NUC 12 Pro Wall Street Canyon Review

 Hi folks...

It's been over a year since my last post - but I recently upgraded my Intel NUC from an 8th Gen to 12th gen and figured it was time for a review of the latest generation.   

I'm a big fan of the NUC platform. The fact that you can have a 4" x 4" system on your desk with the latest Core CPUs and easily add what ever RAM and Storage you want to it for under $1,000 is great.   

I'm not a gamer - so the NUC12 Pro - Wall Street Canyon - NUC12WSHi5 was my choice.  Its effectively a like for like upgrade to my NUC8 Bean Canyon system.

Let's start the review with obtaining a NUC 12.  I always buy the NUC Kits and then purchase my own RAM, NVMe and in this case an additional 2.5" SATA SSD. I love that flexibility of the NUC line.  

Although the NUC12 Pro was announced in August - right now NUC12 Pros are few and far between and many are over charging for the unit.   I was able to find one for $526 US.  One pointer I can give is that make sure that wherever you buy from either A) includes a 5-15P -> C5 power cord or B) you buy one.  While Intel does sell a specific Kit SKU that comes with a power cord - I have NOT seen any in the market.

Even in todays market - I was able to purchase 32Gb of DDR4-3200 RAM for $80, a 1TB NVMe 22x80 stick for $110 and a 2TB SATA SSD for $160.  So all in I was right around $800.   Which is about what I paid all-in in 2018 for my NUC8i5BEH with 16Gb RAM, a 256TB NVMe and 1TB SATA SSD.   So all in all a good value.

The NUC12 Pro is a nice upgrade.  I stuck with the i5-1240P version because you have a similar 12C/16T architecture as the i7-1260  - with just a slightly smaller L3 cache at 12MB vs 16MB for the i7-1260P.  Plus I tend to find the i7s run hot and so your fan tends to run more.  

Just to compare - my NUC8 came with an i5-8259U CPU with 4C/8T with 6MB L3 Cache and an integrated Iris 655 GPU.  

Intel has upgraded the packaging for the NUC - the case is slightly taller with a larger power button and it also comes native with 2 x HDMI + 2 x USB-C + 4 x USB-A. Its possible to support up to 4 x 4K monitors as the 2 x USB-C support DisplayPort.   

The onboard NIC is a 2.5GB i225-V and wireless is an AX211 so 1Gb+ speeds.  There is even room for a port expansion board than can allow for an additional 2.5GB NIC port and 2 USB-C.   The challenge is trying to find one.   Intel posts no SKU and no one - I repeat no one out there has them...   I'm hoping it's not vaporware.

For those of you familiar with the "H" or tall version of the NUC - there is room to add a 2.5" SSD.   In the NUC 8 the install was somewhat painful as the ribbon cable that connected the SATA interface to the motherboard was short.  That made access to the drive bay challenging.  

That is improved with the NUC12.  The ribbon cable is longer so when you separate the base from the main unit it's easier to access the drive bay.   In addition - there are 4 small rubber plugs in the base.  You remove them to install the 2.5" drive and they effectively replace the screws.  Once the drive is inserted you reinsert the plugs and they not only secure the drive - but also provide some shock protection. Pretty slick.

I only have 1 real wish for the NUC packaging.  I'd like to see the 3.5mm line out audio on the back or side of the device vs the front.  If you're just connecting simple speakers vs 7.1 digital vs HDMI it would keep the front connections cleaner looking.  Most folks today use Bluetooth Headphones - so connecting a wired 3.5mm headphones/headset in rare 

So the hardware "build" took all of 10 minutes.   On to getting an OS installed.  

First step was to check the downloads for NUC12 on Intel's site and found a new BIOS and performed that upgrade first via F7 boot.  My NUC12 Pro shipped with a 00075 BIOS dated March 22, 2002 and I recommend updating to the 00085 version dated July 18, 2022.

You have to do a little digging on the support page to find the proper list of drivers / software.  As of this writing - there were 16 - most were released in mid August - about the time of the announcement - with a few newer LAN/WIFI drivers dated in November.

I decided to start with the release version of Windows 11 Pro 22H2 and used the Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB.  I'm a Windows Insider and considered using build 25227 which was available in ISO - but figured a release build would be a nice place to start...  

An F10 boot allowed me to select the USB and the first half of the Windows 11 install was uneventful.   Partitioned the NVMe and allowed the install to place the OS in the new partition.   After the first reboot to enable devices and start services the typical Windows Out of Box Experience (OOBE) started.  This is when issues started to occur.

The most important was the fact the even though the Intel i225V and AX211 NICs have been out a while - Windows 11 could not properly install either NIC - so no network showed up.   

I ended up inserting a 3rd party USB Wifi Stick to get on the network and then the remainder of the OOBE finished.  So if your planning on buying a NUC 12 Pro - be aware of this.  I tired multiple Windows 11 builds and none were able to activate the native NIC/Wireless in the NUC12 Pro

After the install completed, I launched the Intel Driver and Support assistant to get all the drivers.  While it helped with networking, I noticed that the Graphics Card driver was showing a Microsoft Basic Driver dated 2006 and nothing regarding the eArc integrated GPU.    The Driver and Support assistant displayed a notice to see if your system supported Arc which the NUC12 does - but did not show any drivers.

I had to go find the latest drivers on Intel's support page to download and install the DCH drivers.   This is a departure for Intel - they used to put together a bundle all of the drivers for a NUC into a single download that made it easy for installation.   And the fact their own tool wouldn't automatically note the NUC 12 and it's Iris eArc integrated GPU and at least show you the driver is surprising.   

Similarly - I have to question Microsoft.  How can you not see and properly install the drivers for your leading platform partner - Intel and at least get the system on the wire.  

Bottom line is - it just seems like a big disconnect between Intel and MS - so be ready to do some manual work arounds.  Is the NUC12 Pro new - yes - but it shouldn't be that problematic.

For those of you migrating from an older Windows hardware platform - here is one trick I can give you to help with activation.  This only works if you have online licenses associated with your MS account that are either Windows 10 or 11 and at the same feature set (Home or Pro) that you're planning on installing on your NUC.  

Login to account.microsoft.com and review the devices associated with your MS account.  If you have any devices in your list which are older and are either Windows 10 or 11 that you are no longer using - remove the device from your MS account and Windows 11 will automatically consume the "unused" license after installation and activate.   The Windows 11 install you are planning must match the feature level your installing.  You can't consume a Home license for Pro or a Pro license for Home.

After those steps - If Windows won't seem to activate the first time - run the Windows Troubleshooter for Activation and when a screen prompts you to go to the MS Store to buy a license - click on the link - "I changed hardware on this device recently".  and it will present you with the list of devices associated with your MS account.  Select the one you "removed" in the previous step and it will activate.  

If you need step-by-steps on the above - do a search on Windows License Transfer - there are several great sites that walk you through the process I described above.

Now to the most important question - should I buy one ?  I say yes.  If you're like me and have a 8th or 9th Gen Intel Core CPU with 4C/8T - the upgrade to 12C/16Ts is great - you'll also have double the L3 cache and a higher burst clock rate up to 4.1Ghz.  

If you're so inclined you can install up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM and there are 4TB NVMe and 8TB SATA SSD out there to purchase.  That kind of power and capacity is exceptional for a 4" x 4" footprint. 

That is the great part about the NUC.  You can easily be conservative or extreme depending on your budget.  Is it a gaming platform ?  For the casual gamer probably - for the enthusiast No.  

I've seem some enthusiasts out there installing VMware ESX and running multiple VMs on the NUC12 Pro.  The higher RAM capacity and additional Cores/Threads certainly make that possible.    

In my opinion - if your looking for a good alternative to Windows 11 and something that can run VMs and/or Containers - take a good look at Intel's Clear Linux.  To me it's one of the nicer Linux bundles out there.  

The NUC12 Pro is a nice platform with plenty of capacity - just be ready to perform some manual work arounds for Windows 11 install until MS/Intel get all the driver stuff corrected.

Have a great holidays everyone.