I've been on the fence deciding to buy this kit since it was introduced earlier this year. More rightly so due to the added cost of memory and the NVMe drive (neither of which I had on hand). At that neighborhood, one might consider a laptop with the same processor, right? Yup, I decided to buy the 2018 Dell 15 2-in-1 first because everything is already integrated. I still kept thinking about the Intel NUC even after I got the laptop. Don't get me wrong...It's a great laptop. So, what do I think of this NUC?
I absolutely LOVE it! It's small. It's quiet. The BIOS options are insane! Excellent multi-system/console emulation performance. Hackintosh works - kinda. It's well built - it's deceiving heavy because of that. It's energy efficient - Wemo Insight tells me it draws 30W at idle (take it for what it is worth). It has a slew of ports. It blows away all the other computers/laptops I own. Yes surprisingly that includes the Dell 15 2-in-1 with the same processor. Unless you're coming from a top of the line gaming PC, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised what this unit has to offer.
I highly recommend it!
UPDATE: 8/16/2018
I’ve been using the NUC as my primary workstation for the last few weeks. I still have absolutely no regrets buying it. I did upgrade the wireless card with a Intel 9260-AC with Bluetooth 5 since the unit came with an older one. New card cost about $25 or so (no biggie). It was plug and play. Windows 10 detected it without any issues. Love it (FYI you can’t upgrade the wireless on the Dell 2 in 1).
Fan noise? Don’t let it deter you from buying it. My desktop with an Nvidia GTX was much louder than this one. The only difference was that the desktop was under my desk which muffled some of the fan noise. I have the Intel nuc sitting between my two monitors now. It’s not as bad as most people/reviewers make it seem. If you want to play AAA game titles and want the NUC to be whisper quiet, you best look into a water-cooled desktop. Expect a little fan noise under load and you’ll be fine.
UPGRADABILITY
Other than the NVMe, memory, and wireless card, there’s not much you can upgrade. I personally don’t think that is a negative. Just buy the max memory from the get-go and upgrade the wireless/NVMe when prices come down. I looked back on all the years (20+ years and being in the IT career)...I’ve rarely had to upgrade much of anything in my devices. When the machine was too slow, I just bought a new one.
That leads me to my next point. When you’re ready to upgrade to the next big thing, I can foresee so many uses for this unit. You can reconfigure it as a mini set top box, NAS, firewall, dev box, emulation station, etc. the possibilities are limitless.
Other cool features:
- you can reassign the LEDs in the front for other functions instead of power, hdd, network. You can set each independently as CPU load, power load, and a
few others. Or you turn them all off.
- the unit already has a slew of ports on the front and rear. To my surprise, there are more internal connectors in case you want to expand it with a custom DYI case mod. If you have access to a 3D printer, that is certainly a possibility. You’ll need to supply your own cables but they look standard.
- having 2 m2 slots for your NVMe drives is super convenient. I have one configured for Linux/OSX and and the other for Windows 10. Switching between the 2 OS is way better than using bootcamp via OSX.
I haven’t tried testing vSphere on it. If there’s enough interest, I’ll do it.
There’s nothing like this on the market in this form factor. I’m seriously considering buying another just so I can play games in my living room. It’s that good!
| Standing screen display size | 1 |
|---|---|
| Processor | 3.1 GHz apple_ci7 |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 1090 MHz |
| Hard Drive | SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Radeon™ RX Vega M GH Graphics |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 32 GB |
| Wireless Type | 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11g |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 5 |
