Intel NUC Kit NUC5PGYH Braswell Mini PC

Intel NUC Kit NUC5PGYH Braswell Mini PC

  Like the rest of Intel Atom systems, home theater PCs (HTPC) based on the CPU have come a long way over the last few years. The Intel NUC5PGYH offers hardware accelerated video decoding up to 4K (HDMI 1.4b output) via the quad-core Intel Braswell Pentium N3700. Now add in 7.1 multi-channel audio support, Windows 10 preinstalled, RC6 CIR (consumer […]

Read more

Intel @ CES 2015

Intel is moving hard into small, low power devices and that was evident in what they were showing at CES this year. We started out with tablets, but the really interesting stuff started when the new Broadwell NUC came out. First we saw a demo of it running an incredibly slick picture/video manager that used to require a quad-SLI system […]

Read more

Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) DN2820FYKH – Celeron/Bay Trail SFF HTPC

Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) DN2820FYKH - Celeron/Bay Trail SFF HTPC

A small home theater PC (HTPC) driven by an Intel Atom is not a new idea. Both NVIDIA’s ION and Broadcom’s Crystal HD offered solutions that coupled the chip’s TDP with specialized hardware that overcame its shortcomings–one with a complete GPU, the other providing just hardware accelerated video decoding. Neither of these products truly delivered on the concept of a […]

Read more

Shuttle and Asus Offering Cedar Trail-Based Nettops

Intel Atom

When Intel first announced their Atom line of low power processors way back in 2008, I had visions of tiny, quiet HTPCs sipping power in my home theater stack. Unfortunately, the promise never lived up to expectations and it has been awhile since I seriously considered an Atom processor for my own HTPC, but that hasn’t stopped me from hoping […]

Read more

J&W Announces New Cedar Trail Motherboards, Barebones

MINIX D2700DC

J&W’s MINIX line of mini-ITX motherboards have consistently targeted the higher end of the market with unique features and a focus on quality components. My first experience with their boards was the fantastic MINIX 780G-SP128MB, a mini-ITX gem that made its way into several HTPC and home server builds I assisted with. J&W looks set to continue the trend of quality […]

Read more

Intel Looking to Atom and Tizen for Smart TVs

Tizen

The first generation Google TVs were Intel-powered, and if those original Google TV devices had been the runaway successes that Google had hoped, then Intel today would have a pretty big foot in the door of the smart TV market. Instead, the general consensus is that Google TV v1.0 flopped, sending Google back to the drawing board for v2.0, and […]

Read more

Intel D525MW Mini-ITX Motherboard

Intel_D525_04.jpg

In the past few years, Intel has really taken some steps in dominating the low power, small form factor board market. Today we have the Intel D525MW mini-ITX motherboard in our labs for review. The board is small, low powered and does not have a single fan on it. Don’t confuse this for a Clarkdale or Sandy Bridge system however, […]

Read more