Intel Crimson Canyon NUC Mini PCs Announced With 10nm Cannon Lake CPUs
Intel's Crimson Canyon NUC mini PCs are available in two configurations: NUC8i3CYSM and NUC8i3CYSN. The former comes with 8GB of LPDDR4-2666 memory, while the latter is equipped with just 4GB. Both systems use Intel's Core i3-8121U processor, which is from the 10nm Cannon Lake family. The processor only has two cores, but is HyperThreading-enabled. It has a base clock of 2.2GHz and a max turbo frequency of 3.2GHz to go along with a 15W TDP.
It should be noted that the i3-8121U has its integrated GPU disabled, so the NUC comes equipped with a 2GB AMD Radeon RX 540 GPU onboard. If you recall, this was also the case with the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 that was released earlier this year. Word on the street is that the Intel has been having trouble with defective GPUs on its early Cannon Lake parts, which would explain the relatively odd decision of using a dedicated GPU with such a low-power processor. It would also explain why a full-scale rollout of 10nm processors won't occur until late 2019.
Both Crimson Canyon NUCs come equipped with a 1TB SATA SSD, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 (which is handled by Intel’s Wireless-AC 9560 CNVi), dual HDMI 2.0a ports, four USB 3.0 ports and come with Windows 10 Home preinstalled.
Intel says that both Crimson Canyon NUCs will be available in September, but pricing hasn't been announced at this time. However, pre-order information from SimplyNUC suggests prices of $529 and $574 for the 4GB and 8GB variants.
In other NUC news, Intel has introduced a gaggle of NUC kits, which require that you install your own memory, SSD and operating system. These systems are available with 8th generation Coffee Lake processors covering the Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 product families. Systems with the Core i3-8109U and Core i5-8259U will cost you $299 and $399 respectively, while opting for the Core-i7 8559U will set you back $499.
