Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast Mini PC Review: Powerable Power | MMORPG.com

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Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast Mini PC Review: Powerable Power | MMORPG.com

The Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast Edition pairs 12th Generation CPU technologies with Inter's Arc Alchemist GPU architecture in a portable package. Could this be the solution you need for gaming on the go?

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Quizzical

It's for people who insist that they need a gaming desktop as opposed to a game console but want a smaller console-like form factor as opposed to a mid-tower desktop case--and are willing to pay several hundred dollars extra for the form factor as compared to what it would cost to get comparable performance in a more conventional gaming desktop.

This may be a fine product if that's the market you're shopping in, but that's not a big market, and it's a dumb product for anyone else.

WBadger

Quizzical said:

It's for people who insist that they need a gaming desktop as opposed to a game console but want a smaller console-like form factor as opposed to a mid-tower desktop case--and are willing to pay several hundred dollars extra for the form factor as compared to what it would cost to get comparable performance in a more conventional gaming desktop.



This may be a fine product if that's the market you're shopping in, but that's not a big market, and it's a dumb product for anyone else.

It's not really a good product for the market it's trying to put its foot in either. It's trying to put its foot into the SFFPC space which is already a very rough category since enthusiasts have already figured out the maximums and minimums one can fit into the smallest cases. If we're aiming for a portable SFFPC case that can fit into a backpack? This NUC is on the "you went too far to the point that you lost performance that you could have had from beefier components."

For comparison sake, the dimensions for this NUC is 230 mm x 180 mm x 60 mm which likely amounts to about 2.5 liters. Small as hell sure. Definitely fits into a backpack. The components in it though? That's it. Upgradability of a laptop, you're putting storage and changing RAM and that's it.
A velka 5 just to have a baseboard to go against is 177 mm x 99 mm x 285 mm at 4.9 liters. Still small as hell, still fits into a normal sized backpack. Difference is though that Velka 5 can fit an EVGA RTX 3060 ti into it without any issues. (People have even crammed rtx 3070 FEs into that sized case.) That's a gaming pc on the go without the year 1 driver issues that also can still upgrade to future generation mini-ITX gpus.

This NUC struggles with an identity crisis because it wants to be in a space that's already determined the max and minimums of small form factor pcs even though the people who want something to go under their tv are going to get a console because it's cheaper while the people who want a pc in their backpack are probably going to figure out how much pc they can put into their backpack.

Scot

Can I ask for a review of some really big desktops/towers again, big is beautiful.

Quizzical

WBadger said:

Quizzical said:

It's for people who insist that they need a gaming desktop as opposed to a game console but want a smaller console-like form factor as opposed to a mid-tower desktop case--and are willing to pay several hundred dollars extra for the form factor as compared to what it would cost to get comparable performance in a more conventional gaming desktop.



This may be a fine product if that's the market you're shopping in, but that's not a big market, and it's a dumb product for anyone else.

It's not really a good product for the market it's trying to put its foot in either. It's trying to put its foot into the SFFPC space which is already a very rough category since enthusiasts have already figured out the maximums and minimums one can fit into the smallest cases. If we're aiming for a portable SFFPC case that can fit into a backpack? This NUC is on the "you went too far to the point that you lost performance that you could have had from beefier components."

For comparison sake, the dimensions for this NUC is 230 mm x 180 mm x 60 mm which likely amounts to about 2.5 liters. Small as hell sure. Definitely fits into a backpack. The components in it though? That's it. Upgradability of a laptop, you're putting storage and changing RAM and that's it.
A velka 5 just to have a baseboard to go against is 177 mm x 99 mm x 285 mm at 4.9 liters. Still small as hell, still fits into a normal sized backpack. Difference is though that Velka 5 can fit an EVGA RTX 3060 ti into it without any issues. (People have even crammed rtx 3070 FEs into that sized case.) That's a gaming pc on the go without the year 1 driver issues that also can still upgrade to future generation mini-ITX gpus.

This NUC struggles with an identity crisis because it wants to be in a space that's already determined the max and minimums of small form factor pcs even though the people who want something to go under their tv are going to get a console because it's cheaper while the people who want a pc in their backpack are probably going to figure out how much pc they can put into their backpack.

A lot depends on how small of a form factor you want.  This is a lot smaller than conventional small form factor desktops.  Doing that takes custom engineering that greatly restricts the replaceability of parts.  Yes, you're paying a lot extra for that custom engineering, even as compared to a more typical small form factor desktop.

On the bright side, it doesn't actually give you all of the drawbacks of laptops.  Intel didn't feel the need to make this super thin and hence impractical to cool the way that gaming laptop vendors often do.  Nor is it restricted by the size of a keyboard or monitor.  And it will have plenty of connectivity, which laptops often don't.

It's not an appropriate part for very many people.  But for those who want a super small gaming desktop, there aren't a lot of alternatives.

DarkEvilHatred

At that price, I'll stick to my Beast Mode Big Ass Custom Built Desktop.

If you don't save money for it being smaller, I see no point.

I don't live in a tiny dog house.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Incomparable

Why do people want a portable PC that is not a lap top, but costs more and performs less than a desktop PC?

I see a potential by putting everything into a single form factor they stream line everything to work better, however that should also include the operating system and make it similar to a console operating system for better performance.

And it seems that technology is more beneficial to small form factors, less heat generation with better efficiencies , with low resolutions looking good on a small screen for better performance. Yet this intel product is a regular desktop, so the performance will be affected. May be if they could put this into a steam deck like package that would be a home run.