ASUS NUC Product Lineup is Official

[T0@st]

The North American branch of ASUS has unveiled its NUC product lineup—this announcement arrives only a month and a half after making an agreement with Intel to transfer rights for the sales and manufacturing of NUC products to their Business Unit (NUC BU). Their X account tweeted out late last week: "Exciting News! Starting September 1st, NUC becomes a proud member of the ASUS product lineup, setting off on an exhilarating journey ahead Delve into NUC product specifics on the official ASUS website."

ASUS seems to have absorbed the current crop of 10th to 13th NUC series systems into its portfolio, although the emphasis appears to be placed on Raptor Lake-based units. Other news outlets anticipate that ASUS NUC 13 Extreme products (minus ROG livery) could hit the market soon. The ASUS marketing blurb outlines their ambitions going forward: "NUC-Powerful experiences in small packages. NUC-rhymes with luck-is the Next Unit of Computing that delivers incredible performance, rich l/O, high-end graphics capabilities, and sleek designs for everyone and every situation, including gaming and business." ASUS NUC BU will likely adopt upcoming Raptor Lake Refresh and Meteor Lake CPUs.



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[Nanochip]

I’m looking forward to seeing how the next generation of nuc or mini-PCs based on meteor lake compares to the ryzen-based mini-PCs. Meteor lake vs Dragon Range. The minisforum um790 pro is nice. I wonder how a similar MTL box will compare ?

 

[Totally]

Isn't this lineup stillborn, since Intel abandoned NUC earlier this year. Really wanted to succeed but whatever outlets there were for NUC had considerable markups, cost more than building a SFF sys and that says something because of the already egregiou SFF tax.

 

[Nanochip]

Isn't this lineup stillborn, since Intel abandoned NUC earlier this year. Really wanted to succeed but whatever outlets there were for NUC had considerable markups, cost more than building a SFF sys and that says something because of the already egregiou SFF tax.

Intel licensed nuc to Asus. So for all we know, ROG-based NUCs might be coming. Given the increasing popularity of mini-PCs, Asus just might make some money from it. Especially if they pair a nuc/miniPC with their external video card offerings.

 

[Wirko]

-rhymes with luck-

I'm disappoint. Did it also rhyme with luck while it belonged to Intel?

 

[R0H1T]

Intel licensed nuc to Asus. So for all we know, ROG-based NUCs might be coming. Given the increasing popularity of mini-PCs, Asus just might make some money from it. Especially if they pair a nuc/miniPC with their external video card offerings.

Intel sold their NUC division, not licensed it.

Intel shutters small-form-factor NUC computer division

How much NUC would a Pat G chuck if a Pat G could chuck NUC?

www.theregister.com

 

[Nanochip]

Intel sold their NUC division, not licensed it.

Intel shutters small-form-factor NUC computer division

How much NUC would a Pat G chuck if a Pat G could chuck NUC?

www.theregister.com

They licensed it.

From intel itself: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/intel-nuc-systems-agreement.html

“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.”

read: “non-exclusive license” meaning intel theoretically could license the NUC intellectual property to another entity, perhaps minisforum or asRock or others. I don’t know the terms and conditions of the contract and whether or how much Asus paid for the right to use the NUC IP.

Also, if intel outright sold all of the NUC rights to Asus, how can intel simultaneously also grant a “non-exclusive license”?

 

[R0H1T]

They licensed it.

From intel itself: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/intel-nuc-systems-agreement.html

“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.”

read: “non-exclusive license” meaning intel theoretically could license the NUC intellectual property to another entity, perhaps minisforum or asRock or others. I don’t know the terms and conditions of the contract and whether or how much Asus paid for the right to use the NUC IP.

Also, if intel outright sold all of the NUC rights to Asus, how can intel simultaneously also grant a “non-exclusive license”?

Because this ~

Curiously, the deal is explicitly nonexclusive; so despite ASUS being set up to be Intel's successor in the NUC space, ASUS isn't necessarily getting the NUC market to itself – though Intel isn't announcing any other licensees at this time, either.

You're right about the "sale" part, for now ~

The limited details on the deal also do not mention ASUS taking on any employees from Intel's existing NUC group, so it seems this will not be a wholesale business unit transfer like other units such as SSDs have been.

ASUS Signs Agreement to Continue Development and Support of Intel's NUC Business

www.anandtech.com

Looks like some clever accounting trick to not take any liabilities nor assets directly from Intel on their balance sheet.

 

[Nanochip]

Because this ~

You're right about the "sale" part, for now ~

ASUS Signs Agreement to Continue Development and Support of Intel's NUC Business

www.anandtech.com

Looks like some clever accounting trick to not take any liabilities nor assets directly from Intel on their balance sheet.

Good sleuthing. There’s certainly more to the story.

But nonetheless, with the increasing performance of low-wattage chips like the 7940HS and upcoming EUV-based lakes by intel, the mini-pc space is poised to flourish. So I’m very interested to see how the market progresses. Especially now with stronger iGPUs coming, and usb4v2 coming (with 80 gbps). You can attach fast external storage or a plethora of other pcie-based devices.

I think for many people, at some point, there will be little reason to own a big tower pc, and deal with all the space and noise it takes up/generates, given that the compute found in mini-PCs will be more than good enough for average users. The 7940HS is impressive. I wonder about meteor lake-p and strix point zen 5. Interesting times ahead for the mini pc space.

 

[Six_Times]

I’m looking forward to seeing how the next generation of nuc or mini-PCs based on meteor lake compares to the ryzen-based mini-PCs. Meteor lake vs Dragon Range. The minisforum um790 pro is nice. I wonder how a similar MTL box will compare ?

Same here, I'm waiting for meteor lake for comparison.

 

[Totally]

Good sleuthing. There’s certainly more to the story.

But nonetheless, with the increasing performance of low-wattage chips like the 7940HS and upcoming EUV-based lakes by intel, the mini-pc space is poised to flourish. So I’m very interested to see how the market progresses. Especially now with stronger iGPUs coming, and usb4v2 coming (with 80 gbps). You can attach fast external storage or a plethora of other pcie-based devices.

I think for many people, at some point, there will be little reason to own a big tower pc, and deal with all the space and noise it takes up/generates, given that the compute found in mini-PCs will be more than good enough for average users. The 7940HS is impressive. I wonder about meteor lake-p and strix point zen 5. Interesting times ahead for the mini pc space.

I don't big tower PCs are going to be affected, since those users will have already have migrated to a smaller form factor such as a laptop, SFF PC, or All in One. NUC will be pulling from those users, and users who want to run multiple systems a category I fall in.