Intel's NUC Mini PC with Bay Trail Now Available
It's a hand-sized HTPC with "Bay Trail-M."
Intel is going after home theater PC (HTPC) and personal cloud builders with the launch of its new third-generation Next Unit of Computing (NUC) PC kit.
Based on Intel's Bay Trail-M architecture, this hand-sized device packs a dual-core Intel Celeron N2820 chip clocked at 2.4 GHz. This chip also has a TDP (thermal design power) of 7.5 watts, meaning less energy burned and possibly more money in your pocket.
"HDMI video, an infrared sensor port, and internal 2.5-inch drive support will allow you to drive your home entertainment experience from the 4x4 form factor, so you can create a digital media center or personal cloud for your media files that fits in the palm of your hand," reads the product description.
According to the specs, this mini-PC provides one DDR3 SODIMM slot for up to 8 GB of memory, internal SATA 3 support for a 2.5-inch SSD or HDD, Gigabit Ethernet and Wireless N networking, Bluetooth 4.0, and support for Intel's Wireless Display technology.
As for the I/O, this mini-PC provides one USB 3.0 port and the IR sensor on the front. On the back are two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, and the headphone/microphone combo jack. The box is capable of up to 7.1 surround audio through the HDMI interface.
All of this is served up in a silver aluminum box with a diamond cut around the black top.
"This Intel NUC introduces the foundation for a new boot management capability that lets you choose the operating systems that work best for you via a user-friendly interface," reads the product description.
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This latest NUC follows Intel's third-generation "Haswell" based mini-PCs, the second-generation "Ivy Bridge" models and the first-generation "Sandy Bridge" model.
For more information about the new "Bay Trail-M" NUC, head here. Pricing starts at a mere $128.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that this Bay Trail M-based mini PC unit is fanless when in fact it does have an active heatsink. This error has been corrected.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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zaho0006 Not sure that its fanless, also seems like this lost the msata slot from the other nucs. Would have loved a passively cooled version with an ssd/hdd combo, but that being said $100 with built in comms its still quite nice.Reply -
peterf28 Intel integrated graphics have serious issues when connecte d to some LCD TVs. It is a long known issue, I dont know why this is not mentioned more often. Just google for it. NotReply -
JOSHSKORN Sounds like a nice idea when it'll work. It'd be nice if they could also have a slot for a CableCard so we can do away with DVRs.Reply -
teh_chem Pricing starts at $128? I can't find this anywhere at the source, not even in their product brief, and it's a very doubtful value since Intel's batch pricing for the Celeron N2820 is $107 for the CPU alone--I can't imagine an integrated board would only add $19...Reply -
WithoutWeakness I have an old Intel 320 series SSD and a spare 4GB SODIMM that would fit nicely in one of these. For $130 I'm curious how well it will run as a Steam streaming receiver. I was looking at a Gigabyte Brix to run as a stream receiver for my TV but if this can handle decoding the stream smoothly I may grab one of these instead. GbE, HDMI, fanless operation, and a sub-$130 pricetag sounds like a perfect combo if the performance is up to snuff.Reply -
techguy911 I have my own computer store i can't source these nobody has any stock on this asked 3 suppliers.For a HTPC i bought the lenovo q190 with multimedia remote w/back light has 500g hard drive and running xbmc has same stats but has usb 3's and a card reader has windows 8 installed.It is VERY responsive and quick the remote is fantastic best remote i have seen to date.I set it to boot right into xbmc loads in a blink of an eye, i also have a haupage usb digital tv tuner.Reply