Big upgrades for little PCs
The tiny PC movement gains steam with each new generation of hardware, as they become more powerful and capable machines. Today's options are already viable alternatives to bigger PCs, at least in the right setting -- if your mom and pop only surf the web and fire off emails, they might be content with something like a NUC or even a Compute Stick.
They're not appropriate for power-hungry applications like gaming and content creation chores, but they are about to get more powerful (and power efficient) if reports are true that next generation solutions with Skylake inside are true.
According to Digitimes, Intel will roll out Skylake-based Compute Stick and NUC solutions in October, while companies like ECS, Gigabyte, Asus, and ASRock all have plans to launch related products.
Analysts like to harp on declining PC growth, though apparently these little systems are winning favor among consumers and seeing a continuous rise in sales. Adding Skylake to the mix will make them even more attractive than they already are.
One of Intel's upcoming refreshes is a Compute Stick with a Core m3-6Y30 processor, due out in October. It will also have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and Windows 10.
Another version will sport a Core m5-6Y57 vPro processor, though it won't come with an operating system, Digitimes says. With the improved microarchitecture and graphics, both look to be decent upgrades over today's solutions.
As for the NUC, Intel is reportedly prepping versions that will feature Skylake-based processor options codenamed Swift Canyon that are specifically designed for NUCs. There will also be performance-based Core i7 CPUs options sometime in the first quarter of next year.
Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1h06MTl
