Putting Together a NUC- Suggestions

• 

  Axelstrife on 28/04/2015 - 16:54

  why not get a laptop or build desktop? or do you really want a small pc?

  • 

    mparf on 28/04/2015 - 16:56

    I'm not a fan of laptops, not really sure why, but i'd rather avoid it if I can.

    I'm also trying to minimize the amount of crap that's in my room, which is why he suggested a NUC, as it's very small and easily hideable.

• 

  mrmarkau67 on 28/04/2015 - 17:04

  +1

  That specification will fly. You'll have a very compact PC that should last you a few years.

  If you wanted to get a bit more flexibility, you could have someone like MSY build you a desktop in a slightly larger case. That would allow you to add more drives, more RAM and a dedicated GPU if you ever decide to take up "serious" gaming. http://www.msy.com.au/SYSTEMS/INTELAMD-ENTERTAINMENT2.pdf

  • 

    mparf on 28/04/2015 - 17:11

    Thanks so much for your advice!

    Do you think that particular pricepoint- $900ish, is a good price for what I wanna do, or is a bit expensive, and i should replace parts to cheaper alternatives?
    (i might also have a chat to MSY as well)

    • 

      mrmarkau67 on 28/04/2015 - 17:52

      +4

      If by "entertainment" you mean music and video, it is over specified. Almost any Intel processor of the current generation has some dedicated circuitry that will make music and (especially) video run smoothly. So you could downgrade to an i3 and barely notice. This could save you $150 or so. This is what I'd do.

      You probably don't need 8GB of RAM. You could save $50 by going with 4GB now and upgrading later if you need it. 2 x 4GB performs better than 1 x 8GB anyway. I use 8GB myself, but that's only because I use VMs, which you probably won't use.

      Given there is an SSD specified, the HDD is over-speced. You could easily live with a "blue" or "green" class HDD rather than a "black". Or if you don't have a huge library of videos, you don't even need a HDD. This could save you $50 to $100. I'd keep the HDD but go for "blue" or "green" class.

      You could also save another $50 by going with a 120GB SSD rather than a 240GB. This is what I'd do.

      And people often over-invest in CPU and RAM and under-invest in monitor, keyboard and mouse. If you don't already own a beautiful monitor, you could use the savings outlined above to grab yourself one.

      • 

        mrmarkau67 on 28/04/2015 - 18:07

        And if you really wanted to go cheap and compact, you could get this for $199 and still be very entertained:

        http://www.mwave.com.au/product/pc-on-a-stick-with-windows-8…

      • 

        mparf on 28/04/2015 - 18:09

        thanks so much, you've been a great help!
        i'll definitely take your suggestions on board when I purchase everything.

        I'm definitely looking forward to the screen now. I've got a 24inch one at the moment but I'm looking at getting a 27inch and wall mounting it. :D

• 

  kipps on 28/04/2015 - 19:27

  Very nice build.

  Why wall mount a 27" screen?

  If it's for entertainment purposes mostly (assuming watching TV, etc), why not consider a bigger screen (TV size)?

  I'm looking at buying an i3 NUC with an Evo M2 SSD and 4GB RAM soon for a HTPC to replace a massive ATX tower (Phenom II X4 beast).

  • 

    mparf on 28/04/2015 - 21:06

    I fear a 32inch might be too big for my bedroom and that it'll cause viewing hassles when I'm writing.
    27inch seems to be a decent size- i dont have a big bedroom either, so it'll be a decent viewing screen size from my bed to the screen (about 4 meters)

• 

  [Deactivated] on 28/04/2015 - 20:43

  -2

  Why not get a 1TB SSD and drop the hard drive?

  • 

    mparf on 28/04/2015 - 21:06

    Because I literally have no idea what the difference is and pros/cons of either are ahaha, which is why I'm asking OB for advice!

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 28/04/2015 - 21:23

      -1

      Get a laptop dude.

• 

  woodwa on 29/04/2015 - 08:20

  +2

  the Gigabyte Brix are a great alternative

  and if your not doing games or other apps an i5 seems like expensive overkill a Celron would do.. or an i3 if you want to be sure to future proof things..

  BRIXGB-BXCEH-2955 or BRIXGB-BXI3H-4010 ($210 or $329)
  4Gb ram
  1Gb HDD
  should come in at $300-$400

  add linux for free.. but you do need to accept that some streaming websites don't like linux…

• 

  bradsmrbetty on 29/04/2015 - 09:13

  +1

  I will share my experience with owning a Gigabyte Brix J1900. Mine is the quad core celeron version, it boots up in seconds with an SSD (60gb Kingston) it would be even faster if I didn't have a dual boot.
  It draws about 10 watts at idle and 14 at light- moderate load such as word documents etc. I haven't done any gaming or stress testing, so I cannot comment on the performance under heavy load.

  I bought mine in a shopping express trifecta deal so I think it was less than 150 for the barebones system. SSD was about $40 on sale and RAM was about $70-75. So under $300

  The celeron quad is very responsive so unless you are intending on reversing your gaming/video editing choice, I personally wouldn't buy a more expensive one.

  The more expensive NUC obviously comes with a faster cpu. Also they have msata and more usb 3.0 ports.

  If you buy a barebobe kit they're very easy to install RAM and SSD/HDD.

  Go to your local computer shop that sells NUC and buy the RAM get them to install it and test it.

  I had a lot of trouble getting RAM to work from the online shops as mine was 1333 ddr3l and only some 1600 ddr3l RAM will work. I know this is ozbargain but do yourself a favor and go to a shop and pay the extra $20 for a lot less stress.

  Just my experience, good luck.

• 

  iminabrons on 29/04/2015 - 20:01

  +1

  I've owned two Intel NUCs for a period of just over a year. This was a couple of years ago and I thought I would be happier with the smallest full blown PC rather than the most powerful PC. Before the NUCs was my Zotac ZBox E350.
  I sold that as soon as I saw the NUC with the Intel i3 which I then sold a few months later to get the Intel i5 NUC d54250wyk 8GB memory low voltage, 256 GB Intel SSD and the Intel AC 7260. That was great, so small and fast what could be better than that I thought and then the PC/tablet world was turned around with the advent of the Surface Pro which to my mind was a NUC with it's own screen!
  So I sold my NUC for $630 on eBay and bought a new Surface Pro from HN with Touch Pad for $695. Granted the NUC has 4 USB 3.0 ports and an ethernet port etc. that the Surface Pro doesn't have but that was solved by buying a 7 port 'MBeat' USB hub ( 4 x USB 3.0 + 3 x USB2.0 ) for $35 on eBay. They can also be bought from Officeworks for $45. I also bought a USB to ethernet adapter which I never use.
  I've had a Lenovo NAS for media files which was a pain and I later sold it. I now only use a 1TB WD Passport and a USB 3.0 Docking station which has 2 x 2TB WD Blue HDDs. This set up is so efficient in it's simplicity but manages to do all that I need.
  I also make use of the Netgear PTV3000 Push2TV wireless display adapter when it suits me. Here's the thing though when I need to take my Surface Pro with me to use it elsewhere I simply take off the power, USB and Display cables lead and I'm on my way. This is just not possible with the NUC and when you factor in that you can buy a Surface Pro 1 for just over $400 on eBay thus saving $500 or if it was me with $900 to spend I would by a used Surface Pro 3 for about that price right now.

• 

  mrmarkau67 on 04/05/2015 - 12:11

  If you didn't buy already, here's a nice option:

  http://www.graysonline.com/sale/2147141/computers-it-equipme…