A leaked slide acquired by the computing enthusiast website FanlessTech shows that a new set of Intel NUCs are set to drop sometime in fall or winter of 2015, equipped with the most anticipated processor generation of the year, Skylake.
There’s no indication exactly how FanlessTech got its hands on the leaked slide, but regardless, the details look accurate enough to fall in line with the release schedule we’ve already heard from Intel themselves.
The slide tells us that the upcoming NUC will carry the 6th-generation of the Intel Core family, known as the Skylake-U. Other vital specs include a max of 32GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM, an Intel HD Graphics 6xxx chip to handle graphics output, and four USB 3.0 ports. An SDXC card reader will handle any additional storage you can’t fit inside the expandable 2.5″ SSD bay.
Related: Intel’s new ‘Skylake’ processors are coming sooner than you think
Going down the list we can also see that the new NUC will fall in line with its previous models, having one HDMI out (updated to the 1.4a spec), one DisplayPort 1.2, two USB 2.0 ports, 802.11ac wireless to handle over-the-air networking, an Ethernet port for landline Internet, and Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless peripheral hookups.
The box will be able to handle up to 7.1 channel surround sound audio over both the mini-HDMI and mini-DP ports, as well as a headphone/microphone combo from the two jacks at the front of the case.
So far, the Core flavors of the NUC family have scored highly with our reviewers, praised for their seemingly effortless combo of portability, ease of use, and raw power packed into an impossibly small package.
The release date for the i3 Skylake model looks to be sometime in Q3 of this year, while the i5 won’t drop until a bit later in Q4.
