The DC3217BY eschews Gigabit Ethernet (which is available on the DC3217IYE) in favor of a Thunderbolt port.

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On one hand, you have the NUC Thunderbolt, which combines a single HDMI port and one Thunderbolt port that can be used to drive a secondary display (up to 2, 560 x 1, 440).

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This system enables users to connect one half-length PCIe 2.0 adapter card to the Mac mini via a Thunderbolt cable, while allowing the connection of additional Thunderbolt peripherals to the daisy-chain Thunderbolt port.

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The Thunderbolt port is designed to fix that.

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It offers simultaneous bi-directional 10Gbps transfer speeds over a single cable, with the flexibility to daisy-chain up to six Thunderbolt-ready devices with a single connection as well as offering full display port support for a 7th Thunderbolt or display port equipped monitor.

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This system securely mounts a Mac mini inside a specially designed 1U enclosure, which also contains one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot, a 75W power supply plus a Thunderbolt daisy-chain port.

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If you find yourself needing other ports, such as USB 3.0, Firewire and the like, you can always snag a port replicator such as the Thunderbolt Express.

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Two different models will be offered by the chip giant, identical except that one will be Thunderbolt equipped and the other will sport an Ethernet port for connectivity.

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