ASUS Agrees To Deal With Intel To Continue Making, Marketing NUC Mini-PCs
July 19, 2023 by Dave Haynes
There were already a subset of specialty PC companies who were intending to continue building their versions of Intel’s small form factor NUC PC design, but now one of the larger consumer and business PC makers is also planning to continue the mini PC line.
Intel has reached a draft agreement with ASUS that will see the Taiwan-based manufacturer produce, sell and support the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) 10th to 13th generations systems product line, and to also develop future NUC systems designs. Under the proposed deal, ASUS gets a non-exclusive license to Intel’s NUC systems product line designs. It will establish a new business unit called ASUS NUC BU.
Intel had announced recently that it was getting out of the direct manufacturing of NUCs, leaving innovation and future production to its ecosystem partners.
This is relevant to digital signage because generations and variations of the NUC reference design have been something of a workhorse for software firms and solutions providers who based their work on the Windows or Linux operating systems – with the NUC being particularly attractive because of its form factor. It is small enough to hide away behind displays.
Media player companies familiar to the digital signage ecosystem – such as Seneca, Now Micro and OnLogic – have their own versions of NUCs. Another system builder, Velasea, has also said it will be releasing a version of a NUC this year.
Austin-based SimplyNUC has also said it will “continue ramping” its investment in mini PCs and the NUC product line.
The Intel-made versions were much liked for their form-factor when they first came out in 2012, but they weren’t necessarily suitable for the harsh environments sometimes presented by digital signage and other AV jobs. Given ASUS is primarily known for producing consumer laptops, it is likely the new NUC will be designed more for home offices than factory floors.
As you can read in your article, it is obvious that you have not dealt with the ASUS brand. The company has been manufacturing PCs for the digital signage market for over X years. For example the PL64 series
https://www.asus.com/displays-desktops/mini-pcs/pl-series/mini-pc-pl64/
This has MIL-STD 810 standards from which other manufacturers still pointed.
We have been using ASUS as a digital signage player for 7 years.
I thought that was the case, but had a hell of a time finding that when I was on the website. But I see them now, under Displays/Desktops and then Mini PCs! Thanks for the clarity.