Things like the Dell Optiplex Micro and Lenovo Mini ThinkCenters can provide a similar experience. Generally I have found that they haven't had any major noise

Things like the Dell Optiplex Micro and Lenovo Mini ThinkCenters can provide a similar experience. Generally I have found that they haven't had any major noise issues but a part of that was being very conservative with clock rates. NUC isn't exactly the same as those, it is designed to be much more user upgradable and the price was very competitive. But even nowadays it is surprising to see them in the wild because they just aren't that common.