"Acer is partnering with WD to bring advanced notebook performance and capacity in the smallest form factor, " said David Lee, associate vice president of Mobile Computing Product business unit at Acer.

ENGADGET: Western Digital builds 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, Ultrabook makers sign on early

So, is the NUC deserving of its "Next Unit of Computing" title?

ENGADGET

Curiously, one product that's currently immune from the announcement is the Next Unit of Computing (NUC), a miniature barebones system that will see continual development from Intel.

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Late last year, Intel quietly introduced the Next Unit of Computing ( NUC): a miniature, barebones desktop PC that represents a modern take on the traditional beige box.

ENGADGET

Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) is just about ready for store shelves, and Anandtech managed to get their hands on the DC3217BY model to provide us an early inside look at the mini-PC.

ENGADGET: Intel's NUC mini-PC internals exposed, available for around $300 in early December

But tying all of these functions together into one unit with the computing power of your desktop PC is still cutting-edge stuff.

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Select "speed" for maximum power when multi-tasking, "stamina" to conserve energy or "auto" to have the unit select the appropriate computing usage for you.

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Fusion APUs are ideal to meet this need, positioning AMD to gain unit market share in the mobile computing space.

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It formed a Security Business Unit in March last year, in addition to its Trustworthy Computing initiative.

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"We are seeing a shift in the computing world to more powerful mobile computing solutions, " said SY Shain, senior vice president of ASUS' notebook business unit.

ENGADGET: Western Digital builds 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, Ultrabook makers sign on early