Next Unit of Computing (for the RasPi fans)

[godefroi]

[quote]Details of a new, ultra-compact computer form factor from Intel, called the Next Unit of Computing (NUC) are starting to emerge.

First demonstrated at PAX East at the beginning of April, and Intels Platinum Summit in London last week, NUC is a complete 10x10cm (4x4in) Sandy Bridge Core i3/i5 computer. On the back, there are Thunderbolt, HDMI, and USB 3.0 ports. On the motherboard itself (pictured below) there are two SO-DIMM (laptop) memory slots and two mini PCIe headers. On the flip side of the motherboard (pictured below-below), is a CPU socket that takes most mobile Core i3 and i5 processors, and a heatsink and fan assembly.[/quote]

Watch out, Raspberry Pi: Intel unveils ultra-small Next Unit of Computing PC

Price-wise, it’s unlikely that the NUC will approach the $25 Raspberry Pi, but an Intel employee has said that the price will ‘not be in the hundreds and thousands range.’ A price point around $100 would be reasonable, and would make the NUC an ideal HTPC or learning/educational PC. The NUC is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2012.

A Core i3/i5 in a 4x4 package? Yikes, this is REAL computing muscle, here.

[WouterH]

I was actually waiting for a Intel variant of the RasPi. I might keep an eye on this one. Thanks for sharing.

[godefroi]

This’ll be much more expensive than the RasPi, but on the other hand, it’s not a cellphone CPU…

[Farsa]

I wonder if thunderbolt technology will allow creating networks…a rack of those NUCs sound like a cheap and powerful cluster to me HMMM

[godefroi]

Does Infiniband have Mini-PCI cards?

[mhectorgato]

This might make a nice mate to micros like FEZes.

(Granted I’m not a typical robot builder, just a home hobbyist, so my opinion might not equate to the real world.)

A “simple” example might be a bot that tracks objects – perhaps a quad copter that could follow a specific object, such as a car (just a random example taken from the current de-militarization of Drones).

In such a device, the NUC could do things like object tracking and image processing for FEZ bot. The ESC, PID, image gathering, etc could be done with the FEZ. These 2 device could communicate via USB.

Not sure how much run-time the NUC could get with a LiPo battery though.Maybe if Intel released ULV versions as well, it might be more feasible.

[ianlee74]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a board with so little green mask visible