Commell has unveiled one of the industry’s first Pico-ITX motherboards featuring Intel’s Tiger Lake-UP3 processor with built-in Iris Xe graphics core. Not designed to compete with the best motherboards for PCs, The tiny LP-179 board is aimed primarily at embedded systems, yet it can enable everyone to build an ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) desktop featuring a decent quad-core CPU with an advanced GPU.  

Commell’s LP-179 motherboard will initially be available with Intel’s Core i7-1185G7E (4C/8T, 1.80/4.40GHz, 12MB cache, 96 EU, 15W) or Celeron 6305E (2C/2T, 1.80GHz, 4MB cache, 48 EU, 15W) processor addressing premium and entry-level markets. The SoC may be accompanied by up to 32GB of DDR4-3200 memory using one SO-DIMM module, an M.2-2280 SSD featuring a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, and one SATA drive. 

The tiny LP-179 — which measures 100×72 mm — has a rather decent connectivity department that includes an M.2-2230 slot for a Bluetooth + Wi-Fi adapter, two GbE ports (2.5 GbE Intel I225-LM, GbE I219-LM), two display outputs (one DisplayPort, one HDMI) and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports. Being aimed at embedded systems, Commell’s internal headers for USB 2.0, RS232, audio (controlled by the Realtek ALC262 chip), SMBus, a battery, and an LVDS or VGA.

Motherboards from companies like Commell are rarely available in retail, but it is still possible to get them from stores like Alibaba, usually together with Pico-ITX cases. In addition, LP-179 boards will likely find themselves inside various UCFF PCs from second and third tier makers.

Pricing of Commell’s LP179 motherboards has not been announced. 

Parties that need a midrange 11th Generation Core SoC, can opt for Core i5-1145GRE/1145G7E and Core i3-1115GRE/1115G4E, yet these boards will be built-to-order.