JANUARY 2021 PCWorld 29a 15.6-inch diagonal
display width, the NUC
M15 is a pretty big
laptop for “just” a
low-wattage CPU
without discrete
graphics. Usually,
premium laptops deploy
13-inch screens for
low-wattage parts, and
15.6-inch displays for
high-wattage CPUs with
discrete graphics.
Intel takes advantage
of the large body by
fitting in a pretty massive 73-watt-hour battery,
which the company says is good for 16 hours
of video playback. However, it also adds to
the weight: All that aluminum, battery, and
screen results in a hefty 3.5-pound package,
“only” a half-pound heavier than a Dell XPS 13
(go.pcworld.com/d113)—but also “only” a
half-pound lighter than Intel’s previous
in-house laptop design, which we reviewed
under the given name of XPG Xenia 15 (go.
pcworld.com/xnia).
The Intel/XPG laptop impressed us. Sure,
the software may not have been as polished
as what you’d find in an Alienware, Asus, or
MSI gaming laptop, but it really packed in the
performance at a reasonable price. And by
reasonable, these won’t be fire-sale laptops—
expect the premium body and features to
cost from $1,000 to $1,500 for the NUC M15.
JUST WHY IS INTEL
DOING THIS?
Because it was designed by Intel (and built by
laptop maker Tongfang), the XPG Xenia 15
also made some intelligent choices to not
sacrifice performance at the altar of thinness.
In some ways, that’s what Intel may be trying
to do overall with its “Whitebook” program.
With these Whitebook kits, Intel is basically
footing the bill for most of the expensive
design work of making a laptop, and then
letting smaller vendors add their own
flourishes before selling them under their
own banners.
Putting a 15- to 28-watt CPU into a 15.6-
inch laptop is, perhaps, Intel’s effort to show
what its Tiger Lake chips can do when they
aren’t constrained by thermals. While very
impressive overall (go.pcworld.com/imov),Intel’s NUC-based M15 laptop features a premium look and feel.