Overall and Final Verdict
I set out today to see what the Intel NUC was all about and give a little peak inside of my personal HTPC build. Because of that I won’t be posting up pro’s and con’s on any of the products that went into the build. But I did want to address the title I gave this article. There has always been a group of people who have been looking to build the biggest and best PC in the smallest possible form factor. Over the past 5 years or so things have really started to gain traction and it has gone from just a few enthusiasts challenging themselves to everyday people getting the same experience. In my opinion the Intel NUC is the next big step forward. A few years ago if you wanted a small Barebones PC you went with a Shuttle. Now you can get the same thing in a package that is literally smaller than the disc drive you would put in that Shuttle.
Add to that just how well they perform, I have seriously considered building a NUC to take out to LANs. Sure I can’t play everything, but at the last few events I have played TF2, Unturned, LoL, and Minecraft, all are more than capable of being played on the NUC. With Gigabyte bringing out a BRIX (their version of the NUC) with a GTX 760M inside I think we might be getting a peak at what some of us might be using for LAN rigs in the next few years!
So what does it all cost? You could build the exact same configuration I put together right now for $639 on amazon. That is without an OS and you would need another $149 for the Logitech Smart Keyboard. If you dropped the SSD down to a 120 GB and to 8 Gigs of RAM you could put it together for $435. Personally I would go with the cheaper build unless you had a real need for the larger capacity.
