Dev Kit Weekly: SimplyNUC Topaz Powered by 11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors
September 03, 2021
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For those who aren’t familiar with Intel’s Next Unit of Computing, or Intel® NUC, they are a line of off-the-shelf, small-form-factor systems that have been providing system-level access to Intel® processor technology since second-generation Core™ processors all the way back in 2013.
You can get NUC boards, kits, and systems with varying features, either from Intel or select partners, but at its root, a NUC platform consists of an Intel® processor-based SBC enclosed in a plastic case with a fan and I/O ports, as well as an external power supply. Many NUC solutions are backed by a warranty and customer support, and also ship with a VESA mounting plate. That’s because many early NUCs were deployed commercially as digital signage solutions.
The SimplyNUC is an Intel® partner that specializes in, well, NUCs. The company’s new Topaz line extends the legacy of off-the-shelf, system-level access to Intel® processor technology by supporting 11th generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, and i7 mobile processors, previously codenamed “Tiger Lake”. But in addition to digital signage applications, these devices now pack enough performance to drive full AI stacks. That’s thanks to integrated Intel® UHD and Iris® Xe Graphics, as well as software tools like Intel® AVX-512, Vector Neural Network Instructions (VNNI), and the OpenVINO toolkit.
The base Topaz i3 starts at $559, which includes 4 GB of DDR4, 128 GB SSD, and free OS installation, and go up o $789 before customization. You can purchase one from SimplyNUC.com.
Unfortunately, the SimplyNUC Topaz is backordered. But you can win one of 16 that we’ll raffling off at AI Day, which is September 9th. Register and attend at ai-mlday.com, where Raymond Lo, a software evangelist for the OpenVINO toolkit at Intel, will show you how you can get an AI deployment up and running on systems like the Topaz in his session, “Hands-On Experience to Building Your First AI Solution Within an Hour.”
Good luck accelerating your AI engineering experience, and we’ll see you next week on Dev Kit Weekly.
