The ultra-tiny Intel NUC 12 Extreme gets Q2 2022 release date, price tag reveal

If you prioritize petite packaging, this PC looks to pack a punch.

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What you need to know

Your first in-depth look at Intel’s new, extraordinarily small mini PC is here. The NUC 12 Extreme is basically the size of a few graphics cards smushed together (it’s 14 x 4.72 x 7.44 inches “big”), making it one of the tiniest desktop PC offerings on the market. That size comes with a price: The Core i7 variant will go for $1,150 and the Core i9 version will sell at $1,450 when the NUC formally launches in Q2 2022.

By default, the NUC will rock Intel UHD Graphics 770 and support a maximum of 64GB of RAM. It will also feature a wide variety of ports, including multiple Thunderbolt 4 slots. It will be compatible with Windows 10 as well as “various Linux distros,” if you’retired of Windows and want to give Linux a try. After all, itistheyear of Linux.

Intel emphasizes that one of the NUC 12 Extreme’s major selling points is its modularity. In other words, if you’re not happy with the specs you get out of the box, you can spruce them up a bit while retaining a desktop with a tiny form factor the likes of which even thebest mini ITX PC caseswill do a double-take at.

You can read up on the full tech specs over atIntel’s announcement post. Just remember the power limitations of a machine as small as the NUC 12 Extreme and don’t expect it to rival thebest desktop PCsin performance.

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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.