At my age (77 y/o) I am astounded by the progress of computing/digital technology - and especially data storage - since I purchased both my first PC (an original IBM-PC with a pair of 360K, 5.25" floppy disk drives and 256K of RAM), and my first CD player, in 1984. I was 42 y/o at that time!
Intel NUC's are small desktop PCs built around laptop CPU's, HDDs or SDDs, and compact DIMM memory. I believe that Intel sells most of them as "barebones" meaning they need data storage, memory, and an OS to be usable. This creates excellent opportunities for value-added resellers or hobbyists, and makes customization simple without having to pay for things you don't want, and then remove and replace them. For the new NUC, I will use an old Windows license from an old laptop that is not worth repairing.
My HTPC is a five year-old Intel Celeron CPU NUC5CPYH in a dual-boot configuration that runs either either Daphile (for music) or LibreElec/Kodi (for video.) It's not very powerful, but works fine for all of my audio files, which are 24/96 FLAC maximum. It also serves adequately for the 1080p video with two channel audio that I watch on a 40" LCD TV. My older, slower NUC with it's 32Gb SSD and access to my Synology NAS, is perfectly suitable for streaming bit-perfect digital audio via USB to my Topping DX7s DAC/HA in my small room with its seven-foot ceiling. If anyone is looking for a low-cost solution similar to my HTPCAudio PC, these older Celeron NUCs are a very reliable bargain.
My new desktop PC - still "under construction" - is a tiny 4.6" x 4.4" x 2" tall Intel NUC8i7BEH ($350, "used, like new" barebones unit from Amazon). Storage is a 1Tb M.2 SSD ($96). I am currently waiting for a pair of double-row 8Gb DIMMs ($67) to finish the build, and will use a recycled copy of the Windows 10 OS. My total cost will be about $550 including the shipping (forwarding) of the separate components to Panama. I hope to sell the Lenovo for $300, making this a $250 upgrade from a much bigger Lenovo ThinkCentre desktop PC to a powerful little NUC that takes up very little space on my desktop. It's also nice to have a pair of laptop-style pinhole microphones on the front for Skype or WhatsApp phone calls (using the WhatsApp Windows companion app).
My much larger (14" x 14" x 3.5") Lenovo Intel i7 ThinkCentre has an internal DVD/CD drive, but the NUC has no space for an internal optical disk drive. Indeed, the NUC's footprint is actually a fair bit smaller than the $22 external CD/DVD read/write unit (5.6" x 5.6") that is also on its way to me.
The external USB-3 external DVD/CD drive will be kept in a desk drawer for the rare occasions when I need to read and/or rip or copy anything to SS storage. I didn't get BluRay capability because decent units start at about $70-80. I can download BD movies via torrent or my newsgroup reader if that shows up as a problem and I am not able to read or rip a physical disk. I will also rip any remaining CD's and DVD's from my closet, and store the files on my NAS with a physically separated external SSD for backup.
My new NUC will be used for everyday general computer work and for audio file edting. I have many thousands of audio files in various formats and bit rates that I have collected over 20+ years. I normally replace what I can with new downloads, but enjoy editing. I use a combination of "Ant Renamer" for batch file renaming, "Music Brainz Picard" for auto-replacing or adding metadata based on streaming industry standards. I also use "Directory Opus," an excellent Australian dual-pane file manager, for handling the files and organizing the whole mess.
The NUC is not yet finished, because I accidentally ordered desktop DIMMs, and those memory modules were longer than the NUC is wide. The 80mm 1Tb M.2 drive is tiny, and installed. There is actually room for a 2.5" HDD or SDD in the tall NUC, but I purchased the tall version just to have a little extra space for cooling. (You can also purchase aftermarket lids - LINK - with USB, HDMI, Ethernet, VGA or RS232 ports with cables that connect inside the NUC.)
The 8th generation i7 Intel NUCs have a reputation for running hot, and are not really suitable for serious gaming or video editing, because they are too small and do not have slots for super high-performance graphics cards. And the efforts I have seen to add more cooling were not very effective.
But for my general and audio editing purposes - and probably also for anyone who wants to play back hi-res audio and video files, a NUC like mine is perfect. (One reviewer preferred the lower rated NUC8i5 version, and said that he found the performance difference to be minimal, and it ran cooler. He suggested that even the latest i3 might work for many users.)
Let's use this thread for general Intel NUC discussions - especially for those of us who live in the Americas. Intel will be around for a while, and NUCs already have a history of good long-term support and continuing development and evolution. I think they are an excellent match for many of the new compact high performance audio components, and NUCs support many operating systems.
Intel NUC's are small desktop PCs built around laptop CPU's, HDDs or SDDs, and compact DIMM memory. I believe that Intel sells most of them as "barebones" meaning they need data storage, memory, and an OS to be usable. This creates excellent opportunities for value-added resellers or hobbyists, and makes customization simple without having to pay for things you don't want, and then remove and replace them. For the new NUC, I will use an old Windows license from an old laptop that is not worth repairing.
My HTPC is a five year-old Intel Celeron CPU NUC5CPYH in a dual-boot configuration that runs either either Daphile (for music) or LibreElec/Kodi (for video.) It's not very powerful, but works fine for all of my audio files, which are 24/96 FLAC maximum. It also serves adequately for the 1080p video with two channel audio that I watch on a 40" LCD TV. My older, slower NUC with it's 32Gb SSD and access to my Synology NAS, is perfectly suitable for streaming bit-perfect digital audio via USB to my Topping DX7s DAC/HA in my small room with its seven-foot ceiling. If anyone is looking for a low-cost solution similar to my HTPCAudio PC, these older Celeron NUCs are a very reliable bargain.
My new desktop PC - still "under construction" - is a tiny 4.6" x 4.4" x 2" tall Intel NUC8i7BEH ($350, "used, like new" barebones unit from Amazon). Storage is a 1Tb M.2 SSD ($96). I am currently waiting for a pair of double-row 8Gb DIMMs ($67) to finish the build, and will use a recycled copy of the Windows 10 OS. My total cost will be about $550 including the shipping (forwarding) of the separate components to Panama. I hope to sell the Lenovo for $300, making this a $250 upgrade from a much bigger Lenovo ThinkCentre desktop PC to a powerful little NUC that takes up very little space on my desktop. It's also nice to have a pair of laptop-style pinhole microphones on the front for Skype or WhatsApp phone calls (using the WhatsApp Windows companion app).
My much larger (14" x 14" x 3.5") Lenovo Intel i7 ThinkCentre has an internal DVD/CD drive, but the NUC has no space for an internal optical disk drive. Indeed, the NUC's footprint is actually a fair bit smaller than the $22 external CD/DVD read/write unit (5.6" x 5.6") that is also on its way to me.
The external USB-3 external DVD/CD drive will be kept in a desk drawer for the rare occasions when I need to read and/or rip or copy anything to SS storage. I didn't get BluRay capability because decent units start at about $70-80. I can download BD movies via torrent or my newsgroup reader if that shows up as a problem and I am not able to read or rip a physical disk. I will also rip any remaining CD's and DVD's from my closet, and store the files on my NAS with a physically separated external SSD for backup.
My new NUC will be used for everyday general computer work and for audio file edting. I have many thousands of audio files in various formats and bit rates that I have collected over 20+ years. I normally replace what I can with new downloads, but enjoy editing. I use a combination of "Ant Renamer" for batch file renaming, "Music Brainz Picard" for auto-replacing or adding metadata based on streaming industry standards. I also use "Directory Opus," an excellent Australian dual-pane file manager, for handling the files and organizing the whole mess.
The NUC is not yet finished, because I accidentally ordered desktop DIMMs, and those memory modules were longer than the NUC is wide. The 80mm 1Tb M.2 drive is tiny, and installed. There is actually room for a 2.5" HDD or SDD in the tall NUC, but I purchased the tall version just to have a little extra space for cooling. (You can also purchase aftermarket lids - LINK - with USB, HDMI, Ethernet, VGA or RS232 ports with cables that connect inside the NUC.)
The 8th generation i7 Intel NUCs have a reputation for running hot, and are not really suitable for serious gaming or video editing, because they are too small and do not have slots for super high-performance graphics cards. And the efforts I have seen to add more cooling were not very effective.
But for my general and audio editing purposes - and probably also for anyone who wants to play back hi-res audio and video files, a NUC like mine is perfect. (One reviewer preferred the lower rated NUC8i5 version, and said that he found the performance difference to be minimal, and it ran cooler. He suggested that even the latest i3 might work for many users.)
Let's use this thread for general Intel NUC discussions - especially for those of us who live in the Americas. Intel will be around for a while, and NUCs already have a history of good long-term support and continuing development and evolution. I think they are an excellent match for many of the new compact high performance audio components, and NUCs support many operating systems.