Intel NUC11PAHi5 Core i5 Mini Desktop

Note that the rating does NOT include a score for gaming. That is not what these computers will be used for. For the light browsing and general office usage expected, they will be just fine. Ordered them with the i5 processor because it is slightly more energy efficient than the i7 and is not significantly slower.
I bought two units and one of them had an issue doing a restart. It would shut down properly but would not restart correctly. Once I had updated the BIOS with the tool from the Intel website it would restart properly. I though both machines had the same BIOS version, so I don’t know why one of them had this issue.

Excellent price and value for what you get. Worked right out of the box with no issues. I purchased the barebones version and used my own components, but it worked exactly as I expected.

I’ve been using NUC’s since 2014 when I first became aware of them. I always get the ‘barebones’ model and add my own RAM, storage, and OS. (Incidentally, they run every version of Linux I’ve tried without issue, though I also have use them with Windows without issue.) Thus, I’m not reviewing just this NUC 11, but the entire idea behind them, and I’m coming off years of “never a problem”, though there are things I’d change.

First, some background: When Intel introduced the NUC line, there really wasn’t much competition, as I recall, though well-known brands like ASUS started selling similar products. This has changed over the years and now the only competition I see are Chinese brands I’ve never seen before. My issue with those brands (a couple of which have many good reviews) is that one brand (Beelink) wanted someone who was having a problem that Beelink tech support might be the motherboard, and it was too late to return to Amazon, to send the box back to China, where they would fix it and send it back. Even if that works (and it seems Beelink is trying to do right), how long is it going to take for all of that to happen these days. Also, most of the NUC knock-offs are using either very low-end chips or older ones like gen 8 intel chips (3 generations old) or older AMD chips. To be fair, their prices reflect this.

PROS:
1) Because Intel is making these things, they tend to use their products, which means you get high-quality parts such as one of the Intel AX2__ wifi/BT chips and Intel ethernet, etc. Also, the come with Thunderbolt, which many people won’t use but which is great to have. It’s still TB 3, but that’s not uncommon.
2) With each generation (though I skipped from buying a number of NUC 5’s to NUC 10’s and 11’s) the quality and sophistication increases.
3) I have been running a NUC 5 for 7 years without a break, except for automatic windows updates and reboots and have never had an issue – even the fan works fine and I never notice the noise from it, and I sit about 2.5 feet from it.
4) They are about as easy to get into as anything this size can be, and it’s very easy to install/replace RAM, M2 nvme drive, 2.5 inch SATA drive (if you get the “tall” version), etc.
5) While I think the NUC 10’s are OK, those chips aren’t nearly as nice as the 11-gen chips and I find that while they use 4-core chips, those chips perform better than the 6-core 10-gen chips. If you’re debating a less-expensive 10-gen version, I’d suggest you try to get the 11-gen instead.

CONS:
1) I really have no cons about the device. The later generations are obviously much more upscale than the earlier ones, and I have only had one of these fail and that was a 2014 model that I configured for someone who I think didn’t take decent care of it. (Every year or so I use compressed air to clean any lingering stuff from the fan.

BAD NEWS ABOUT AVAILABILITY:
I am including this because if you like this form factor, and don’t want an older system, you should buy now. The reason is that it appears that IBM is abandoning the ‘little box’ form factor, both for barebones and fully-kitted, and moving upscale to larger, much more expensive systems. It seems that the NUC line has never been profitable, but was part of Intel’s attempt (as with motherboards) to try selling to consumers. Starting with the 10-gen (I think) they are now selling a more expensive ‘paperback book’ model (it’s roughly the shape of a paperback book) and a much more expensive gaming system that will take a full-sized graphics card.

I mention that because I do not see any “little box” NUC using a 12-gen CPU. These are still on sale but once they’re gone that may be the end because Intel just doesn’t make any money and apparently neither did the other well-known vendors that tried selling competitors as most of them have dropped out.

There’s nothing not to like…just buy it!