The next unit of computing branding, known as NUC (pronounced nu-ck), has long been associated with Intel’s small form factor designs and mobile-class processor features. Last year Intel broke that design philosophy with the introduction of the NUC9 Pro, known as the Quartz Canyon, which allowed for a PCI graphics card in a unified box. Intel is today announcing the next step on the NUC tour, which includes a pre-built laptop with 10nm quad-core Tiger Lake processors.
The new NUC M15 laptop kit (codenamed Bishop County) is not a pre-built notebook / laptop item that the end user can purchase in full. Instead of competing directly with its laptop partners, the unit will be offered to Intel’s laptop partners and channel customers to re-brand for them, potentially build and then resell. This is why it is called the Whitebook Market, and why I have used the Whitebook in the title of this article.
The NUC M15 design uses Tiger Lake (Intel Core 11)M General) with Xe graphics in a platform designed to meet Intel EVO requirements for premium laptop design. This means meeting minimum requirements on wake-up time, charging, Thunderbolt, Wi-Fi and screen power consumption. The Evo still needs to be applied by every brand that takes to upgrade and resell the M15, but Intel says many regional retailers offering this whitebook model will offer something a little out of the ordinary range of designs. Their own unique changes.
One of the first channel partners to email us about the implementation of the M15 is Schenker, a German-based retailer that sells in Europe and elsewhere. Usually we see the company implementing the Clevo Whitebook designs, and so this is something different – the Shenker Vision 15A touch display, the aluminum unibody design has a 15.6-inch implementation, 450 Night Brightness, Thunderbolt 4, PCI 4.0 – on both sides by Type-C Enabled SSD and charging options enabled.
Inside is a quad-core Tiger Lake Core i7-1165G7 with Xe graphics, and with a 73WT quick-charging battery, the company claims it enables 14 hours of Wi-Fi or 10 hours of local video playback of H.264 (measured at 150). Is) nits). Schenker claims a score of CBR23 for ST and 5990 for MT, and will provide performance profiles for regular use or peak performance (picking after 84 to C and 40.8 dB (A) according to the company). The keyboard is listed as LED-backlighting, and Schenker will support 25 country-specific keyboard layouts.
On storage and memory, Schenker will offer a variety of PCIe 4.0 storage options, as well as LPDDR4X-4267 memory options. Both Thunderbolt 4 ports will support charging, and an additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 port is available. The Linux version will be offered by Schneider’s sister company, Tuxedo Computers.
Shipping will begin in January, offering a Shadow Gray design with a base model Core i7-1165G7, 16GB LPDDR4X-4267, and a 250GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus storage drive, 99 1499 in Europe ($ 1531) Will be retail in equivalent pre-tax). PCI 4.0. After storage users will be able to choose the different capabilities of the Samsung 808080 Pro. The standard warranty is 36 months. Schenker has not yet applied for the Intel EVO certification, but said it meets the standards.
We expect other companies to offer similar versions of the NUC M15 design, although one issue with the Whitebook market is the difference. As most of the hardware in this unit is similar to other Intel channel partners, the margins can be very tight. Schenker states that they are the main partner in this collaborative design.
Source: Intel
