What you need to know
- Intel will launch a 15-inch laptop called the NUC M15 in 2021.
- The laptop will be rebranded and sold through multiple partners.
- The laptop could range from $999 to $1,499, but the exact price will be up to the companies that sell the laptop.
Intel will release a 15-inch laptop called the NUC M15 in 2021 (via The Verge). You won't see the laptop branded with an Intel logo, however. Instead, companies will create different configurations of the devices and brand them with their own name. This process is known as white labeling and has been used in the past when Intel produced the MAG-15 gaming laptop (via Notebook Check).
The Verge got to try out a pre-production sample of the device and shares all the details about the new laptop.
The NUC M15 is a premium productivity laptop with specs very similar to the Dell XPS 13, ASUS ZenBook 14, and many of the best Windows laptops, with the main difference being the NUC M15's display size. The NUC M15 has a 15.6-inch 1080P IPS display with options with or without touch. On the inside, the laptop is powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 or i7-1165G7 quad-core processor. Its processor is paired with Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics and either 8GB or 16GB of RAM. Storage options will vary based on the brand selling each device, according to The Verge.
The NUC M15 has a sizeable 73Wh battery inside, which Intel says should get up to 16 hours of battery life.
The body of the laptop is 0.59 in (14.9 mm) thick and weighs 3.64 lbs (1.65 kg). The NUC M15 has two Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 Type-C ports, two USBA- A 10Gbps ports, an HDMI port, and a 3.5 headphone jack.
While the NUC M15 has similar specs to many productivity laptops, it has some unique features as well. It has an LED light bar along its front that works with Alexa for Windows. The bar glows blue when Alexa is in use. The laptop also has four microphones on its top.
The NUC M15 works with Windows Hello, supports presence detection, and can stay unlocked while you sit in front of it. As pointed out by The Verge, these features are similar to some seen on the Dell Latitude 7400 from last year, but they aren't standard on all laptops by any means.
The goal of the NUC M15 is to help small companies compete with the likes of Dell, HP, and other large manufacturers. With Intel handling the research and development cost for the laptop, smaller companies can compete more easily with bigger brands.
While the M15 doesn't have the Evo branding, The Verge reports that it's built to meet the standards for it and that Intel expects brands to submit branded NUC M15 laptops for Evo certification. To get the Intel Evo label, laptops need to meet certain standards, including waking from sleep in less than a second, getting over nine-hours of real-world battery life, and getting four or more hours of battery life from a 30-minute charge (if a laptop has an FHD display).
Intel told The Verge that partners that sell the device will set their own prices, but that Intel expects the NUC M15 to be sold for between $999 and $1,499.
