Intel's "Next Unit of Computing" (NUC) makes an appearance at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2012-- a red 10cm x 10cm box carrying a new board format and a fairly low price.
We all know compact PCs (such as the Via Pico ITX) are nothing new, but Intel pushes the smaller form factor futher. NUC carries a mobile Core i3 Ivy Bridge CPU, QS77 chipset (with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics), x2 dual-channel DDR3 SoDIMM slots, mSATA and mini-PCIe interfaces, all within a dimunitive motherboard and cooling assembly.
Intel claims the 10x10cm format is the smallest capable of supporting Ivy Bridge CPUs with supporting core logic and expansion.
Ports include x5 USB 2.0 (x2 back, x1 front, x2 internal), HDMI and Thunderbolt, while power comes through an external 19V DC power supply. The casing on show even has VESA mounts for easy wall mounting or attachment to LCD displays.
IDF 2012 houses 2 flavours of NUC-- one with a single HDMI connector, the other with x2 HDMI outputs and an additional ethernet port.
We have no no details of the eventual NUC consumer release, but OEMs can get kits from October 2012 for $400.
