Intel has had a successful idea with the Next Unit of Computing. The minuscule NUC has been surprisingly popular for its ability to bring viable and powerful computing to nearly any situation. And now Intel is looking towards the future with even more powerful editions of the NUC.
Intel NUC roadmap suggest Thunderbolt 3 and more
The next-generation NUC’s are set to release sometime between now and the early 2017 and will feature the newest Kaby Lake based low-voltage processors. Those are based on the existing, but refined, 14nm process. They’ll allow for dual-channel DDR4 in SO-DIMM form and have a USB type-C connector certified for USB 3.1 speeds as well as Thunderbolt 3. The NUC7 will be the flagship model, with the larger and more powerful iGPU’s with the NUC6C likely coming sooner, and will feature less powerful Celeron processors with a 10W TDP.
That potentially means this could be a tiny gaming platform with external GPU capability. There’s a lot to like with the new platform, and it could end up being much more than a simple small computer. It could be far more valuable for a much wider variety of markets. We’re just waiting on the wider proliferation of external GPU enclosures to actually be used in situations such as this.