Review on 🖥️ Intel NUC 8 Mainstream Kit (NUC8i3BEH) - Core i3, Tall, Additional Components Required by Erick Hernandez

Having owned an Intel i5 NUC since 2015, I was looking for an i7 model to attach to the back of a monitor in my office. At first, I only considered small form factor (SFF) computers with discrete graphics cards: Intel Hades and Diablo Canyon NUC, PCs from Shuttle, Zotac, etc. Ultimately, the question was whether it was worth the extra $1,000 discretely to have graphics card on a PC with a VESA mount on the monitor. The cost of a small form factor PC with a discrete GPU is high. You'll spend over $2,000 for a moderately powerful PC. So do you need a discrete graphics card? If that's the case and cost isn't an issue, consider Intel Hades Canyon or one of the lesser-known manufacturers. For most gamers, a smaller gaming desktop at a much lower price is better. If you're looking for a tiny PC to serve as your home media server, this might be the machine for you. There is a slight intermittent fan noise, but it's almost imperceptible. I originally wanted a PC with a discrete GPU for photo editing. Photoshop is one of the few non-gaming applications that uses fast graphics. But the cost of a small form factor PC and a discrete graphics card eventually drew me to this little machine, and I'm happy with the purchase. When I bought it, Revain was selling it for $360. In addition to the NUC, I have a 1TB M.2 SSD for one slot, a second 1TB SATA SSD for the second larger enclosure, two 16GB RAM sticks (32GB total), and Windows 10 Purchased Pro from an online source. The total cost was less than $900. I attached the NUC to my monitor using a VESA mounting bracket (included with Intel). It's a fast little machine - with Photoshop it feels as fast as my SurfaceBook with a discrete GPU. The m.2 drive shines and thanks to the Thunderbolt 3 connection, I was able to transfer files at lightning speed. To be honest, for the price I'm not sure I could do better on a desktop with similar specs. And the last. Note: I was considering an Apple Mini, but it's not on par with this one in terms of value. A Mac Mini i5 with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD costs $1,099. It's a smaller processor, a quarter the RAM, and an eighth the storage for an additional $300. Add the options needed to make the Mac Mini on par with the machine I've built (i7 8. Don't believe me? See for yourself - it's a Mac Mini with Intel UHD630 graphics, not Iris Plus Graphics 655.