While the NUC is a fine machine (I own the previous gen) consider getting a workstation (I am on my second one in 8 years - https://h41360.www4.hp.com/pps-offer

While the NUC is a fine machine (I own the previous gen) consider getting a workstation (I am on my second one in 8 years - https://h41360.www4.hp.com/pps-offers.php?prod_cat=workstations https://h41360.www4.hp.com/pps-offers.php?prod_cat=workstati...) for below advantages - 1) You get ECC memory and can opt for a Xeon CPU which multi tasks way better than Core versions in my experience. (NUC is space constrained so less thermal headroom thus slower sustained performance and the need for a noisier fan.) 2) Substantially better build quality - for added benefit my tower z230 sounds much quieter than the NUC which I have to keep on the desk. 3)The prices are not that higher than the fully loaded NUC for the features you get - for example $787 for 256GB SSD, 16GB ECC RAM, 1TB disk latest Xeon E3 and GPU built in. 4) I am not sure if you want RAID for data protection but sounds like you are careful - so the workstation I mentioned above gets you 5 disk bays - one SSD and 4xRAID is great to have. Not an option with the NUC. 5) It comes with a Windows license unlike the NUC and you get a Enterprise grade warranty for a year which you can extend for very reasonable price. I am constantly delighted by my Z230 - it is fast, reliable and allows me to multi task quite heavily without any slowdowns.