How to Buy an Intel® NUC

As we all hunker down and start a serious foray into work from home lifestyles, some of us are still interested in building our own computers. DIY mods are a large part of the desktop market, and you can sometimes save a lot of money by putting your own PC together.

What is it?

This is why Intel® is invested so heavily in the NUC brand. NUC stands for Next Unit of Computing, a small form factor that Intel® invented, which is a system that uses a barebones compact motherboard/slot combo that allows near total customization. You want great RAM? Add your own. You want a faster PCIe SSD drive? Help yourself. The initial push for NUCs was to create your own computer for less than a packaged system (check out our last article on NUCs here, which explains how to put one together in minutes.
There are now Intel® NUCs for a variety of needs. There are business NUCs that handled mostly high-powered business applications (like the Intel® NUC 8 Business Mini Desktop) gaming (the Intel® NUC 8 VR NUC8I7HNK Gaming Mini PC) or general application uses (you can search for all NUCs here). Most come as barebones system—you have to supply a monitor, RAM, storage and operating system, which can get pricey, depending on your needs.