Several vendors listed the Intel NUC 12, a new generation of mini-PCs, as the biggest news will present dedicated graphics of the brand itself, Arc series. Although Intel hasn’t officially announced these models, retailer reservations suggest a release within a few weeks.

Intel will launch at least three new lines of these minicomputers with Arc graphics cards: Dragon, Alder and Serpent Canyon. We’re talking about dedicated M-series graphics (intended for notebooks), as the desktop versions will be reserved for the yet-to-be-released “Extreme” models.

The Intel NUC 12 “Serpent Canyon” will appear first, probably in September, and is aimed as high-end version focused on games. If Intel has so far combined its processors with dedicated graphics from other providers (mainly NVIDIA), this model is committed to “keeping everything in-house” and by the way take advantage of the company’s return to the dedicated market.

This way we will have really powerful configurations like the one that makes up the Core i7-12700H CPU with the Arc A770M GPU. The CPU is a 45-watt chip with 14 cores and 20 threads and a clock speed of up to 4.7 GHz. The GPU is the mobile version, but higher end, with 32 Xe cores, 32 ray tracing units, 512 execution units and 16GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory.

With these components, the device should offer very good performance. Logically, while maintaining a compact size, it is larger than a typical NUC (12 cm) and is expected to occupy a volume of 2.5 liters. Their connectivity It’s not bad at all and will include the following on the front and back:

• 6 USB 3.2 Type-A ports.
• 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports.
• 1 Ethernet port 2.5 Gbps.
• 1 HDMI 2.1 port.
• 2 DisplayPort 2.0 ports.
• Two 3.5mm audio jacks

Prices from retailers like Provantage go from $1,041 to $1,470.

It is certain that the official prices set by Intel will be restrained rather than economical. In exchange, the user takes home several NUCs that are a great industry reference in mini-PCs, which features component integration, compact size, performance and good connectivity. All NUCs can work with Windows and Linux.