With this being our first look at any Shuttle products we were rather intrigued and excited as to what we’d discover. Shuttle has a solid reputation in the world of SFF and we can understand why this is the case.

The NC01U5 is a well-built mini-PC which has a small footprint thanks to its chassis and inner components. Due to the physical dimensions and weight of this unit, fitting it into tight spaces or even transporting it won’t be an issue at all.

Some may question Shuttle’s decision to opt for an Intel Broadwell-based system over Skylake – well the NC01U was released before Skylake mobile CPUs hit the scene. It’s also worth noting that DDR3L is much easier to source in the SODIMM variety and will be much cheaper to supply. Both Broadwell and Skylake use the same 14nm process and there isn’t a huge gulf in performance difference anyway. Shuttle do provide consumers with the option to utilise a number of different processors, ranging from the Celeron, to the Core i7.

In our experience with the NC01U, we found the unit very easy to access to install the necessary hardware as we’ve shown in the below video. It’s great to see both M.2 and SATA-based storage being implemented within the system as this gives plenty of flexibility. Given the layout and options, it would be wise decision to use an M.2 as the primary operating system drive and use a larger capacity SSD for the bulk of storage.


Areas which could be improved are the fact this unit lacks the infrared capabilities – whilst not all users will be using a controller, having the option to use one is invaluable for multimedia control. The unit also produces quite a bit if noise once the fan is spinning at full speed; this may be irritating to some users especially if the activities they’re engaging in are low-volume.

Priced at £300 GBP / $445 USD – the NC01U5 arrives with the Intel Core i5-5200U. There are cheaper options to go with, such as the inexpensive Celeron configuration which sits at just £100. The model we’ve looked at today with the Intel Broadwell chip is a good value for money option for good all-round performance.

With its sleek and compact exterior the Shuttle NC01U5 is able to handle everyday tasks with ease and is the ideal accompaniment for any home-entertainment system.





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