After the recent arrival of the new Intel NUC 11 with Tiger Lake at the end of the year, everything indicated that CES 2021 would be the scene of a new expansion for this family of mini PCs, now updated to equip the new 11th generation Intel Core Tiger Lake-U processors.
Emerging with its usual procedure, we thus find three differentiated models oriented towards three groups of users, with some equipment intended for performance, professionals or enthusiasts.
Intel NUC 11 Panther Canyon
With a 40 watt TDP for the system, this NUC is a much more energy efficient option than the Phantom Canyon for general purpose computing. Although the taller models should still be good enough for some light gaming, thanks to the use of some Intel Iris Xe graphics.
And is that the latest conventional NUC is available under three processor options Core i3-1115G4, Core i5-1135G7 and Core i7-1165G7plus two slim or tall profile sizes. Thus, if we choose the 5.5-centimeter (2.2-inch high) tall model, we can equip a 2.5-inch hard drive or SSD in addition to an M.2 SSD; while the model is reduced in size it will barely reach 3.8 centimeters (1.5 inches high), eliminating this bay for the inclusion of a hard drive.
Regarding the connectivity section, all the available options of the Intel NUC 11 Phanter Canyon will remain even, being able to find some HDMI 2.0a ports, Mini DisplayPort 1.4, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, four USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type A ports, a reader of SDXC cards and an Ethernet port.
Intel NUC 11 Pro Tiger Canyon
Presented as an identical model to the Panther Canyon, as its name suggests, we find a “Pro” model with superior features. And it is that this mini PC will be available under additional processor options that include The Core i5-1145G7 and Core i7-1185G7 with Intel vPro technology for hardware-based security and remote administration, among other things.
This model also has two HDMI 2.0b ports instead of HDMI + DisplayPort, but you can still connect up to four displays as the Thunderbolt 4 ports that can transmit signals DisplayPort resolution up to 7680 × 4320 (8K) @ 60Hz. In addition, on higher models, Intel also offers optional add-ons that can bring features like additional Ethernet and USB ports.
Intel NUC 11 Phantom Canyon
Introduced as a continuation of the Intel NUC Skull Canyon and Hades Canyon, we find the first Intel NUC 11 in this form factor that equips an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. A graphic that will be accompanied by a processor Core i7-1165G7, 2 SODIMM slots with support for up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 memory and two M.2 2280 slots for PCIe x4 SSD or Optane memory.
Unfortunately, Intel has yet to reveal the physical dimensions of the case, but as we can see from the size of its motherboard (approximately 20 x 14 cm), this new mini PC is most likely slightly larger than its predecessors.
The Phantom Canyon NUC has dThunderbolt 4 ports, six USB 3.1 Type-A ports, one HDMI 2.1a port and MiniDisplayPort 1.4as well as a headphone jack and an SD card reader on the front of the computer. Finally, highlights adding a TDP of 150 wattsWhile it will consume a bit more power, it still maintains good efficiency when it comes to gaming desktops.
