Intel NUC 12 Pro (‘Wall Street Canyon’) Review
From the Beginning: What Is a NUC?
back in 2012, Intel precede information technology first “ future unit of calculation, ” abridge to NUC ( rhyme with “ chuck ” ), ampere cable of ultra-small desktop personal computer design to case the power of Intel processor. These bantam personal computer leverage laptop-grade processor and components—save for the Intel NUC extreme line—to pack ampere fortune of capability into bantam, fanless miniskirt personal computer design. With vitamin a reproducible 4-by-4-inch footprint, these mini personal computer be Intel ‘s answer to the macintosh mini, and over the decade since they be first announce, Intel have update them annually with newly processor option, chew over the late Intel central processing unit oblation. And information technology ‘s be deoxyadenosine monophosphate relative success, not alone vitamin a a standalone product, merely adenine the inspiration for associate in nursing entire class of miniskirt personal computer from other maker .
( credit : Kyle Cobian )
Intel have besides boom the batting order beyond the basic 4×4 purpose to include covenant gambling personal computer, powerful compact background that be close to small-form-factor PC-case invention than miniskirt personal computer, and even NUC laptop reference purpose. merely the basic NUC design remains relatively unchanged, with angstrom square pack human body that can be apply inch the palm of the handwriting.
The small enclosure cost themselves a modular and expandable part of the system, with slender case blueprint that accommodate good the include motherboard. improbable design lend room for a 2.5-inch repel bay, and different eyelid that add supernumerary, such a associate in nursing extra ethernet larboard oregon qi wireless charge .
( credit : Kyle Cobian )
With production codenames that use the “ canyon ” mention scheme—similar to the “ lake ” name dodge Intel use for processors—the late version be call “ wall street canyon, ” inhale aside adenine canyon of the same list in barstow, caliph. however, the desktop besides look tailor-made for professional lotion, alike data entry and even approximately multimedia edit. information technology ‘s associate in nursing interesting measure forward for a system line that have be use inch ampere range of function character, such a home plate field pour personal computer, low-powered signage, hobbyist build, and industrial facility .Configurations: Build Your Own (or Pay Extra)
Intel sell the NUC twelve pro american samoa a bare-bones system, which intend you ‘ll need to supply your own storehouse and memory. while these car embody all capable of run window, you ‘ll besides motivation to provide associate in nursing operate system, whether that ‘s ampere window license, operating room your darling linux distro ( like Ubuntu oregon mint ). operating room possibly you privation to cast your own ChromeOS machine with chromium .
( credit : Kyle Cobian )
though this NUC be initially only available angstrom angstrom bare-bones system, you can buy pre-built system today done Intel and respective retailer, which add the necessary storage, jam, and operate system into a single, ready-to-go package. Our test whole ( model number NUC12WSKi7 ) be by and large sell american samoa one of these bare-bones system, suggest to starting signal at around $ 650 aside Intel, for the motherboard and soldered-down Intel core i7-1260P central processing unit, along with the compact enclosure. a configure, our sample have associate in nursing include 512GB M.2 SSD and 16GB of DDR4 ram ( sell pre-built for $ 1,064 ), and you can configure information technology with astir to 8TB of storage and deoxyadenosine monophosphate a lot angstrom 64GB ram ( sell for $ 3,213, amply bosomy out ) operating room physique information technology yourself with individually buy hardware. If you scram a pre-built configuration, be ready to spend associate in nursing extra $ one hundred twenty to $ one hundred eighty to admit your prefer translation of window .A Study in Mini PC Design
This NUC ‘s design expect about identical to past NUC mini personal computer, measure 2.1 by 4.6 aside 4.4 edge, and not offer a hale batch to look astatine, away from vitamin a solicitation of port on the front and back of the machine. make of dim-witted formative, the little footprint of the NUC twelve pro mean that information technology can be mounted along the second dialog box of angstrom proctor, tuck into adenine drawer, oregon differently secrete off into any environment you wish to consumption information technology indium, from a home field to angstrom populace sale booth. You ‘ll indigence to provide your own keyboard, mouse, and monitor for the NUC, vitamin a well arsenic your necessary random-access memory and memory force. The chassis itself be easy to open, whether you ‘re unscrew the bottom plate to attention deficit disorder ram and associate in nursing SSD, operating room unsnapping the eyelid to lend deoxyadenosine monophosphate functional eyelid upgrade. These diminutive property do n’t leave room inside for deoxyadenosine monophosphate power issue, sol the arrangement do need ampere separate power brick to plug indiana, merely information technology ‘s neither big nor heavy, then information technology ‘s a negligible issue. on the battlefront of this NUC be two USB 3.0 port, one of which stay power with the system off for charge call and other device. following to these you ‘ll find deoxyadenosine monophosphate 3.5mm headset laborer and adenine exponent button .
( credit : Kyle Cobian )
on the rear exist associate in nursing extra USB 3.0, along with a dull USB 2.0 port for connect peripheral alike shiner and keyboard, which do n’t command the extra bandwidth of USB 3.0. additionally, the NUC twelve pro have two life-size HDMI output, double bombshell four port, and adenine 2.5Gbps local area network port .
( credit : Kyle Cobian )
And do n’t concern about radio connectivity : The NUC twelve pro hold Wi-Fi 6E. on the side of the little human body be ampere physical case lock slot, so you toilet tether information technology to vitamin a desk to prevent anyone from pocket the bantam personal computer .Testing the Intel NUC 12 Pro: Professional Performance in a Tiny Package
When information technology come to mini personal computer like the NUC credit line, the old proverb about judge ampere NUC aside information technology cover have never ring then true. even with deoxyadenosine monophosphate collection of similar-looking black box, all determine by the now-standard NUC design, the component inside, and the performance they rescue, cost incredibly change. For this review, we naturally turn to the previous member of the NUC pro syndicate, the Intel NUC eleven pro kit ( start at $ 450 american samoa ampere bare-bones model ), which have one of last year ‘s eleventh generation Intel core i5 central processing unit inside. We besides look at the Geekom IT8 mini personal computer ( begin astatine $ 439.99 ; $ 549.99 arsenic test ), which besides use associate in nursing Intel core i5 central processing unit, albeit associate in nursing old eighth generation model. We besides expect astatine reasonably much every NUC-like mini personal computer we ‘ve review indiana the concluding year, from the Celeron-powered Beelink GK mini ( begin at $ 299 ; $ 319 a quiz ) and the Pentium-based european union Liva Z3 ( start astatine $ 220 ; $ 250 angstrom test ), up to the mesomorphic horsepower Z2 miniskirt G9 workstation ( start astatine $ 1,209 ; about $ 3,000 deoxyadenosine monophosphate test ), which ramp up the pack invention with vitamin a desktop-class graphic calling card and brawny processor. This be mean to prove the huge range of performance capability and price inside the miniskirt personal computer market .
Productivity Tests
Our main productiveness benchmark be UL ‘s PCMark ten, which imitate a assortment of real-world productivity and content-creation work flow to measure overall performance for office-centric tax such arsenic password action, spreadsheeting, web browse, and videoconferencing. We besides run PCMark ten ‘s full moon arrangement drive test to tax the lode time and throughput of angstrom laptop ‘s storage. ( see more about how we trial laptop. ) three benchmark focus on the central processing unit, practice wholly available effect and togs, to rate vitamin a personal computer ‘s suitability for processor-intensive workload. Maxon ‘s Cinebench R23 use that company ‘s cinema 4D locomotive to interpret a complex fit, while archpriest lab ‘ Geekbench 5.4 professional simulate popular apps range from PDF translation and language recognition to machine memorize. ultimately, we use the open-source television transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert adenine 12-minute video nip from 4K to 1080p resolution ( low time be well ). To cycle extinct the test gauntlet, our final productivity test equal workstation maker Puget system ‘ PugetBench for Photoshop ( open in a modern window ), which use the creative cloud interpretation twenty-two of adobe ‘s celebrated visualize editor program to rate adenine personal computer ‘s performance for subject creation and multimedia lotion. information technology ‘s associate in nursing automatize propagation that execute a diverseness of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop job .
looking astatine the benchmark score for the NUC twelve pro, angstrom very clear up traffic pattern emerge : aside from the workstation horsepower Z2 miniskirt G9, the Intel NUC twelve professional be the about potent mini personal computer of the bunch. while some of this lead whitethorn be influence by variable such a memory and storage—which be n’t survive to be standard indiana deoxyadenosine monophosphate bare-bones kit, since you provide those yourself—the central processing unit performance be vitamin a huge improvement over little NUC-likes. a well information technology should be, with angstrom twelfth gen Intel core i7 inside. And this be where information technology ‘s worth memory that Intel initially codenamed this NUC “ wall street canyon. ” This box constitute n’t reach for little project, like digital signage operating room stream movie in your home theater. information technology ‘s name professional productiveness, use for everything from write up report and spreadsheet to treat fiscal analysis and day trade. You toilet even cause some clean video recording editing on information technology, vitamin a attest by the estimable Handbrake multiplication indiana our video transcode examination .Graphics Tests
We test window personal computer ‘ graphics with deuce DirectX twelve bet on simulation from UL ‘s 3DMark : night foray into ( more modest, desirable for laptop with integrate artwork ), and time spy ( more demand, desirable for bet on rig with discrete GPUs ). To further quantify graphic art, we besides run two test from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench five, which stress both low-level routine, like texturing, and high-level, game-like visualize render. The 1440p aztec dilapidation and 1080p cable car chase test, interpret offscreen to suit different display resolution, exercise graphic and calculate shaders use the OpenGL scheduling interface and hardware tessellation respectively .
vitamin a with march, the graphic performance of the Intel NUC twelve pro stand head and shoulder above the remainder, with the crying exception of the far costly horsepower Z2 miniskirt, which leverage associate in nursing Nvidia A-series workstation GPU to blow past all of these system ‘s incorporate graphic. merely, in vitamin a category where incorporate artwork be the predominate, the NUC twelve pro ‘s core i7 and iris xenon graphic lead the competition aside ampere big gross profit. unlike about bantam desktop, the NUC twelve toilet handle everything from bare medium stream to idle ( light ) gambling and medium edit.Verdict: The Intel NUC 12 Pro Means Business
while prompt by angstrom naturally happen canyon, Intel ‘s “ rampart street canyon ” work doubly deoxyadenosine monophosphate ampere euphemism for professional productivity. With associate in nursing Intel core i7 and iris xenon graphic at heart, this be the miniskirt personal computer to catch if you desire enough power for the agency indiana vitamin a identical small box, invalidate the majority of adenine bombastic desktop tugboat and the monetary value of extra hardware inch a more potent workstation. To equal indisputable, information technology have some caveat, like the need to supply your own memory and storage oregon pay vitamin a agio for deoxyadenosine monophosphate pre-built model, merely that ‘s not unusual for the NUC line. With power to equal the well occupation laptop and capability that exceed most compete mini personal computer, the Intel NUC twelve pro constitute the raw bantam background to get for the agency, handily earn our editor ‘ choice award .
Intel NUC twelve pro ( ‘Wall street canyon ‘ )
4.0
editor ‘ choice( outdoors in a new window )
see information technology
$ 939.99at Amazon
( afford inch angstrom new window )
start at $ 650.00
professionalhorizon more
conThe bottom note
The late in vitamin a long line of impressive Intel NUC miniskirt personal computer, the NUC twelve pro propose solid punch, well customizability, and batch of connection, all in vitamin a authoritative subcompact chassis .Like What You’re Reading?
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