That’s kind of sad. That standardized platform enabled lots of applications.
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Not good news:
Torben
Never really made sense for their core business, I think. Now it’s got lopped by corporate reshuffling.
While I have had three of these NUC’S, there are plenty of others manufacturers making similar machines now at good prices.
That market didn’t really exist in quality terms before the NUC (outside of the Mac Mini), which I think was part of the plan
My current Roon Rock based NUC will hopefully last another 4 or 5 years, but I expect smaller and more full featured devices by that point.
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Intel’s official response to our request is as follows.
“We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) Business and pivot our strategy to enable our ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth,” a statement by Intel reads. “This decision will not impact the remainder of Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. Furthermore, we are working with our partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition and fulfillment of all our current commitments – including ongoing support for NUC products currently in market.”
Intel currently offers three types of NUC systems: typical compact PCs aimed at consumers and home offices, business and corporate-oriented machines with support for features like remote management and vPro, and high-performance machines designed for gamers and demanding users.
I suspect that Intel will continue to supply NUC motherboards to their partners, so I don’t think the sky has fallen just yet…
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The issue is that ROCK was standardized for these standard systems. If you run your core on top of an OS that’s fine. I like the appliance-nature of the NUC running ROCK. I don’t ever have to screw with it. Hopefully that remains an option using other hardware.
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Michael there is a whole thread where people run Rock on these non NUC devices with great results.
Hopefully that will continue and get even better if Roon keep updating the kernel
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“Intel has decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) product line…” (Source: Intel e-mail to partners)
Instead, it is going to rely on industry partners to continue innovating in the NUC ecosystem. Companies like are already making their own NUC-size motherboards.
Torben
Lower cost third party options already have been taking over the NUC space. For example, today on Prime Day:
Limited-time deal for Prime Members: Beelink Mini S12 Pro Mini PC,12 Generation Intel N100 (Up to 3.4GHz) 4C/4T,Mini Computer 16GB DDR4 500GB PCle SSD,Micro PC 4K,Dual Display,WiFi6,BT4.2,LAN 1000Mbps,Low Power Mini Desktop Computer https://a.co/d/7gdlcXF
AJ
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With the NUC being discontinued, what platform will Roon use to take ite place?
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Roon already works on computers in general.
Yes, however Roon ROCK is a superior solution for many of us because it runs on a lean kernel solely designed to support Roon with none of the overhead of a general-purpose computing solution. It will always work with Roon no matter what a 3rd party software developer changes or deprecates that might break Roon compatibility.
Fewer choices are bad. How is that not clear?
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I never needed a special computer for consumer software in general, so it’s not very clear to me why audio players are different. It’s also not very clear to me why a computer that does only one thing is a good choice, but I guess it’s just me…
I apologize if my tone went too far.
I appreciate the ability to have a cheap computer that I know won’t ever break software-wise because its underlying purpose is solely to do a single task, and is all run by one vendor. I don’t need to worry about the annual software cycle breaking my audio system because some license rule changed.
I basically want my audio system to work, and work every time, and not be subject to the whims of digital change.
An example. I put a CD into a CD player and it plays. Every time. Why shouldn’t my streamer be the same? ROCK enables that. And kudos to Roon Labs for not making me buy a nucleus, but instead, letting me choose a common piece of cheap gear that has sufficient power for my library size. That’s all I meant.
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No worries. Yes, I get the concept of appliance and why it appeals to some people. The problem is:
- They are not aways cheap (the NUC is, the Nucleus is not).
- Whenever software is involved that is connected to the web, periodic updates are necessary for security reasons.
- Even CD (DVD, BluRay) players freeze sometimes due to software bugs. That’s why their firmware is also updated periodically.
You can already do that. I ran Roon Core on a Lenovo tiny PC running Windows for a few years with zero problems. You don’t really need to strip the OS down to be able to reduce cost, as the overhead of background processes is likely negligible compared to Roon’s.
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I have a 2014 Mac Mini now was going to get a M2 Mini eventually. I heard good things about the Nuc
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With the pending demise of the NUC the search for a “NUCalike” should begin!
What is the best stable, inexpensive platform with ready availability?
This is a problem worth solving for both ROCK & Nucleus users present & future. Standardization on a single basic platform would limit many headaches for the support team and improve stability for many users. (NB: ROCK has stable for me; I am sorry to see the NUC go).
Anyone in this smart community have suggestions for the Roon team to consider?
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Since when is a Celeron/Pentium comparable to an i3/5/7?
It depends on what you need to do. My Lenovo Tiny was a Pentium - which is comparable to Celeron - and ran Roon just fine.
Doesn’t change the fact a system like this is well below Roon’s minimum requirements.