Intel’s next-gen NUC – the name the firm gives to its tiny PCs – will arrive later in December, or at least the mainstream model will according to the latest from the grapevine.
Panther Canyon is the name of the mainstream or ‘performance’ model – whereas Phantom Canyon is the more powerful ‘extreme’ variant – and the former is still on target for a December launch, Fanless Tech insists (in a recent update to an older story – apply the usual level of skepticism necessary around unsubstantiated leaks).
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As for Phantom Canyon, that version has apparently been pushed back to the first quarter of 2021, so could arrive between January and March, but obviously that too is speculation.
It’s theoretically good news for Panther Canyon, though, and further backs up an earlier rumor which featured a purported Intel roadmap that made no mention of the mainstream NUC, and therefore led some folks to start wondering whether Intel might have canned it.
Panther meets Tiger
Both of these compact PCs will feature an 11th-gen Tiger Lake-U processor. Phantom Canyon will pair it with a discrete graphics card – the GTX 1660 Ti (mobile GPU) has previously been mentioned, but that could have changed, and there will likely be other graphics configurations anyway – for more power (and obviously a heftier price tag, although there’s no hint yet as to what these models will cost).
Panther Canyon will rely on integrated Xe Graphics and will reportedly allow buyers to include up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 RAM.
Intel’s current Ghost Canyon NUC impressed us in many ways, although the pricing is a notable stumbling block. These machines are designed to nestle in your living room in a subtle and unintrusive manner, not drawing attention to themselves, hence the focus on a small form factor, with Panther Canyon likely being particularly compact, as it doesn’t require room for a discrete GPU.
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Via Tom’s Hardware
