Intel D54250WYKH Haswell NUC Kit with 2.5" Drive Slot Mini-Review

Concluding Remarks

Coming to the business end of the review, we can say without doubt that the Haswell NUC kit with the 2.5" drive slot presents much better value for money compared to the pure mSATA version. Not only are 2.5" SSDs cheaper than mSATA for the same capacity, they also don't create a point of thermal concern near the Wi-Fi module. Pretty much the only downside of the unit over the mSATA-only NUC is the thicker chassis. Our choice of a faster DDR3L memory also improves quite a few benchmark numbers, but not all workloads.

Haswell UCFF PC Options
(From Top Left / Clockwise - Intel D54250WYK, BRIX Pro, BRIX - H, Intel D54250WYKH, BRIX)

The only aspect that Intel could improve from a board perspective is the replacement of separate SATA data and power ports on the motherboard with something similar to what Gigabyte has done for their BRIX boards. In that way, the complicated contraption put in place to support placement of the 2.5" drive slot could have been hugely simplified. They could also include the horizontal SATA power / data cable with the pure board kit so as to simplify things for chassis builders as well as DIY consumers. It is obviously too late to do anything for the Haswell NUCs, but something to consider for the future generation.

In another minor detail, Intel also provides a power cord with this version of the NUC, something that was absent in the D54250WYK and previous generation NUC kits. Given all this, consumers interested in a Haswell NUC would do well to opt for the D54250WYKH with the 2.5" drive slot compared to the D54250WYK unless chassis height or availability of a spare mSATA drive is a major factor in the purchase decision.