Tuesday, July 11th 2023

Intel Discontinues its NUC Product Range
Intel has informed ecosystem partners about the cessation of direct investment in its Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business—ServeTheHome was the first outlet to report on this development earlier today, following industry rumors cropping up on Monday. Intel has been pulling back on non-core business operations—back in April its server building operation was sold to MiTAC. Today's announcement signals Team Blue's exit from the PC building industry—their (internally manufactured) NUC products included SFF computers, kits, laptop reference systems and boards.
Intel sent an official statement to HardwareLuxx (translated from German): "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. 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."
Sources:
ServeTheHome, HardwareLuxx (German source)
Intel sent an official statement to HardwareLuxx (translated from German): "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. 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."
44 Comments on Intel Discontinues its NUC Product Range
Of course I'm joking but we live in strange and uncertain times.
But more on point to the topic I've always liked the idea of a NUC but it seemed a bit expensive for what it was and was discouraged from getting one. These days with greater prevalence of internet connected large TV's it's kind of nice to have an ultra small SFF PC box for internet and multimedia or even just a SFF PC that's not an actual laptop that's easy to put anywhere like on a bookshelf, on the desk, or mounted to the back of the monitor.
The new AMD like NUC's are cool but still not exactly cheap for a good one unless you find a good newegg or amazon special deal that pops up from time to time. I got my mother an HM80 and was rather surprised by what it could do at such low wattage as it just might be the last PC she will ever use for her use cases dealing with internet tabs and spreadsheets and got to thinking perhaps I underestimated what the NUC had to offer all these years and where would we be today without the neat idea of a really tiny PC that didn't have an Apple logo on it. So on that note it's kind of sad to see Intel stepping away from NUC.
Intel: "good things come in small packages"
Consumer marketing report: "....and small price tags"
Intel: OH! scrap that!
I thought they were neat and probably the most accessible of the ultra-SFF boxes. Not necessarily the best, but often the most sensible balance of size, noise, power, and cost.
The NUC Extreme things that were overpriced, overcomplicated, oversized, 101% proprietary gaming rigs with the most godawful motherboards ever can die in a fire. They will not be missed, but that's primarily because they were so dumb nobody actually ever bought one.
The problem with nucs was always the noise and the price. Something they didn't solve in a decade.
So it's not just office machines and many manufacturers who where Intel only in the past are today offering AMD based models. Obviously there wasn't a sudden need for stronger iGPU in the office space, but the market fot NUC and mini PCs at home, is significant.
This TPU article should really be updated...
www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/intel-nuc-systems-agreement.html
www.xda-developers.com/intel-nuc-asus-license/
www.anandtech.com/show/18962/asus-signs-agreement-to-continue-nuc-dev-and-support
I could see myself once again repurposing an unused display with a NUC (or similar) stuck to the back.
I wander what happened between "We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC)......" to "we're back baby"
What's weird is the two announcements, the deal had to be in progress before Intel announced it was dropping NUCs so why release the information like that!? I mean, in a way it's our damn fault for watching every piece of news, they simply made a statement that they wouldn't invest directly on that market and now comes the real announcement that Asus will take up the nuc branding though without exclusivity (other could also do it)
I'm sure it was sorted easily over some golf, scotch, and debauchery (as one does in business).
for kids gaming, either you buy normal "gaming" PC or kids are ok with their non-demanding games with modern Intel iGPUs.
Have a nice day.
PS Yeah I understand people like you who believe that only hardware with Intel or Nvidia stickers are options. Your posts wouldn't be missed.