9/24/2012 07:27:00 PM
dannzfay
We’ve heavily criticized Intel’s NUC and some readers argued that the system demonstrated back then was not actually a production model. From what we’ve heard, this one is and it’s not much different from the one displayed in spring.
Maybe the most important aspect we must emphasize is the performance of this small device. The 4” by 4” NUC system from Intel is probably the most powerful computer in its class and there’s nobody denying that. Moreover, it comes with the powerful Intel HD 4000 iGPU and, therefore, it provides decent office graphics. On the negative side we must mention the fact that one of the most important aspects for systems of such small size is the noise level and it’s quite a disappointment that the company has not managed to make it a fanless design. On the connectivity side, the NUC has decent options when compared with any desktop system, but the thing is that such a SFF doesn’t have any expansion slots so what you see is what you get. Therefore, Intel should have provided more USB ports and especially USB 3.0 slots, as Thunderbolt is considerably more expensive.
The NUC is not targeting the expensive sector, so fitting Thunderbolt on it makes it even more costly and also forces the user to buy less affordable Thunderbolt peripherals. One other important aspect is the innovation factor, as some other SFF manufacturers have envisioned various usage models for their systems and have fitted them with dual LAN ports or special multi-display options. Intel’s NUC has none of that and it is apparently only trying to compete with standard desktop PCs. On size it will most likely win, but on any other aspect it has no reason to. It has almost no expandability and upgradeability.
It lacks any other features that might make it a good application for a SFF workstation or a network gateway or anything similar. Moreover, it won’t appeal to noise sensitive users, as it missed the opportunity to be fanless. It will also be considerably more expensive than most SFF systems of comparable size. The insides have been revealed by hardware enthusiasts at Legitreviews.com and the CPU is soldered on the PCB, so there is no chance to change it with a more powerful one. The only thing that can be upgraded is the RAM modules, and there are only two miniPCI slots available for something like an mSATA SSD.
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| Intel NUC SFF Computer System Images credits to LegitReviews |
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