What it is:  I needed a small form factor computer for amateur radio use and this system is perfect for me, It is silent, only needs a 6 inch by 6 inch footprint, uses a solid state drive and it came with enough RAM (8Gb), to run all of my radio software and it has WiFi and Bluetooth - but no optical drive. It has enough USB ports to add external devices and with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse you have a very portable system. I use an HDMI 32 inch display which lets me run half a dozen apps on the screen simultaneously or I can easily switch from one to another and monitor several on one screen without having to toggle them - just click on the frame of the screen you want to work.Other features include a laptop style power supply, (but no batteries that wear out and need replacement after they pass their charging cycles threshold like laptops), enough USB 3.0 ports to meet your needs for external devices, a fast SSD, plenty of RAM but not upgradeable in this particular model, preloaded with Windows 10 Pro - not the home version. I have two four port USB 3.0 hubs plugged into it so I can have 8 external devices connected to it and that is a lot of flash memory capability as well as an avenue to add external disk drives and DVD/BluRay drives. This can become a very serious amount of storage that is readily accessible. Need to go somewhere and set up your system? Put it all in a briefcase (except for the display) and off you go with it, simple, lightweight and portable.What it isn't: It isn't a screaming fast gamer's system but there are more powerful NUC platforms available, and as you get more powerful versions there will be some fan noise as these systems all have internal cooling fans - which means eventually it will suck in dust and then it will not be as quiet or run as cool, so the more powerful varieties will need occasional cleaning.Basically even considering the CPU is a middleweight it does a remarkable level of tasks and it does them well. There are more powerful NUC systems from Intel for sale if you need an ultra powerful system however in this case less is more and it does serve the average user's needs very well. Intel did their homework on this one and I have found it to be all I need without going overboard. One reason I think this system is so capable is the small size of the system board - it is a tiny board compared to a laptop or conventional desktop system which has an advantage in that all the components have short paths between them - the smaller the distance the quicker it is covered. Miniaturization at this level means you get the performance of a machine with many times more RAM and a faster clock speed and greater bus capacity in a machine you can put virtually anywhere.Unless you are working on projects that require some extreme level of computing cycles per second , and most of us do not require that level of performance, the NUC6 is a great compact solution, and it is the basic starting point in a family of compact systems that can be 4 times faster, have a more capable CPU offerings, and have many times more storage and RAM in a very minimal space requirement.  There are NUC systems that range from the NUC5 to the latest and most powerful NUC10 so there is a range of capability and expense for every need and budget.I worked on computer systems that range from mainframe to midrange, from mini to the earliest PC platforms and have serviced every platform on warranty in the hands of business and individual consumers going back to 1978 and this little NUC platform is one of the most impressive I have ever seen when it comes to value and performance with a minimal volume of space. It even comes with a bracket for mounting it on the back of a display if you want an all-in-one type of system. This is truly the Next Unit of Computing in my opinion.