Future Intel NUC Mini PCs May Get Touch Interface

During IDF, Intel showcased several NUCs, either Next Unit of Computing, that have alternative operating methods. One of the mini computers was equipped with a touchpad on top of the case, which provides tactile feedback.

One of the NUCs Intel showed was one with a new Broadwell chip on board. It was true that it was a Core m processor, but Intel had turned some knobs of the engineering sample, so that the TDP came out at 15W. This makes the processor of the NUC different from the Core m processors that Intel introduced during IFA. The Broadwell update isn’t the only new thing about the NUC: Intel has given the small computer a touch interface. A touchpad, the size of the top of the NUC, provides so-called haptic feedback when adjusting the volume. In other words, the touchpad clicks back and feels like Apple’s click wheel of yesteryear.

The touch interface, developed together with Redux, was just one of the innovations to the NUCs. Intel also demonstrated a copy, still with a Haswell processor, the top of which was a speaker. Any thin material, plastic in this case, is vibrated by special motion drivers. Intel had also made prototypes out of balsa wood, cardboard, and even Gorilla glass. In the future, the company might facilitate the production of such NUCs: the technology is being developed together with SoundEdge.

At the same Haswell-NUC, Intel also demonstrated how the small PC can be controlled via voice. For example, voice commands can be used to operate a media player, for example. Finally, the company had another mini-NUC, slightly smaller than a regular one, on IDF. The NUC contains a passively cooled Atom processor and is not supplied with energy via a separate power supply, but via a micro-USB plug. Two USB ports, an HDMI output and a D-sub connection form the ports of this mini-mini PC. Since the NUCs are prototypes, Intel couldn’t say anything about pricing and availability yet.