Intel mini PCs in card format become history, from 2019 we will not see this format of mini PC in the market. A product without penetration at the user level that has mainly been used in professional environments. This project was unveiled in 2017 with variants of Intel Apollo Lake and Kaby Lake processor but that did not generate real product movement in all it’s time.
One of the affected by this decision is the company NextDock that had in his portfolio several concepts where these mini PCs were integrated in card format and that now will no longer be possible. Undoubtedly the most prominent was NexPad that presented a miniPC tablet format with this modular philosophy but we also had other formats such as a 2 in 1. Still as an alternative have their successful NextDock 2 project where smartphone or raspberry motherboards can be used like the engine of their laptops.
For now it seems that resists the format of the Intel compute module, which represent the same concept but only in card format without interfaces, in them we have the processor, ram and some storage in some of its variants. Remember that Intel is focusing on its new 10nm processors and Forevos technology. With this new concept of layered design, more components can be integrated in a processor package and it is possible that future mini PCs are still much smaller, perhaps Intel will go from card format to stamp format.
