Check out Intel's upcoming Chaco Canyon, a fanless 6W NUC

[midian182]

In brief: Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC) PCs are great options for anyone who wants a computer with a tiny footprint. Its next NUC, the unannounced NUC8CHK “Chaco Canyon,” which Intel is calling NUC 8 Rugged, has the added advantage of being fanless.

Unlike Skull Canyon and Hades Canyon, Chaco Canyon isn’t aimed at gamers. Its processor is a Celeron N3350 dual-core (Apollo Lake) CPU, which has a base frequency of 1.10 GHz and a burst of 2.4 GHz. Thanks to its 6W TDP, a fanless cooling solution can be used.

The NUC 8 Rugged also comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, both of which are soldered in place, so no upgrading them. You can, however, expand the storage using the M.2 2280 Key-M slot with an M.2 PCIe x4 NVMe or SATA SSD.

Ports and connectivity options include Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), Bluetooth 4.2, USB 3.0 and 2.0, HDMI 1.4 and 2.0, and a headphone jack.

Graphics-wise, the NUC uses the Celeron N3350’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 500. While this should be enough for most expected use cases, such as in retail environments or as a home media player, it’s not going to run Metro Exodus very well.

You can take a closer look at the NUC 8 Rugged in the video below, which comes from the YouTube account of Simply NUC.

No official word yet from Intel on the NUC 8 Rugged, though the chipset drivers are available to download, so expect an announcement soon. As for the price, Tom’s Hardware notes that TigerDirect has the NUC listed for $247.99.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81823-check-out-intel-upcoming-chaco-canyon-fanless-6w.html

 

[VitalyT]

What is it good for? The CPU is so weak, it won't play a 4K file properly, and even will fail to render 4K YouTube videos. So it cannot be used as a media PC, especially with that tiny drive. It is not for gamers, and clearly not for professional work. This leaves us with what - to open MS Word once in a while? Or maybe put Apache on it, and use as a home web server, to serve static pages, since it won't handle anything dynamic well, like a database server.

Speaking of NUC-s. The proper Intel NUC of the latest generation makes for an incredible good choice as a home-use database server, which I personally tested. With top-spec i7, 32GB of DDR4, 2TB M.2, it is one hell of a database server that I can run at home, for under $1500. I have PostgreSQL v11 on such a machine, and it is flying, running large PostGIS calculations. That was money well spent. But those $247 is a dubious proposition, seems like a complete waste of money.

 

[Dimitrios]

DOA unless schools use them or some other kind of business that needs to save space, low power consumption.

My 4K Firestick for $30 on sale is a better deal that this thing for $247 lol!

 

[bluetooth fairy]

This is actually not for end-users:

The Simply NUC8CCHKR delivers cost-efficient Intel-level performance, perfect for basic 4K digital signage or as a desktop replacement. This tiny but mighty NUC can be used to drive digital signs that showcase menus or display corporate information, or for productivity apps that help get business done. Primarily for single application usage such as web browsing, digital signage, KIOSK, the Intel® Celeron® processor can even run Office applications.

 

[netman]

The reviewer was thorough however he did not mention HTPC application of this NUC!

 

[YourLocalGP]

What is it good for? The CPU is so weak, it won't play a 4K file properly, and even will fail to render 4K YouTube videos.

The N3350 in Apollo Lake It will run 4K 60fps video so I don't see why this would not. Although being AL it might still require the LSPCON.

None of your scenarios are the target market: Chaco Canyon is designed at the headless playback market: Digital billboards, interactive kiosks, etc. Low power consumption is the appealing factor, as it means a 24/7 fanless design without expensive radiators and mounting restrictions.