown will be handed to its companions all ready to grab the SFF throne.