The specifications for Intel's NUC 11 Essential (Atlas Canyon) device have emerged, courtesy of FanlessTech. The upcoming NUC utilizes the chipmaker's 10nm low-powered Jasper Lake processors.
Armed with Tremont cores, Jasper Lake checks in with thermal limits between 6W and 10W, so it doesn't require any serious cooling. The NUC 11 Essential will be available with three different processor options. The Pentium Silver J6005 and Celeron J5105 are quad-core parts, while the Celeron J4505 is a dual-core chip. Neither processor leverages Hyper-Threading technology.
Intel outfitted the NUC 11 Essential with two SO-DIMM memory slots so you can pair either Jasper Lake processor with up to 16GB of DDR4-2933 memory at 1.2V. Some select models will come equipped with 64GB of eMMC storage, but the NUC 11 Essential offers a single M.2 2280 slot for housing NVMe and SATA drives.
As FanlessTech has noted, this is the first time that an entry-level NUC is arriving with a M.2 slot as opposed previous designs with spacing for a 2.5-inch drive. This helps trim down the size of the NUC as the NUC 11 Essential has a 135x115x36mm footprint.
The NUC 11 Essential lands with one HDMI 2.0b port and one DisplayPort 1.4 output. Both connectors support HDCP 2.2 as well as 4K monitors, so you can connect up to two 4K displays to the NUC 11 Essential. You'll still be limited by Jasper Lake's Intel UHD graphics engine. The iGPU is an abysmal gaming performer, but should be sufficient for conventional workloads.
The NUC 11 Essential only has a single Gigabit Ethernet port. If you're a wireless aficionado, however, you can take advantage of the speedy Wi-Fi 6 AX101 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity on the NUC. There are two 3.5mm audio connectors on the front of the device. The NUC 11 Essential supports 7.1-audio through the HDMI port.
Don't let the NUC 11 Essential's small body fool you. The device offers enough connectivity options to be your daily driver. There are two front USB 3.1 ports, two rear USB 3.1 ports, and two rear USB 2.0 ports. The NUC sips power through a standard 19VDC 65W power supply.
Intel backs the NUC 11 Essential with a limited three-year warranty. There was no mention of pricing. According to FanlessTech, the NUC won't arrive until the first quarter of next year.
