Back in early June, when this product was initially revealed, few were aware of Intel’s future decision to discontinue its NUC product series. Although other companies could easily replicate NUC systems, those equipped with Intel Arc GPUs were quite uncommon, primarily found in Intel NUC systems like the Serpent Canyon series.
However, several companies have stepped up to fill the gap. ASUS has launched their gaming Mini-PC, and MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock have also revealed new systems. Leading the way, Minisforum has introduced its inaugural Arc-based system, the HN2673.
The HN2673 isn’t a compact PC; instead, it’s a smaller desktop that comes with a Micro-ATX sized motherboard (exact dimensions undisclosed). The preview displays a preinstalled Core i5-12650H Alder Lake CPU on the motherboard, and the GPU uses the MXM form factor, technically allowing it to be removed. However, there’s no information about upgradability or compatibility with other models (e.g., Arc A770M), potentially due to the cooling solution’s limited thermal capacity, although it adequately handles the 95W TGP of the A730M graphics.
The most intriguing aspect is that this PC stands out as the first known product with a 6GB variant of the A730M graphics. Typically, Intel ships this SKU with 12GB VRAM, but a more affordable version was jointly developed by Intel and Minisforum, likely contributing to its lower cost compared to most A730M gaming laptops.
In contrast to other Mini-PCs, including those from Minisforum, the HN2673 doesn’t offer a barebone option. This is because of the intricate disassembly process involving a cooler placed over the CPU, GPU, and memory. Thankfully, there’s no indication of liquid metal being used on either component, which alleviates potential concerns in that regard.
It’s worth mentioning that this PC does not support external graphics, and it also lacks HDMI 2.1 support. However, the system does provide two HDMI 2.0 connectors and two USB Type-C ports with DisplayPort support, enabling users to connect up to four monitors.
The system is currently available in the US for $649, which comprises the 10-core Core i5-12650H CPU, Arc A730M 6GB GPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB SSD. If desired, users can also opt to include two 2.5-inch SATA SSDs for extra storage.
Via Minisforum, VideoCardz