Did alot of research on a barebones system to replace a home desktop. We have Zotacs at work so am familiar with them. Almost purchased the Gigabyte Brix as it seems to be a great little box. At home, was using a Dell Studio i7 with an external monitor, wireless keyboard/mouse as my desktop system. No problem except that I got tired of the fan noise and unhooking everything when I needed to lug the laptop around. A pillbox solution seemed to be the way to go. Intel has already introduced 3 generations of the NUC and this celeron is of the 1st generation. I was really planning on getting the i3 Haswell version which came out this Fall. Then, when evaluating everything, especially the price ($151) of this celeron version, I decided to go with it and I am very glad I did. It came in yesterday and within an hour I had removed the lid and installed 2x2gb RAM modules, 64gb mSata drive, and loaded Windows 8.1 via a usb stick (8.1 OEM ordered with the NUC along with 2x2gb of Crucial RAM and mSata). I immediately updated BIOS and the Intel NUC drivers and let Windows do it's update thing. Used it extensively last night with MS Office apps, left it on to run all night and then checked everything this morning. I powered it down this morning and cold booted it and the windows login screen came up in about 5 seconds! Processor with 4gb of RAM (in 2x2gb modules) is very efficient and navigates as fast as my i7. The little box is very quiet. I set the fan to the "quiet" mode in the BIOS and am very pleased with the definitive quietness of this little system. Goals met!!
So, all my goals are met with this little marvel. I usually go for the latest and fastest technology. But for the $151 basic investment for the NUC, plus $40 for the RAM and $50 for the mSata, I have a nifty little desktop for less than $250. My configuration is with a 27 inch HD monitor on HDMI port 1 and my 55 inch plasma TV on HDMI2, logitech wireless keyboard / mouse combo, and wired ethernet connection. I didn't need heavier duty graphics for HD playback, however, this little NUC handles 1080p streaming very well via XBMC, no stutter!! I don't have a home theater setup but do stream alot of stuff, and it does streaming like a dream. I plan to use it also as a XBMC OpenElec Box by booting from a usb flash drive. It also gets great reviews in that regard. For my business productivity needs it is excellent, and speed is not compromised in business apps when I compare it to my i7 laptop.
BTW, I advise being careful with the boxing of this unit. It was delivered to my office and I opened it there. Then when arriving at home I was getting out my truck with the box in my hand and the little drawer came open and the NUC crashed to the concrete floor of my garage. It took a lick on the upper corner and nicked the aluminum. I had already installed the mSata and RAM so I was very anxious to test the unit since the drop. I plugged everything up, booted the NUC, and it showed NO signs of the drop. So, I can definitely attest to the sturdy construction of this little unit. By using an aluminum enclosure this little unit is very sturdy and it's weight gives evidence of its sturdy construction. Concerning the box, since is a drawer-like function to open the box, if you are holding the box and tilt the box the wrong way the drawer simply falls open and the contents dump out. Thankfully, I had very little damage and the little motherboard, mSata drive and RAM, along with the solid state construction all passed the drop-test with flying colors!
Obviously I highly recommend this NUC 847. Go for an i3 or i5 if you want more graphics power for a true home theater setup, but for basic business computing that handles HD streaming you can't beat the economics of this little box. Again, for $151? That's a bargain with very little compromise, if any, in performance.
| Processor | 1.1 GHz celeron |
|---|---|
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel Iris 6100 |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11bgn |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
