Intel Exiting the PC Business

[jlbenedict]

Ouch... previously the server market.. now the PC market.

Loved those NUC's, as my lab consists of three i5 based NUCs in a vSphere cluster

Source: ServeTheHome
https://www.servethehome.com/intel-exiting-the-pc-business-as-it-stops-investment-in-the-intel-nuc/

“Intel has decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) product line…”

 

[UnknownSouljer]

That is a shame. I considered those machines some of the few machines on the PC side really worth buying. Specifically referring to the Extreme variants of course.
Oh well, things they likely must do to focus on things that are actually profitable.

 

[kirbyrj]

I always liked the NUC line. Unfortunately, it's been usurped by Chinese shit brands like minisforum, Beelink, etc. that gives you a product that may or may not work with little to no support over the lifetime of the product.

 

[staknhalo]

Still looking for all corners to cut I see. Wonder what/if they'll cut next? Doing this before earnings suggest things still not and won't be looking great anytime soon.

Shame though, NUCs are (were) cool. Made good secondary HTPCs for a lot of people (if you didn't need to worry about CableCard DRM or just didn't want/care for a proper WMC Extender).

 

[cjcox]

In related news, Apple has announced plans to strictly be an edible fruit. This has sent shockwaves throughout the industry. Apple Macintosh will now be known as Macintosh Apple (again).

 

[HeadRusch]

Unsurprising, considering the NUC is like a behemoth compared to many of the Win11 based Micro PC's being hocked on Amazon and AliExpress nowadays....

 

[[Spectre]]

I always liked the NUC line. Unfortunately, it's been usurped by Chinese shit brands like minisforum, Beelink, etc. that gives you a product that may or may not work with little to no support over the lifetime of the product.

HP's Elitedesk Mini's have been WAY better products since inception.

 

[Sycraft]

HP's Elitedesk Mini's have been WAY better products since inception.

Dell's Optiplex Micro as well. Not 100% apples to apples but in general when the idea is "smol computer to do basic office shit" they are great, better than NUCs.

 

[GotNoRice]

It's hard for me to feel sorry about this. I hope that they will continue to focus on the stuff that actually matters, such as designing great CPUs.

 

[KazeoHin]

Every NUC I've had suffered from sleep-state issues where you'd need to fully hard-pull the power every once in a while in order to get them to exit their sleep state.

Multiple units, multiple generations.. In environments where Lenovo and HP machines perform the same tasks without having said issue...

 

[UnknownSouljer]

HP's Elitedesk Mini's have been WAY better products since inception.

I don’t know any thing about HP’s product stack. But you’re saying HP makes something better than the NUC Extreme? Because that’s specifically what I’m interested in. Though minisforum is potentially going to have minipc’s with 1x PCIE slot and expandable NVME. And that may be the way I end up going.

 

[travm]

I don’t know any thing about HP’s product stack. But you’re saying HP makes something better than the NUC Extreme? Because that’s specifically what I’m interested in. Though minisforum is potentially going to have minipc’s with 1x PCIE slot and expandable NVME. And that may be the way I end up going.

I think the point here is that people who want that kind of performance, buy from builders, or build their own. The NUC extreme doesnt actually bring anything you cant already just do yourself. Unless Intel wants to try to compete on price, which clearly they dont want to. Its hard, and you get paid less. You only do that when you're struggling to pay for food. Not when you're the market leader in several other segments. Also let china compete on price. They always win that game, just make sure you always win the "well if you want it to work well, and for a long time" game.

 

[[Spectre]]

I don’t know any thing about HP’s product stack. But you’re saying HP makes something better than the NUC Extreme? Because that’s specifically what I’m interested in. Though minisforum is potentially going to have minipc’s with 1x PCIE slot and expandable NVME. And that may be the way I end up going.

Yes.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

I think the point here is that people who want that kind of performance, buy from builders, or build their own. The NUC extreme doesnt actually bring anything you cant already just do yourself. Unless Intel wants to try to compete on price, which clearly they dont want to. Its hard, and you get paid less. You only do that when you're struggling to pay for food. Not when you're the market leader in several other segments. Also let china compete on price. They always win that game, just make sure you always win the "well if you want it to work well, and for a long time" game.

The NUC extreme is a special computer that I realize most PC heads don’t appreciate. Because it’s a 100% custom built machine that was designed to be in a compact space but support top end hardware and top built ins. The custom cooling and being near silent also are part of the appeal.

Dare I say it was/is the only competition to an Apple product. And I realize most PC users wouldn’t want to invite that comparison or care about completely custom built components. But that sort of build is precisely what I think is worth paying for. Any ITX machine is larger than the NUC12 extreme.

 

[travm]

The NUC extreme is a special computer that I realize most PC heads don’t appreciate. Because it’s a 100% custom built machine that was designed to be in a compact space but support top end hardware and top built ins. The custom cooling and being near silent also are part of the appeal.

Dare I say it was/is the only competition to an Apple product. And I realize most PC users wouldn’t want to invite that comparison or care about completely custom built components. But that sort of build is precisely what I think is worth paying for. Any ITX machine is larger than the NUC12 extreme.

This is reasonable. But I can get 99% of the way there with a Dan A4 or comparable and then whatever hardware I want.
But you are right, my default position is fuck Apple, and I'd rather have enough room in my case to drop my impact driver and have it not actually hit anything.
I'd really like to see APUs be available for socketed motherboards with real GPU power, but that's not a topic for this thread.
Based on what you're saying I would expand my original comment to include the tiny market that values maximum performance from maximum small. It's just not enough cash to justify the effort.

 

[[Spectre]]

The NUC extreme is a special computer that I realize most PC heads don’t appreciate. Because it’s a 100% custom built machine that was designed to be in a compact space but support top end hardware and top built ins.

Dare I say it was/is the only competition to an Apple product. And I realize most PC users wouldn’t want to invite that comparison or care about completely custom built components. But that sort of build is precisely what I think is worth paying for. Any ITX machine is larger than the NUC12 extreme.

The HP Mini's are smaller and support the same(ish) to better hardware other than GPU's...which in this formfactor you really aren't using.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

This is reasonable. But I can get 99% of the way there with a Dan A4 or comparable and then whatever hardware I want.
But you are right, my default position is fuck Apple, and I'd rather have enough room in my case to drop my impact driver and have it not actually hit anything.
I'd really like to see APUs be available for socketed motherboards with real GPU power, but that's not a topic for this thread.
Based on what you're saying I would expand my original comment to include the tiny market that values maximum performance from maximum small. It's just not enough cash to justify the effort.

Smallest and most quiet. While still featuring top tier hardware.

And I suppose there is where you divert from people who have an interest in design. Which is fine. To each their own.

The HP Mini's are smaller and support the same(ish) to better hardware other than GPU's...which in this formfactor you really aren't using.

I would disagree with that. The point for me is to have a workstation machine in <2lieters of size. There are a limited number of ITX cases in sandwich configuration that can get close. But none of them were as purpose built as NUC Extreme with custom sized PCB, cooling, and power supply.

Like I mentioned before though, minisforum is supposed to grant my wish by years end anyway, so it may not matter. Though the form factor is again ITX and not as svelt as NUC.

 

[M76]

I always liked the idea of these Intel NUCs, but then I checked the price and came back down to the ground. So I always built my own small PC instead. I might be missing out on some features and maybe have a bit larger footprint, but I really couldn't justify the price.

 

[staknhalo]

I always liked the idea of these Intel NUCs, but then I checked the price and came back down to the ground. So I always built my own small PC instead. I might be missing out on some features and maybe have a bit larger footprint, but I really couldn't justify the price.

Same. I'd rather build than buy OEM 99.999% of the time. ITX case and mobo with embedded CPU and low profile GPU and 2.5 HDD and/or SDD and TFX PSU is still as big as it's gonna get, cover all of my use cases for a system like that, and still small enough to hide/stash/leave anywhere and still low low power/good performance options there. But for me something like this is gonna be either a NAS/server and/or HTPC.

However in home lab situations where size becomes much more substantial and you're stacking, things like this (NUCs/liter PCs) work better than building IMO.