Following some home renovations we've created a small home office (emphasis is small, when I'm sat at the desk I can touch both the walls either side of me without stretching, and also the one behind me), so space is very much at a premium. I also need to leave space for my wife to set up her (employer-issued) laptop on the odd occasion when she's working from home, so I've not the space for a full tower unit.
I'm just using Citrix virtual desktop connection, so the performance levels don't have to be high. I'd like the option of some light gaming which would just be strategy games, so it's not going to need anything which gets anything noticeable in FPS terms. I'm currently using an old tower which is running an i5-3570k + GTX 1050Ti and it's competent enough (that one will be getting its own upgrade in due course...).
I'll be getting a new monitor, am thinking 27" 1440p. Nothing particular in mind so would appreciate suggestions; I can claim £150 from work to buy one so am considering that sort of budget (office apps + minimal gaming makes me think this is fine for the usage). I'll also use a geriatric 20" VGA monitor for chats / file explorer.
I was looking at the options and quite like the look of the Azena NUC, does anyone have any experience with these? From what I can tell from Youtube the graphics output of the 8845HS is probably good enough given I'm not intending on using it for anything demanding.
I also looked at the larger Azena models; the 5l case goes up to a Ryzen 7 5700G which I think(?) is a downgrade on the 8845HS. The 1l offers an i5-14500 for similar pricing to the 8845HS but given the Intel 14th generation issues I suspect this would be a poor choice?
Any feedback welcomed, thanks
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 Eight Core Processor 8845HS (3.8GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo, 16 AI TOPS)
Motherboard
Integrated AZENA Motherboard
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead) scratching my head on this one since there's only a DC input in the pictures, so possibly there's an AC adapter which isn't listed
Sound Card
Intel® HD Audio via Headphone/Mic Jack
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS REALTEK RTL8852BE Wi-Fi 6 + BT v5.2
USB/Thunderbolt Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.2 PORT (10Gbps) TYPE-C
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
PCS AZENA USFF AMD 8845HS
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £671.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/pcs-azena-nuc/sE7xZh3Yjp/
Overall budget limit is £1000 for the machine plus monitor.
I'm just using Citrix virtual desktop connection, so the performance levels don't have to be high. I'd like the option of some light gaming which would just be strategy games, so it's not going to need anything which gets anything noticeable in FPS terms. I'm currently using an old tower which is running an i5-3570k + GTX 1050Ti and it's competent enough (that one will be getting its own upgrade in due course...).
I'll be getting a new monitor, am thinking 27" 1440p. Nothing particular in mind so would appreciate suggestions; I can claim £150 from work to buy one so am considering that sort of budget (office apps + minimal gaming makes me think this is fine for the usage). I'll also use a geriatric 20" VGA monitor for chats / file explorer.
I was looking at the options and quite like the look of the Azena NUC, does anyone have any experience with these? From what I can tell from Youtube the graphics output of the 8845HS is probably good enough given I'm not intending on using it for anything demanding.
I also looked at the larger Azena models; the 5l case goes up to a Ryzen 7 5700G which I think(?) is a downgrade on the 8845HS. The 1l offers an i5-14500 for similar pricing to the 8845HS but given the Intel 14th generation issues I suspect this would be a poor choice?
Any feedback welcomed, thanks
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 Eight Core Processor 8845HS (3.8GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo, 16 AI TOPS)
Motherboard
Integrated AZENA Motherboard
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead) scratching my head on this one since there's only a DC input in the pictures, so possibly there's an AC adapter which isn't listed
Sound Card
Intel® HD Audio via Headphone/Mic Jack
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS REALTEK RTL8852BE Wi-Fi 6 + BT v5.2
USB/Thunderbolt Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.2 PORT (10Gbps) TYPE-C
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
PCS AZENA USFF AMD 8845HS
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £671.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/pcs-azena-nuc/sE7xZh3Yjp/
Overall budget limit is £1000 for the machine plus monitor.