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Replace Laptop: NUC + Portable Monitor

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  1. #31

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    updates on the NUC idea.

    So I plonked in 5k to get it done, about 3k plus for the nuc and 16gb ram and a $990 potable display plus short portable keyboard and mouse from taobao which runs at about 90rmb. Idea definitely works, as portable as a laptop.

    However I ran into 2 issues
    1. The guy using it can't take the "laptop" to another person in the office to discuss issues they found while working on the excel or PDF documents they are viewing.
    2. I spoke to my regular IT guy in Golden and he said he had customer doing the same stuff and that NUC didn't last (2-3yrs life?) being used as a work horse in the office. He said you can't package something that small without sufficient cooling and not expect it to fry

    So this idea is a dud. Oh well, at least I tried

    shri and jgl like this.

  2. #32

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    I should install some temperature monitoring software on my USFF PCs... my initial impression is that they don't get particularly hot.


  3. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by ycchai:
    He said you can't package something that small without sufficient cooling and not expect it to fry
    That depends a lot on the applications you use. If you use computation-heavy applications the CPU will run hot, and throttles down at that point. While hot will the calculations be done at a lower speed, to avoid further overheating. If you run graphics-heavy applications then the GPU will run hot and throttles down. You would notice that as the monitor would start to stutter and doesn't show video (or games graphics) smoothly.
    But I can't imagine that doing email, web browsing, or spreadsheet work will cause overheating issues.

  4. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by ycchai:
    He said you can't package something that small without sufficient cooling and not expect it to fry
    I think NUC should be okay if doing office work or desktop processing. NUCs generally have proccies with lot lower TDP which is easier to cool. For example, NUCs with 10th gen Intel proccies are rated at 25W - which is pretty efficient.

  5. #35

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    I have had no problem with sub 8 liter PC cases still ticking after a decade.

    And Mac mini is nuc sized and no problem for a decade as well.

    Anecdotally it's the servers or high end desktops with more power hungry components that fail faster.


  6. #36

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    i think the guy probably was talking about earlier generation NUC and especially when you upgrade the windows it just draws computational power doing all the rubbish that windows adds on with each update. Also I wonder if those original heat sink fan last. Normal CPU fans will crap out after 2-3 years


  7. #37

  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by nivek2046:
    These are not NUCs.

    NUC is a very specific USFF product from Intel.
    nivek2046 likes this.

  9. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    These are not NUCs.

    NUC is a very specific USFF product from Intel.
    you're right..

  10. #40

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    its very tempting to get those taobao mini PC but I do question their reliability. like all the parts I buy from taobao, i give them a 30% discount on reliability Like my HDMI to Lan converter crapped out at about 2-3 years but interestingly my SFP to Lan still runs perfectly fine after 5+ years.


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