Review: Intel Hades Canyon NUC (NUC8i7HVK)

Conclusion

The Intel NUC has historically done well as an expensive mini PC whose main remit is to provide a good everyday PC experience without, understandably, being any good at gaming. The latest iteration, dubbed Hades Canyon, attempts to change that mindset by pairing a high-quality Intel quad-core CPU with Radeon RX Vega graphics on to a single chip.

The fruits of such an approach makes Hades Canyon a highly competent PC that can also function as a solid gaming machine, albeit limited to a 1080p resolution with today's latest games. Presented in an agreeable form factor, generally quiet, and stocked with all the right ports, Intel further makes it easy to upgrade.

Sounds ideal, doesn't it? And for the most part it is, but the stumbling block, afflicting Intel NUCs in general, is price. The barebones review unit is currently on sale for £840. Adding in the OS, memory and fast storage ups the ante to north of a grand very quickly, and such a figure brings a whole host of entry-level gaming laptops into play.

That said, it's hard to get away from the impressive amount of power Intel has put inside a paperback-sized PC. And though it won't play games like a GeForce GTX 1080, NUC's capabilities make it a sound choice for a heck of a lot of people. Now if only they could reduce the cost by 25 per cent or so, because a fully-built Hades Canyon the right side of £1,000 would be a lovely machine for work and play.

Intel Hades Canyon NUC (NUC8i7HVK)

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The Intel Hades Canyon NUC (NUC8i7HVK) is available from Scan Computers.

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