Mini PCs have a devoted following. Depend me amongst them! When information got here that Intel was handing over the reins of its NUC (Subsequent Unit of Computing) enterprise to Asus, I used to be undoubtedly intrigued by the chances. Customers aren’t the one marketplace for NUCs although, as Asus is courting industrial and enterprise purchasers with customized NUC gadgets designed for all kinds of use circumstances.
The Register spoke with Asus senior vp Jacky Hsu, who outlined plans Asus has to develop customized machines for numerous industrial prospects. This consists of embedded, industrial and software particular use circumstances throughout such various roles as digital signage, point-of-sale, cloud, AI or warehouse and manufacturing facility purposes, every of which have their very own environmental issues.
After we consider NUCs, we’d consider a cuboid fashion machine or massive e-book sized type components. Asus is planning to shake that up a bit, with numerous type components designed for various use circumstances. It’s going to do that by designing customized options with completely different I/O issues and motherboards to create NUCs that match into a particular space.
The customized I/O half is attention-grabbing. One can think about Asus designing NUCs with completely different Ethernet requirements, SFP connections, D-SUB, Serial, DIN or some other sort of connection you may consider, relying on what’s required. If I needed 10,000 NUCs with FireWire connections, Asus may in all probability oblige.
Gaming NUCs have been round for a few years—together with this one with an Intel i9 13900K and RTX 3080 Ti. Asus hasn’t revealed concrete particulars on its plans for gaming NUCs, however KW Chao, the overall supervisor of Asus’s NUC enterprise unit, has stated ROG branded NUCs are into consideration.
With the information that Intel’s Meteor Lake household will not be coming to the DIY market, however possible is in some type of embedded, AIO or NUC options, a Meteor Lake ROG branded NUC sounds very attention-grabbing certainly.
Asus may theoretically take one of many larger tier Meteor Lake laptop computer chips, configure its TDP to higher go well with the NUC type issue and cook dinner up a gaming NUC with a excessive efficiency graphics card and a CPU that is comparatively near the efficiency of a desktop Raptor Lake chip. That’d offer you a really succesful tiny gaming rig with out the compromises (and noise) wanted to chill a 125W+ desktop CPU.
Add some RGB and growth! You’ve got received a really marketable little pc with efficiency that leaves consoles within the mud, probably in an excellent smaller type issue. Asus would not be the primary to promote excessive efficiency mini-PCs. MSI’s Trident PCs spring to thoughts, however there are few examples of pairing a laptop computer chip with a desktop class GPU.
It looks like the way forward for the NUC is in good arms with Asus. If sufficient huge purchasers soar aboard and the enterprise unit makes some good cash, then some ROG NUCs ought to come quickly. I will be ready!
