Intel NUC 12 i5 Mini PC (16GB+512GB)

This device replaced my 5 year-old, larger desktop. My motivation was to have a quiet, small form factor and more powerful machine for home use.The initial Windows 11 boot up was smooth and I easily installed all the applications I used previously. This included a 2004 version of Quicken and 2010 MS desktop. To increase the overall memory capacity I added a separate 500GB SSD, see photo, to increase the overall memory to 1TB. In addition, I purchased a CD drive to assist in application installation and some Thunderbolt 4 to USB 3.2 adapters. You will also need to purchase a power cord to connect the transformer to you home outlet. This evidently frees Intel from having to have different version for international sales. All these items are available on AmazonMy current setupFrontUSB 3.2 – unusedUSB 3.2 – unusedBack:Thunderbolt 4 - SSDThunderbolt 4 with USB adapter - cameraHDMI – monitorHDMI – unusedUSB 3.2 – mouseUSB 2.0 – keyboardRJ45 - UnusedWireless – printerWhat I really like is the large number of high performance connections. This provides a lot of flexibility for new devices. For example, I can easily connect my slide scanner or CD drive to the front when needed. I’m not a gamer, so I can comment on that performance aspect. The most processing intensive application I perform is 35mm slide scanning. This requires multiple scans per slide, specifically visible light, Infrared, for dust removal and a third scan to remove inherent scan jitter. The scan time is much less than my previous I5-8400 series processor. It’s also very quiet, even when the fan runs occasionally.Overall it looks sharp, performs well and is very well made.

Do you dislike big box computers with their piles of cables? I certainly do! That is why I was attracted to this Intel Nuc. Take a look at the pictures attached to this review. Only two cables attached! An HDMI cable to the monitor and a power cable to the Nuc. Well yes, the monitor also has a power cable. So there is actually three cables. Still a very clean setup.I added a Dell Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse combo KM7321W which is working great with my Nuc. A bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo keeps the three USB A ports open and available and banishes unsightly keyboard and mouse cables. This Nuc also has two super fast Thunderbolt 3 / USB C ports. One on the front one on the back. The back also contains an HDMI port and an ethernet port.The Nuc is protected by a three year warranty.The i7 Nucs have plenty of power to browse the web, edit photos with Affinity Photo, design posters with Affinity Designer and work with Microsoft Office.I have my Nuc connected to a Dell 4k 32 inch curved monitor. It is a great platform for watching 4k youtube videos.My brother connected an external gpu (Graphic Processing Unit) to his i7 Intel Nuc. He has been playing graphically intense games without an issue.Thanks to Amazon Prime you won't have to wait long to receive an Intel Nuc if you so choose.

So far this is looking like a great investment. My wife does not game, so it was perfect for her desktop and replaced an older i5 that was actually running like new from 10 years gone. 10 years seems like a good benchmark. I'll let you know then that comes around.

I'm a ham radio operator. Though my primary computers are Macs, most ham radio software is Windows-based. I needed a small form factor Windows PC to run multiple ham radio apps with several monitors. This Intel NUC 11 with Windows 11 is serving me well! It's a small form factor on my rather busy desk and supporting multiple ham radios and monitors. The i7 chip and 32GB of memory are more than enough to have several apps running concurrently. This NUC PC has proven to be reliable and easy to maintain with Intel's driver update features.

I was so looking forward to replacing a laptop with this Mini PC - all the power and most importantly - all the ports right there in the unit! Unfortunately this unit suffers from all kinds of issues. I had purchased a GEEKOM unit but sent it back as the USB C ports did not work. I bit the bullet and spent lots more for this model only to discover that the USB Port issue is here too! So now I have tries 3 ASUS NUV Pro Mini PCs only to discover that they all have this issue. STAY AWAY! I just ordered the Lenovo Mini-PC and hope that my search is over and there are no issues with this one. At least is has a totally different motherboard - should be a great solution.BTW - The company this unit came from claimed GREAT AFTER SALE SERVICE but I have not seen any of it.

I am completely amazed at how compact this setup is. Especially considering it has an I7 processor and room for a 2nd hard drive. Sure, it doesn’t have any CD ROM or an abundance of USB ports, etc, but who actually uses CD’s or DVD’s anymore. You could always get external if you needed it. The only thing I added was a 7 port external USB hub mounted remotely.This is one single complaint I have and that’s related to upgrading to Windows11. This came with the Windows 10 system Partition locked. Because of this, every time I tried to do the free upgrade to W11 I would get an error that my machine didn’t meet the minimum requirements, when it in fact does. I went through a lot, and a lot of time, trying to get it to upgrade. It also wouldn’t upgrade to the latest version of W10 so something had to be done. I searched for a solution and even went to Microsoft’s NUC site for help. Nothing covered it. I wound up buying a second hard drive that was blank and I was able to manually load Windows 11 on to it. Right after getting it all loaded up on the fresh drive, I finally found a YouTube video that showed the steps needed to unlock the System Partition.It is all up and running now but I can say that what should have been a quick, simple, download and upgrade, was a huge pain. Especially when everything about the upgrade is automatic when you first boot the computer, but fails right at the end of the installation.