Check this out! Intel's new form-factor called NUC aka Ultrabox.

Parabola

Sorry if it has been posted before. Really innovative nevertheless.

http://techreport.com/review/23888/r...t-of-computing

sykozis · 12-15-2012, 16:32 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

Looks good. Prices range $299 to $329. Add an mSATA harddrive, memory and wireless adapter....you're looking at upwards of $600 total price. Bit much for an SFF system, imho.

PhazeDelta1 · 12-15-2012, 16:43 | posts: 9,321 | Location: 90° N

So is this supposed to be some sort of HTPC in an ultra small form factor?

sykozis · 12-15-2012, 16:49 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

Mini computer. 4" x 4" case with an embedded i3 3217U clocked at 1.8ghz.

Newegg, Amazon and other etailers are already selling them and $299 to $329.

Mannerheim · 12-15-2012, 16:50 | posts: 4,480 | Location: Finland / Helsinki

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhazeDelta1

So is this supposed to be some sort of HTPC in an ultra small form factor?

Only if ur pirate all movies... No DVD/BD...

sykozis · 12-15-2012, 16:52 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

You can buy external optical drives....

Parabola · 12-15-2012, 16:55 | posts: 282 | Location: Northern India

Quote:

Originally Posted by sykozis

Mini computer. 4" x 4" case with an embedded i3 3217U clocked at 1.8ghz.

Newegg, Amazon and other etailers are already selling them and $299 to $329.

It'll get cheaper eventually. They always do. Although i agree that as of now, it only worth discussing. Definitely not worth purchasing. Lol.

sykozis · 12-15-2012, 17:13 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

Need mSATA harddrive prices to come down, as well as the NUC itself...

$199 for Crucial M4 256GB mSATA harddrive is too high. $125-150 would be easier to swallow. Thinking $225-250 on the NUC itself. You also have to buy a power cord for it....which is a detractor for a lot of people.

Rich_Guy · 12-15-2012, 17:39 | posts: 6,679 | Location: UK

but can it run Crysis ?

Someone had to do it, sorry

lehtv · 12-15-2012, 17:45 | posts: 3,087

Quote:

Originally Posted by sykozis

Looks good. Prices range $299 to $329. Add an mSATA harddrive, memory and wireless adapter....you're looking at upwards of $600 total price. Bit much for an SFF system, imho.

$300 base
$18.50 1x4Gb memory
$70 Crucial M4 64GB msata
$35 wireless adapter

= $423.50

Only if you want a bigger SSD, 8GB memory and an external hard drive do you get anywhere near $600

sykozis · 12-15-2012, 18:43 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

Hope you don't plan on doing much with that..... Personally, I like to actually be able to use my computer.

64GB is fine if all you're going to do is browse the web.....but if you store music, movies, pictures, software, etc on your computer....you'll need quite a bit more than 64GB...

dark_surge · 12-15-2012, 18:56 | posts: 604 | Location: ND - US

That's actually pretty neat looking, but yeah it'd be most useful for the general consumer as an internet box and/or movie player (with external Bluray drive, of course).

My dad has been wanting to get into computers so something like this would be good for him I think. There are just enough ports to be functional, yet not enough to the point where it confuses him like with a regular PC.

Thanks for the link! I think I may have found him a Christmas present now.

Chouji · 12-15-2012, 19:48 | posts: 5,564 | Location: In a house, on a hill, by a road.

I love it. Only problem i see, is no USB 3.0
I think if it had USB 3.0 it would be a whole different story, as we could use higher speed external harddrives.
64GB is enough for the US and programs, but not enough there in the way of storage.
Even if you goto 128 or 256GB internal, you're still looking at the same problem, not really suitable for storage.
An external USB 3.0 drive would have been the deal maker here, put a 1TB 2.5" drive in an enclosure and you'd be set.

All said, this will still work great if you have a NAS as your main data/movie storage that can be accessed with wifi.
I want one. Just not at those prices. Maybe if it was $150ish

Parabola · 12-15-2012, 20:09 | posts: 282 | Location: Northern India

everyone is talking about storage. No one is mentioning cpu power. Its a bit low imo. Even smart phones are nearing the 1.8 mark. My bro has htc one s@1.7ghz cpu. Also it will run windows. Means it will be really slow, unless someone decides to use linux.

Matt26LFC · 12-15-2012, 20:10 | posts: 2,282 | Location: UK

I like this, can see this going in my bedroom to stream movies when I get a NAS box built. By the time I get that done though, Haswell will be around and an even better onboard GPU will be available so perhaps even a little light gaming will be good at 1080p on it.

StewieTech · 12-15-2012, 20:35 | posts: 655 | Location: Portugal

Japan will love this thing.

scatman839 · 12-15-2012, 21:39 | posts: 8,740 | Location: Dundee, Scotland

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_Guy

but can it run Crysis ?

Someone had to do it, sorry

Yep, of course.

Couldn't you just buy a similarly spec'd small form (11-13) laptop for around the same price though? Of course it's slightly bigger, but more useful?

quaker3 · 12-15-2012, 22:31 | posts: 561

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_Guy

but can it run Crysis ?

Someone had to do it, sorry

it could compete with home consoles if it could

sykozis · 12-15-2012, 23:09 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parabola

everyone is talking about storage. No one is mentioning cpu power. Its a bit low imo. Even smart phones are nearing the 1.8 mark. My bro has htc one s@1.7ghz cpu. Also it will run windows. Means it will be really slow, unless someone decides to use linux.

This isn't meant to be a power house. You also forget that operating frequency is a rather negligible measure of performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scatman839

Yep, of course.

Couldn't you just buy a similarly spec'd small form (11-13) laptop for around the same price though? Of course it's slightly bigger, but more useful?

laptops aren't targeted at the same market.... This thing is intended to be connected to a TV.....thus, HTPC. A laptop would be out of place in such an application.

anticupidon · 12-15-2012, 23:18 | posts: 1,667 | Location: far,far from home

If the price falls below 200 ish mark,it is a deal.

scatman839 · 12-16-2012, 00:28 | posts: 8,740 | Location: Dundee, Scotland

Quote:

Originally Posted by sykozis

laptops aren't targeted at the same market.... This thing is intended to be connected to a TV.....thus, HTPC. A laptop would be out of place in such an application.

Sure, but just connect the laptop to the tv and it's essentially the same? But with a few extras, ie, a backup screen keyboard and mouse.

Denial · 12-16-2012, 01:26 | posts: 6,348 | Location: Above Earth in a Big Rocket Ship

Quote:

Originally Posted by scatman839

Sure, but just connect the laptop to the tv and it's essentially the same? But with a few extras, ie, a backup screen keyboard and mouse.

Do they sell i3 laptops with the HD4000 in them for that price? I'm not being sarcastic I'm curious, because i think that's why this is a better buy for HTPC. The HD4000 is pretty rad for streaming everythign all the way to 4k

Chouji · 12-16-2012, 02:27 | posts: 5,564 | Location: In a house, on a hill, by a road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parabola

everyone is talking about storage. No one is mentioning cpu power. Its a bit low imo. Even smart phones are nearing the 1.8 mark. My bro has htc one s@1.7ghz cpu. Also it will run windows. Means it will be really slow, unless someone decides to use linux.

Smartphone CPU's and this one aren't in the same ball park.
You're looking at the GHZ, but forgetting a few major details. Smartphones are built on the arm CPUs. Apples and oranges here.

This ultrabox, with it's current specs, would be able to play a lot of modern games, that if were ported to android would simply crawl.

I don't play WoW, but it was one of the games that came to mind, as well as many other MMOs.

When i saw it, i was wondering if these specs would be good enough for modern emulators.. It'll be able to do all the older emu's no problem, probably even the n64 emus flawlessly.
All i know, is i want one of these things, if only to mess around with it.

PS it looks like the perfect size for a carputer.

sykozis · 12-16-2012, 02:46 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chouji

PS it looks like the perfect size for a carputer.

I thought the same thing....lol

Chouji · 12-16-2012, 04:54 | posts: 5,564 | Location: In a house, on a hill, by a road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sykozis

I thought the same thing....lol

I seem to go on about carputers more than most. But i've been using one for a long time, first i started with an old laptop without an LCD, using an IDE to compactflash adapter for the harddrive.

Then i upgraded to a mini-ITX which was a big boost, but was still slow, at a single core intel atom.

Now a Core i3, looks like a really nice boost.