Unveiling the NUC, we have a rather refined mini-PC. The actual dimensions for this unit are a mere: 221 x 39 x 142mm. The outer shell of this unit is enclosed in a plastic cover. The top section has a surface texture which blends from semi-rough honeycomb to a smooth matt design.

All around the edges there is honeycomb mesh ventilation to help discharge unwanted heat from the internal components.


Flipping the NUC over onto its reverse, there is a sturdy metal under carriage which contains the product label with respective serial number.

There is more ventilation on the underside and three large rubber strips which act as feet to prevent the unit from slipping on smooth surfaces.


At the front there is a power button, activity LED, SDXC card reader slot, two USB 3.0 ports – one of which (yellow port) allows users to charge devices such as smartphones and tablets by offering greater power, a HDMI 2.0 port, a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type C port and finally a headphone and microphone jack for audio functionality.

Turning our attention to the rear of the unit there are even more ports to make use of. We have: another audio port – this time optical, the 12-19V DC port which works with the charging unit, two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type C ports, two Mini DP 1.2, twin Gigabit LAN ports, four USB 3.1 Gen2 Type A ports and another HDMI 2.0 port.

So, there are no shortage of I/O ports on this product and if you need plenty of USB ports, you’re unlikely to run out!



Care should always be taken when going inside such a product like this and after removing the necessary screws, it’s fairly easy to gain entry. Initially the top panel unclips from the chassis, which reveals the skull logo and respective LEDs. As shown on the intro page of this review, when powered the skull illuminates.

After detaching the panels on our NUC we can inspect the internal hardware of this mini-PC. All of the components are neatly installed onto a miniscule PCB. Along with our review sample, Intel supplied the storage and memory devices. Usually, if you opt to purchase NUC, it will be on a barebones basis – meaning, that storage and memory need to be purchased separately. So, this unit contains the following:



Based on this configuration, NUC is ideal to use for a home theatre, entertainment and even some gaming as we’re going to see over the following pages. The new RX Vega collaboration lends itself to offering some very capable 3D performance.