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Gigabyte bats Brix at Intel's tiny NUC PC

Half as tall as Chipzilla's micro PC - and with a better spec

Taiwan’s Gigabyte is to take on Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC), the chip company’s ultra-compact Core i3-based desktop computer. Last week, it demo’d Brix, a box with a slightly bigger footprint than the NUC but around only half as tall.

Gigabyte promises four Brix systems with, respectively, Celeron, Core i3, i5 and i7 processors - the latter three are all Ivy Bridge chips.

Gigabyte Brix

Intel offers a trio of NUC systems, two with on-board Core i3 processors and a third with a Celeron. One Core i3 model has a Thunderbolt and an HDMI port on the back, but no Ethernet, while the Celeron and the other i3 machine have two HDMI ports and a Gigabit Ethernet. None of them include Wi-Fi, but there’s a slot for a half-height mini PCI card inside.

Gigabyte says the Brix will come bundled not only with a Wi-Fi card but also a power cable, an essential accessory that the NUC box also lacks. NUC also makes do with USB 2.0 - Brix has USB 3.0, but only two ports to the NUC’s three.

Gigabyte Brix

Each Brix has HDMI and Mini DisplayPort for monitor and TV connections. As per NUC, Brix comes with a VESA mount.

Gigabyte staffers were a little vague as to pricing, but Brix doesn’t appear to be significantly cheaper than NUC. That said, since Wi-Fi is included for free - you’ll still need to splash out on Ram and an m-Sata SSD for storage - the overall cost should be lower. ®

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