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Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

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Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#101

Post by nateb2022 »

01100011 wrote: post #39
blahyawnblah wrote: post #18

I've had one for about 7 years now that's been my htpc. Nice, little, quiet, and it worked great. Was thinking about upgrading soon. Guess I'll have to figure something else out.

I just performed fan-replacement surgery on the one I gave to my mom about 7 years ago. Still works great for her other than the fan that died. Not extremely easy to replace but not bad and it only cost about $15. I looked into replacing it but a quick search didn't turn up anything comparable for less than $500.

> I looked into replacing it but a quick search didn't turn up anything comparable for less than $500.

Comparable in what way, size?

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#102

Post by tinus_hn »

DesiLurker wrote: post #44

I call BS on them being not good market fit, Apple does totally fine with mac mini. also these are just laptops w/o screen and battery. IMO the real reason may be worries around minipcs finally getting good enough that they may cannibalize higher margin PC market. BTW there are other vendors like Beelink that make semi decent tiny computers and I have one of those as my teenage kids pc,works just fine.

My guess would be they can’t compete with the hundreds of cheap AliExpress/Amazon clones, they are good enough for a lower price.

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#103

Post by paulrpotts »

ortusdux wrote: post #50
paulrpotts wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess? I mean, I would happily consider a Framework mini-PC, but buying literal laptop boards when I don't actually want a laptop, and then having to, what, cobble together a power supply and case, etc? I found it a lot more convenient to buy a barebones NUC, put in some Crucial RAM and an SSD... considerably cheaper too.

They sell a case for $40 on their site. Assembly is about as complex as adding Crucial RAM and an SSD to a barebones NUC. For power, you can use just about anything that will deliver 60W+ over USB C. https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case

Interesting... thanks. I was not aware these existed. Also, the mainboards are expensive, but not as expensive as I thought.

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#104

Post by adrian_b »

bamfly wrote: post #34

I always wanted to like these, but they seemed consistently overpriced by like 30%. I'd price one out with all the necessary parts, and by the end it was always like, why am I not just buying a mac mini (or an RPi, for lower-intensity applications)?

The price depends on what you compare it with.

A NUC with an i3 Raptor Lake CPU and 16 GB DRAM is slightly less than EUR 400, a NUC with an i7 Raptor Lake CPU and 64 GB DRAM is slightly less than EUR 800, both with all taxes included.

If you buy the cheapest MB, the cheapest case and PSU and the cheapest Pentium or Celeron desktop CPU, you can get a desktop that is cheaper than a NUC, but with less peripheral interfaces, i.e. without the Thunderbolt ports included in a NUC, and which will not be faster than a NUC.

On the other hand if you compare a NUC with a laptop that has a similar number of peripheral interfaces and a similar CPU speed, then you discover that the laptops are incredibly overpriced and only mobile workstations or top gaming laptops of $3000 or more can match a NUC.

None of the laptops available from a major vendor has so many peripheral ports as a NUC. None of the laptops that use the same CPU as a NUC has a comparable speed to the NUC. The reason is that NUCs have much better cooling. In the recent NUCs, the CPU can dissipate 35 W indefinitely, without overheating, even if the CPUs have a nominal TDP of only 28 W.

Because of this I have stopped upgrading my Dell Precision mobile workstation and I have replaced it with a NUC together with a 17" portable monitor and a compact keyboard. This combo has less than half the price of a comparable mobile workstation, it is much lighter, by more than 1 kg than a 17" laptop, it needs less volume in my backpack, and because it has more peripheral ports I carry less dongles.

I have always used my laptop on a desk, connected to the mains power, wherever I have to go in a business trip, so using a NUC changes nothing from this POV.

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#106

Post by toast0 »

DesiLurker wrote: post #44

I call BS on them being not good market fit, Apple does totally fine with mac mini. also these are just laptops w/o screen and battery. IMO the real reason may be worries around minipcs finally getting good enough that they may cannibalize higher margin PC market. BTW there are other vendors like Beelink that make semi decent tiny computers and I have one of those as my teenage kids pc,works just fine.

Do we need Intel to release these, or can they just sell the chips to integrators like they do with other desktops and laptops?

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#107

Post by willcipriano »

answiftydev wrote: post #77
DesiLurker wrote: post #44

I call BS on them being not good market fit, Apple does totally fine with mac mini. also these are just laptops w/o screen and battery. IMO the real reason may be worries around minipcs finally getting good enough that they may cannibalize higher margin PC market. BTW there are other vendors like Beelink that make semi decent tiny computers and I have one of those as my teenage kids pc,works just fine.

I would bet the majority of Mac minis sold are used as ci/cd servers for iOS and Mac development. I would also bet the Mac mini is the third lowest selling Mac with the Mac ultra and Mac Pro being the least.

I'd take that bet

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#108

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

jwells89 wrote: post #65
thefounder wrote: post #12

The price was an issue. Not being fanless was another issue. So mac mini is the "best nuc" available.

Depending on situation, the way NUCs typically needed external power bricks also made them less attractive. Mac minis aren't as small no, but the size difference for having the PSU be internal is minimal and it eases power strip woes.

Price aside, the power brick was always a huge annoyance that kept me from getting one. Now that usbc gan chargers can hit 100W, I keep hoping for a mini pc option that runs a ~65W class CPU with integrated GPU on a non proprietary charger.

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#109

Post by klardotsh »

petercooper wrote: post #82

I've always been a fan and have owned a few, but this market is being absolutely flooded with options right now, so I'm not surprised. ETA PRIME is a good YouTube account to follow if you're interested in such things as he seems to review a different mini PC each week (in between all the handheld PCs and SBCs).

I will caution against ETA PRIME. Dude never has a single negative word to say about anything, his channel amounts to a marketing department for Beelink/Minisforum/etc.

His GTR6 review (I own one of these machines) didn't talk much or at all about the notorious noise or stuttering problems that plague this machine, for example. I have little reason to trust many of his other reviews in light of that - he puts reviews out quickly before the device hits the market, which is certainly a niche (no real competition to his reviews), but then the devices come out and it's a grab bag as to whether his experiences will match your own (the /r/minipcs subreddit had various accounts of this before I quit reddit)

Re: Intel exiting the PC business as it stops investment in the Intel NUC

#110

Post by wenc »

hiatus wrote: post #52
DesiLurker wrote: post #44

I call BS on them being not good market fit, Apple does totally fine with mac mini. also these are just laptops w/o screen and battery. IMO the real reason may be worries around minipcs finally getting good enough that they may cannibalize higher margin PC market. BTW there are other vendors like Beelink that make semi decent tiny computers and I have one of those as my teenage kids pc,works just fine.

> Apple does totally fine with mac mini How do you know this? I personally decided against a mini when I specced one out and a MBP wound up cheaper. The pricing strategy certainly made me _feel_ like they were pushing me away from the mini.

I always have 3 external displays so Mac Mini is my go to.

I haven’t owned a laptop in years. I travel with my iPad pro.

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