Discounts on Skylake NUCs
Now that the Kaby Lake NUCs are out, some good deals can be had when shopping for the previous generation. Amazon is offering the i3 Skylake NUC for $235 and the i5 for $300. The i3 offer is a Prime members only, but if you’re not a member already you can click here to sign up for a 30 days free trial that can be cancelled any time (like, right after the order).
The Skylake NUC is still a very good performer even if the Kaby Lake is already out. I’d say the only major things that are missing is the 10-bit HEVC HW decode and the HDMI 2.0 port. If you’re not building a media PC these might not be an issue. You can read my comparison of the Skylake and Kaby Lake performance here.
Is it true that the 8th gen Intel chips will remain at 14nm and not shrink to 10nm? What will it mean for next year’s NUCs in terms of performance upgrade – modest?
To be honest, I’m not sure. It seems Cannon Lake will be 10 nm and Coffee Lake will be 14 nm. Whether the next NUC will have Cannon Lake or Coffee Lake, there are no indications yet.
Some good reading:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3168827/components-processors/intels-8th-gen-coffee-lake-chips-reuse-14nm-process-as-other-core-cpus-ease-into-new-tech.html
http://wccftech.com/intel-14nm-coffee-lake-10nm-cannonlake-2018/
What would you recommend for a HTPC. The new Apollo Lake, or the Skylake i3? Obviously, the i3 will perform better, but should I get the Apollo Lake with hevc deciding instead?
I just got the i3, decided to cancel my Apollo Lake order after reading a user review on Amazon about laggy mouse response and a slight lag on some videos when the system is multitasking. I figured I should remember the old saying “you never regret getting a system that is faster than what you need”.
I can definitely say the i3 is much aster than I expected. Coupled with 8GB of RAM and an M2 SDD it seems snappier in basic tasks than my desktop system that is based on an I7-4770K. Of course in really intense computational tasks the desktop is faster, but just browsing the web and launching videos the Kaby Lake i3 seems faster. Everything loads almost instantly.
The small amount they want more for the i3 is well spent imho. Over time systems slow down, it’s better to have something faster than what you technically need.
Hi
is there anywhere such a good deal for i3 Skylake NUC for $235 and the i5 for $300 ?
On amazon price is a lot higher right now. I am searching sth for homelab vsphere 6.x