Power consumption, what's it really like to use?
Throwing just one more benchmark into the mix, Intel's graphics are surprisingly potent at using Open CL for compute.
Energy efficiency is the one area in which the NUC should shine. Drawing just 11W when idling, which is one-third that of a desktop Core i3-2100-based system, it won't trouble your electricity bill too much.
Getting that Core i3-3217U chip into gear raises the power to 28W, jumping to 35W when gaming. The numbers are in line with what one would expect from a laptop computer. And guess what... that's pretty much what a NUC is, albeit reformed into an ultra-small-factor desktop.
Noise
We tested the NUC in an open-air environment - heck, we had no case with it - so any noise readings are likely to be inconsistent with the shipping products'. Our sample was practically silent (32dB) when running everyday tasks such as emailing and listening to music. Load it up with some heavy-duty encoding work and the fan's clearly audible from 1m away (38.3dB), rising to an annoying pitch when gaming (41.1dB) for more than a few minutes.
Intel has some work to do to ensure the fan doesn't detract from the overall NUC experience, and we wait to get our hands on a final-production model, encased, before passing full judgement on its acoustics.
What's it really like to use?
Providing a host of benchmark numbers gives quantitative data on how a particular system performs. Evaluated in this regard, the Intel NUC, equipped with a Mobile Core i3-3217U chip, offers up a reasonable account of itself; it's good enough for everyday tasks and acceptable for gaming.
But it's the qualitative data that really counts. Spurred on by the use of a built-in SSD, the system is nippy and responsive at all times; it feels like a desktop should. There's no lag when engaged in basic multitasking and, while computational-heavy applications take a while longer to run than, for example, on a full-on Core i5-3570K, NUC doesn't come across as a manifestly poorer cousin.
