I may update this review later but I'm going to add the critical info here for people looking to do what I did.I chose the the short i3 variant (NUC8i3BEK) because I just wanted a simple HTPC and didn't want to spend more money on this.This thing will only be running YouTube and VLC (with media on the local network).Adding the RAM and M.2 drive took less than 5 minutes.I loaded this thing with the most basic  M.2 SSD on Amazon and a single stick of 8Gb of RAM (because it was cheaper than buy 2 sticks of 4Gb).I installed Linux Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS without issues.After doing the online updates which took just a few more minutes, everything was great.We were able to stream 1080p and 4K video off YouTube without any hiccups.Again, just make sure you install those updates and enable the 3rd party drivers to get the best performance out of the integrated graphics.So this is now my new HTPC which I operate using a tiny wireless keyboard/mouse.It's exactly what I needed. It's quiet to the point of being practically silent and, being so small, it fits anywhere.If you're looking to build a small, quiet, discrete HTPC without breaking the bank, while still getting all the benefits of a full fat desktop OS (such as including  ad-blockers in your browser), then getting a NUC is a great way to go.Overall, I spent less than $350 on the whole machine. And it runs better than I could have hoped for.