3 ms·

How do you like the NUC? I have been toying with the idea of buying a mini computer like that. I don't really want a full-size desktop tower, but I also don't r

How do you like the NUC? I have been toying with the idea of buying a mini computer like that. I don't really want a full-size desktop tower, but I also don't really want to go the route of a laptop in a docking station.

jagger27 8y ago
As someone who works on an older NUC all day, do yourself a favour a get the highest end one you can afford. The J5005 CPU is an absolute piece of shit. Otherwise they're fine computers if you don't care about graphics performance.
- war1025 8y ago
  In fact I don't care about graphics performance. Thanks for the tip. Not sure if I'll ever actually go through with buying one, but seems like a neat idea anyway.
zanny 8y ago
I have a PC business on the side and I love selling people NUCs. Few or no moving parts to break, you can often mount them on the backs of monitors, performance has been good enough for ~4 years for 99% of desktop tasks. If not for the inexplicable price premium they'd be perfect for anyone except if you need a lot of storage, dedicated video, or expansion slots.
- war1025 8y ago
  Yea, I was surprised how expensive they were. It seems like there should be cheaper options given how little laptops cost these days and them using basically laptop hardware from what I've read.
  - zanny 8y ago
    They are a fairly niche product. The only real demographic buying them in bulk from consumer outfits are small businesses without big contracts to HP / Dell, the one in a million informed tech "muggle" who knows how to install their own OS, and small IT shops that recognize how practical they are. You can get some of them with a preinstall of Windows but because they aren't made by the big builders who stock Best Buy and Walmart shelves they don't often show up in front of consumers faces to buy, much like Linux desktops. But Dell / HP / etc have no real reason to risk their business investing in their own NUCs because theres nothing really competing with them in their spaces for that kind of hardware, and they already make the all in one computers that are about one notch too far up the "unmoddable" ladder for most of us to be content with.
    - war1025 8y ago
      Thanks for the super-informative replies. One of the nice things about HN is there is always someone that knows about some niche topic.

jagger27 8y ago

As someone who works on an older NUC all day, do yourself a favour a get the highest end one you can afford. The J5005 CPU is an absolute piece of shit. Otherwise they're fine computers if you don't care about graphics performance.

war1025 8y ago
In fact I don't care about graphics performance. Thanks for the tip. Not sure if I'll ever actually go through with buying one, but seems like a neat idea anyway.

zanny 8y ago

I have a PC business on the side and I love selling people NUCs. Few or no moving parts to break, you can often mount them on the backs of monitors, performance has been good enough for ~4 years for 99% of desktop tasks. If not for the inexplicable price premium they'd be perfect for anyone except if you need a lot of storage, dedicated video, or expansion slots.

war1025 8y ago
Yea, I was surprised how expensive they were. It seems like there should be cheaper options given how little laptops cost these days and them using basically laptop hardware from what I've read.
- zanny 8y ago
  They are a fairly niche product. The only real demographic buying them in bulk from consumer outfits are small businesses without big contracts to HP / Dell, the one in a million informed tech "muggle" who knows how to install their own OS, and small IT shops that recognize how practical they are. You can get some of them with a preinstall of Windows but because they aren't made by the big builders who stock Best Buy and Walmart shelves they don't often show up in front of consumers faces to buy, much like Linux desktops. But Dell / HP / etc have no real reason to risk their business investing in their own NUCs because theres nothing really competing with them in their spaces for that kind of hardware, and they already make the all in one computers that are about one notch too far up the "unmoddable" ladder for most of us to be content with.
  - war1025 8y ago
    Thanks for the super-informative replies. One of the nice things about HN is there is always someone that knows about some niche topic.