Intel Unveils Tiny Next Unit of Computing To Match Raspberry Pi 194
MrSeb writes "Details of a new, ultra-compact computer form factor from Intel, called the Next Unit of Computing (NUC) are starting to emerge. First demonstrated at PAX East at the beginning of April, and Intel's Platinum Summit in London last week, NUC is a complete 10x10cm (4x4in) Sandy Bridge Core i3/i5 computer. On the back, there are Thunderbolt, HDMI, and USB 3.0 ports. On the motherboard itself, there are two SO-DIMM (laptop) memory slots and two mini PCIe headers. On the flip side of the motherboard is a CPU socket that takes most mobile Core i3 and i5 processors, and a heatsink and fan assembly. Price-wise, it's unlikely that the NUC will approach the $25 Raspberry Pi, but an Intel employee has said that the price will 'not be in the hundreds and thousands range.' A price point around $100 would be reasonable, and would make the NUC an ideal HTPC or learning/educational PC. The NUC is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2012."
Re:Not bad, but still missing the point... (Score:2, Informative)
A) I don't really think that anyone but the person who wrote the Slashdot headline actually thinks this thing and the Rasberrpy Pi belong in the same category.
B) At this point, we have nothing but complete speculation as to what this will cost or what you will get for whatever that cost is. However, your $250 number was way off base. A Core i3 Sandy Bridge can be found for $100 right now, a price that only figures to go down significantly in the months until this new board's release, since Sandy Bridge is now a last gen processor.
Re:Not bad, but still missing the point... (Score:5, Informative)
A) I don't really think that anyone but the person who wrote the Slashdot headline actually thinks this thing and the Rasberrpy Pi belong in the same category.
RTFA. The comparison to Rasberrpy Pi was in the article.
Umm? (Score:5, Informative)
Just for giggles, I then compared it to an entirely different device based around a smartphone processor and in an entirely different price bracket. This makes total sense, just trust me.
Now, purely in itself, a standardized teeny-ATX motherboard would be nice(especially if we'll someday be able to get mini-PCIe cards that aren't NICs in any quantity... If Intel is planning one, that seems like a good thing all around: the world is already cluttered with various proprietary teeny-motherboard things, and it'd be nice to have a bit of unification in that area.
However, I'm just not seeing the novelty here: The x86/embedded/industrial market has been rotten with teeny motherboards for almost as long as there has been an embedded x86 market, most laptops are built around small x86 motherboards by necessity, and some comparatively niche players, along with Apple, have released desktop products of not dissimilar size already. Historically, they've been fairly expensive, since minaturization isn't free, and Intel has no reason to cut margins on their silicon if they can avoid it. If Chipzilla has decided to drop the hammer and specify where teeny motherboards Shall put their screw holes, great; but that would be about the only new aspect of all this...
Re:Nicely expandable. (Score:4, Informative)
It is more comparable to the BeagleBoard from TFS, but Raspberry Pi is more in the news now so it is a reasonable statement.
Re:They don't get it (Score:5, Informative)
Who said 8-bit AVR? Atmel also makes single-chip 32 bit SoCs. With *drumroll* on-chip USARTs and ethernet, exactly what GGP asked for.
Re:Nicely expandable. (Score:5, Informative)
It is not a reasonable statement at all. The raspi is being sold for 25 dollars which is essentially a throway price and it will run on USB power. Its small size is actually secondary to its appeal. This thing will cost at least 4 times as much for board and CPU and will need an external brick. The fact that people do not see the difference is astounding. Especially considering boards that are close to this have been on store shelves for years and years. Ever heard of Via?
More than 4x as much... cheapest Socket G1/G2 CPU I can find is $160. For the CPU alone. You still have to buy the board, the memory, the hard drive, the case, and the power brick.
This is *not* a competitor.
And yes, you're absolutely right about Via. They're still making C7-based boards for much cheaper. Atom-based board/cpu combos as well are an option, and honestly, a better option since Via C7 is an 8-year old design, and doesn't do 64-bit.
Re:Nicely expandable. (Score:4, Informative)