Intel Soon Shipping Fanless "Bay Trail" NUC Mini PC

[exfileme]

Intel's mini PC will start shipping towards the end of the month.

Intel Soon Shipping Fanless "Bay Trail" NUC Mini PC : Read more

 

[iceman26]

now i think this will be a good build as a download machine only but i hope the price will be good too

 

[jasonelmore]

The idea is to have one big PC somewhere in the same building with lots of cores and ram and then run these "thin" clients in each room, allocating each with 2 cores and 4GB of ram. You could run 4-6 workstations off the main server, instead of buying full fledged workstations for each user. Very cost effective. I'm really glad to see gigabit ethernet, because that's gonna really make image quality good.

 

[joraph]

This is a very good & i hope Intel won't kill with a very high price..

 

[agnickolov]

Running centralized workstations with thin clients is not necessarily cheaper on the hardware (quite the opposite usually). It's cheaper on maintenance (TCO) however, as well as far easier to secure.

 

[delazaren]

The idea is to have one big PC somewhere in the same building with lots of cores and ram and then run these "thin" clients in each room, allocating each with 2 cores and 4GB of ram. You could run 4-6 workstations off the main server, instead of buying full fledged workstations for each user. Very cost effective. I'm really glad to see gigabit ethernet, because that's gonna really make image quality good.

 

[delazaren]

How would you use these as thin clients? Would you connect for example to a windows server using remote desktop?

p.s. cannot believe that I cannot delete my own comments, anyway...

 

[Pherule]

"Atom" "Powerhouse" - yeah nah

 

[InvalidError]

The idea is to have one big PC somewhere in the same building with lots of cores and ram and then run these "thin" clients in each room, allocating each with 2 cores and 4GB of ram. You could run 4-6 workstations off the main server, instead of buying full fledged workstations for each user.

What does the average non-gamer, non-professional would use anything remotely close to a workstation/server-class PC for? For about 80% of the people I know, the NUC would be perfectly suitable as a PC replacement as-is.

 

[Guest]

What does the average non-gamer, non-professional would use anything remotely close to a workstation/server-class PC for? For about 80% of the people I know, the NUC would be perfectly suitable as a PC replacement as-is.

as long as they don't watch youtube in fullscreen. i'm all for adequate, non-overpowered systems, but a single-core atom leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[Haravikk]

This doesn't really seem powerful enough even as a thin-client. Personally I'd much rather build AM1 based systems for $200-300 and backing them with a much less expensive server. Even a basic dual core AM1 processor should handle office type tasks quite happily, and I really don't see a single-core NUC setup being used for much more, regardless of the server backing it.

 

[stevenrix]

I own 2 of these boxes (the Intel DN2820FYKH) which is really similar to this model since it's a baytrail. I use them either as seedbox or HTPC, it has a high latency and these machines are very bad at multitasking. I like them for their low energy cost, until Intel is ready to release a NUC that works with solar energy.

 

[f-14]

this is what your pc could be like if windows 98 or XP were still supported. it's even faster than most of the pc's of those eras (60%)

this Intel NUC fits right at home .......... call centers, and other locations with a large installed base of VGA monitors.

most call centers i know of run 2-4 23" screens that are barely powered by 5 year old mobile laptops...this thing would only power 2 19" screens sluggishly at best i know an ODB that would instantly have this thing max core before full installation let alone integration... i don't see how it's going manage all of this while running a vpn as a thin client unit and do so adequately.

this would be a better product marketed towards home users for basic computing or 2nd/3rd world countries

 

[AngryCorgi]

Something is fishy. Max 8GB does not mesh with Intel's documentation for the CPU stating a maximum of 4GB.

 

[InvalidError]

Something is fishy. Max 8GB does not mesh with Intel's documentation for the CPU stating a maximum of 4GB.

Since all of Intel's other CPUs support 8GB DIMMs and only the two lowest-end Atom 38xx models have this odd 4GB limit, my guess it is an ARK database typo... but I cannot confirm with the datasheets since they appear to be missing from the Atom datasheet download page

Edit: found the datasheet located in the developers' resources instead of the Atom Family datasheet page...
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/bay-trail/atom-e3800-family-datasheet.html

P.268: 4GB max per rank so with a dual-rank (double-sided) module, you can get 8GB per channel.

 

[OptimusPavlos1]

"Powerhouse" made me laugh.

 

[AngryCorgi]

Something is fishy. Max 8GB does not mesh with Intel's documentation for the CPU stating a maximum of 4GB.

Since all of Intel's other CPUs support 8GB DIMMs and only the two lowest-end Atom 38xx models have this odd 4GB limit, my guess it is an ARK database typo... but I cannot confirm with the datasheets since they appear to be missing from the Atom datasheet download page

Edit: found the datasheet located in the developers' resources instead of the Atom Family datasheet page...
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/bay-trail/atom-e3800-family-datasheet.html

P.268: 4GB max per rank so with a dual-rank (double-sided) module, you can get 8GB per channel.

Nice research job!

 

[Wisecracker]

This, apparently, is the next iteration of a updated "Minnowboard" - Bay Trail (Fail) version for Debian 'Nix and Android (think Raspberry Pi in a fancy package).

The original Minnowboard was $200 and the new version -a decent upgrade over the original- will (reportedly) be $100 - each without the fancy cabinet.

It's hard to see any competition from the Minnows for goodies like the ZBox Nanos -- especially the Kabini/Temash versions.

 

[genz]

This doesn't really seem powerful enough even as a thin-client. Personally I'd much rather build AM1 based systems for $200-300 and backing them with a much less expensive server. Even a basic dual core AM1 processor should handle office type tasks quite happily, and I really don't see a single-core NUC setup being used for much more, regardless of the server backing it.

Yes, but that system will use around 1/2 to 1/5 the power. If you are in a situation where you need large availability, but not all clients will likely be used at once (like say a school for example, when the classes are full, the library is empty, and not all classes are actually using their computers all the time) then the thinner and more power efficient the client the more money that can be spent on a fat host.