Intel has announced its NUC M15 Laptop Kit (originally code-named ‘Bishop County’), which will be a new addition to the whitebook market. The new laptop, which is designed in-house by Intel, will be powered by its 11th Gen Intel Core mobile processor (codenamed Tiger Lake). The announcement comes soon after Apple announced its own M1-powered laptops: the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. But keep in mind: the Intel NUC M15 is not a laptop that can be purchased by customers directly.
This is part of the whitebook market, which means Intel will be offering this to its laptop partners and channel partners, who will re-brand, and then resell the laptop. Intel is setting the standards and specifications for what to expect in the laptop. So far Intel’s NUC series, which stands for Next Unit of Computing, has seen mini PCs and desktops. This is the first time that the chipset manufacturer is entering the laptop space with the NUC.
In a press announcement, Intel says the “M15 Laptop Kit includes an 11th Gen Intel Core mobile processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics”, and the laptop kit offers the “right foundation to build an Intel EVO-qualified laptop.” The EVO certification is given to premium laptops, which are powered by Intel processors and fulfil a certain criteria set by the chipset-maker. Laptops from Dell, HP, Samsung, Lenovo, etc are EVO-certified.
According to Intel’s video, the laptop kit will have a CNC-anodised aluminium chassis, and this will be available in Shadow Grey and Black colour options. The laptop will be a 15.6-inch one and weigh under 1.7 kg. The laptops will come with the Intel 11-th gen Tiger Lake processors coupled with Iris Xe graphics. It will have WiFi-6 support, a 73 Whr battery with 16 hour of video playback.
They will also come with fast charging with more than four hours of battery life in just under half an hour of charging. The laptop will also wake in just under a second, according to Intel’s video. Intel also says the laptops will include powerful speakers for best consumer experience when watching movies and videos or if they want to talk to their voice assistant on the laptop.
Intel makes it clear in the video that they are not selling laptops. Rather this is a whitebook for local PC companies to bring a high quality laptop to the market under their brand. Intel says laptops based on the NUC 15 will be expected to hit the market starting January 2021.
