Customer Ratings & Reviews

TLDR: An excellent option and worthy successor to Intel's original NUC formula KEY SPECS Intel Core 3-100U Processor 6C/8T (4E & 2P Cores) 16GB DDR5-5200MT RAM (Upgradable) 512GB nVME SSD (Upgradable) (1 x 2280, 1 x 2230 , 1 x 2.5") 2 x 2.5GBe LAN Ports Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.4 PORTS 2 x HMDI 2.1 (1 x Powerlink) 2 x Thunderbolt 4 (1 x 100W PD) 2 x 2.5Gbe LAN 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen2 1 x 3.5mm Mic / Headphone 1 x MicroSD Reader PROS Excellent Form Factor Usually Very Quiet User Upgradable RAM & SSD CONS SLOW Gen 4x4 nVME Drive MSI Telemetry Software Norton 360 Installed by Default High CPU Utilization Out of the Box INTIAL SET-UP & ISSUES I won't go into nauseating details about setting up a new PC. Anyone that has bought a new PC or installed a new hard drive knows the process. Instead, I am going to concentrate on the issues during initial boot-up, initial configuration, and first Windows Update. My little Cubi NUC was plagued with issues from the initial boot-up. Issues began immediately after Windows did its first ever boot. CPU utilization spiked and maintained 100%. Granted it was the very first boot and there was a bunch of stuff going on in the background. Windows Updates, Store Updates, software configuring itself and booting. There is always a bunch of stuff going on for the first little bit. Unfortunately, the first little bit never seemed to end. CPU usage pegged 100% and never backed down. Over 30 minutes had went by and utilization never dipped below 97%. The poor Cubi had ground itself to a halt. The cooling fan was spun up making a considerable amount of noise, files would not open and mouse clicks were ignored as every single bit of CPU power had been consumed. Applications and processes were waiting in constant queue. I guess the Core 3-100u was a bust. This MSI Cubi NUC was going to be the replacement for an old Intel NUC Skull Canyon I've been using as my daily driver for years. This new Core 3-100u was supposed to be more powerful than its Core i7-6770HQ predecessor, but the Cubi didn't show it. The exact opposite. It behaved worse than an old Intel Celeron chip. UGH. I let the Cubi sit and stew for a while, thinking it would take a bit to get settled down and then act right. 30 minutes turned into an hour. Windows Update still failed to download the latest round of updates properly. So, time to reboot, hoping it would solve me problems. Did it? Nope. Not at all. Windows would not reboot. I had to force a shutdown. After restart, CPU utilization pegged 100% again. Windows Update still failed to properly download all the updates. 30 more minutes of waiting for nothing. Another forced restart. Still the same thing. 100% CPU usage, still failing to successfully download updates. Forced restart again. No change. Still a hot mess. Getting frustrated, I killed as many processes as I could and grabbed a trusty thumb drive. Off to get the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft. After downloading the installer and using the Cubi to create its own installation media, I was on a mission to rectify the issues plaguing this box. Going into BIOS and forcing a boot from an external thumb drive, I was on my way. I wiped all the partitions on the factory SSD. EVERY single one of them, leaving no trace of any pre-configured or recovery images. A Windows 11 clean install, directly from Microsoft. Did it work? Yes, very well. I kept a close eye on the Resource Monitor from the moment I reinstalled Windows to getting ALL Windows updates installed successfully, and ALL Microsoft apps updated. Why did I capitalize the ALL's? Because before a clean Windows install, the Cubi would not complete its Windows Updates, let alone restart as it should. This isn't the case after a clean Windows 11 installation. CPU usage spiked once to 83% momentarily, but averaged around 55% the rest of the time. As I sit here typing this review, CPU utilization is averaging about 5%. Eliminating all the MSI telemetry software and the Norton 360 bloatware that came preinstalled decreased utilization by 90+%. The Cubi is so much happier and responsive now. It feels like a proper, new computer should feel. CONS / DISLIKES The first, and most obvious, dislike is all the issues I experienced when I first booted the machine up. Luckily, with a little effort, I corrected the issues that were plaguing the machine. This is definitely an MSI-related issue specific to this machine. I've tested other MSI products and have not had this experience before. The Cubi isn't the first computer I've received with bloatware hampering its abilities and I have no doubt it won't be the last. Second. The included nVME SSD is one of the slowest Gen4 drives I've used to date. Speeds barely break the Gen3 barrier. I ran the benchmarking test a couple of different times hoping for better numbers. The results never improved. I have 419 of 467GB free and the drive has been optimized by Windows. Still nothing has improved the throughput. Is this a deal breaker? No. Most people may not notice the speed difference with day-to-day tasks, but if you were to compare this drive back-to-back with a quality Gen4 drive, the differences are noticeable, especially when working with large files. Good Gen4 drives are nearly 2x faster in throughput. Update - While photographing the internals and expansions slots for this review, I decided to go ahead and swap out the laboring MSI supplied drive with a newish Samsung 980 Pro (Gen 4x4). Again, prior to install, I went to Microsoft and downloaded the Windows Media Creation tool and made another bootable USB. With the new drive fitted, the speed at which Windows 11 installed was immediately noticeable. Synthetic benchmarks confirmed my observations with all throughput test speeds nearly doubling. The most notable was random read speeds that increased from approximate 3200MB/s to 6900MB/s. It is a considerable difference in overall speed and performance. Would the average user notice a difference? I can't say. But, I notice a difference. USE AFTER REINSTALLTION The MSI Cubi NUC is exactly what I was looking for to replace my aging, long-in-the-tooth Intel NUC. I've always loved the NUC concept from the very first Intel release back in the day. Excellent processing power in a perfectly sized package. This Cubi NUC adds everything I've been missing with its ancestor. MSI has given the NUC the latest and greatest tech. Dual Intel 2.5Gbe Ethernet Ports, Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.4 via a genuine Intel AX-211 wireless card, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports and 2 HDMI ports (the Cubi NUC can drive up to 4 monitors). Even the old school USB-A ports are USB 3.2 Gen 2 sporting speeds up to 10Gb/s. This little Cubi packs a lot of tech into a compact, efficient package. FINAL THOUGHTS After experiencing all the teething problems I had with this new computer, I probably shouldn't give it the rating I'm giving it. But, I like this NUC. MSI has taken what Intel started when they developed the NUC line and improved upon it in every single way. If I were a content creator that needed a photo editing powerhouse or hard-core gamer, this wouldn't be my first choice, at least not in this configuration. This NUC is made to do day-to-day tasks with little to no fanfare. Being not much bigger than the brick that powers it, it is surprising how much performance can be had from such a small package. The Cubi sits unobtrusively under my monitor. I don't have to make room for a huge desktop or deal with a flimsy laptop for daily use. If you are in the market for a PC that packs all the latest tech into a tiny, nearly silent, box that can be placed almost anywhere (even mounted to the back of monitor) this should be on your shopping list. I needed a small, efficient computer to replace my aging NUC. MSI's NUC is a great addition to the ecosystem. I've used NUCs for many years. I've always loved the form factor. They keep my office neat and tidy and keeps my desk open for work. Whoever has enough desk space? If I were shopping for a PC and didn't need or want a gaming rig or laptop and already had a good monitor, I would shop the NUC over any other form factor any day. RECOMMENDED

This mini computer is a great option, MSI brand is really good, I purchase it for my dad and he's so happy with it, fast, small

Bought this little NUC for a home server automation project and it's fit the bill perfectly. The iGPU is enough to handle some image recognition tasks, and there's plenty of resources for my Docker environment. It's quiet, out of the way, and seems like it'll give me plenty of usage.

Purchased for our office. Excellent compact machines they are doing the job well.

Small and useful. Great for basic usage and functions.

Awsome tiny computer with VESA mount! 6 core CPU with 8 threads!

I have been interested in these mini systems for quite some time, and I know they have been put into use in quite a few unique ways, but my use case is fairly simple…as a secondary system. For me, this has been perfect. I am using this mainly as an office machine handling all aspects of my small business. E-mail, spreadsheets, image collection and organization, shipping, all of it. I could not be more pleased. For me, having a dedicated machine, in an optimized location, has been a great experience. Further, I like it is a complete system, in a very small form factor, and allows me to use my own monitor and peripherals. I am fairly particular in that way. Beyond that though, I just prefer the desktop setting for the kind of work I am doing, and, again, the small form factor makes that all a bit easier. Performance-wise, I have zero issues. I realize my demands are not that high, but I do have a bit of a tab problem, and so far so good there, even with some image editing being done as well. There is some headroom there for me as is, but I do like that there are some easy upgrade paths there if need be (although the RAM and memory market are not friendly at the moment). Regardless, nice to have the option. Ultimately, I really like this system, and for what I was looking for this was a great solution. It does all I need it to do, well, has some futureproofing, and is simple to work with. I think anyone looking for a similar use case would be happy with this, and for all that you get I think the value is there.

My use for the Cubi NUC isn't as a standard desktop. The size, specs, and power draw make it a perfect media server. With two 2.5Gb NICs it could also be used as an OPNsense router if you choose (my second choice I change my mind). I have a few mini-PC's and all are n100's or n150's. Low powered, quiet, and can handle most of what I need. But, since my daughter's back home from school and my wife has been using my server more than usual, I need something a little more powerful. My set up includes and external 4 bay USB drive enclosure and Drive Pool. The small size of the Cubi means I can stack everything together and put it all out of sight. I use VNC if needed to access the Cubi but it mostly will go untouched as it does its thing in the background. As far as serving videos go, not a single hiccup. The Core 3 100u far outperforms the N100 it replaced, but it does take a tiny bit more power. A decent trade off IMO to make sure everyone gets to watch what they want without any stutters or buffers. Give how it handles server duties, I wouldn't hesitate to tag the Cubi to the back of monitor via the VESA mount and run it as a secondary desktop. As for the OpnSense, I'm really considering buying another for it so that I don't have any slowdowns using OVPN and all the other services I'll need it to take care of. But that's a project for another day.