3 x ASUS NUC setup and configuration in Mordialloc

A small business owner on White Street in Mordialloc contacted us last week. They decided to replace all three of the ageing desktop towers in their office with a compact, modern setup that would take up less desk space and run more quietly.

The existing machines were running Windows 10 on HDDs and could not be upgraded to Windows 11. The client had seen ASUS NUC mini PCs mentioned online and asked us to assess whether they were the right fit, source them and handle the full setup.

We assessed the business requirements before recommending any hardware. The business ran three workstations used for email, Microsoft 365, cloud-based accounting software, web browsing and occasional video calls. There was no video editing, no gaming and no workload that required discrete graphics.

This is precisely the use case that ASUS NUC mini PCs are designed for. We recommended the ASUS NUC 14 Pro, which is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H processor. We chose the NUC 14 Pro over the NUC 13 Pro and NUC 12 Pro for specific reasons. The Core Ultra 5 125H uses Intel’s latest hybrid architecture with a mix of performance and efficiency cores. It delivers a significant step up in integrated graphics capability over previous NUC generations through Intel Arc graphics.

The NUC 13 Pro and NUC 12 Pro would have been adequate for the workload but buying the current generation gives the client a longer hardware lifecycle before the next replacement cycle.

Each NUC was configured with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD.

The 512GB NVMe SSD is sufficient for the operating system and locally installed applications given the client uses cloud storage for all business files through OneDrive.

We paired each NUC with a Philips 27-inch Full HD monitor. Each monitor was connected to its NUC via DisplayPort for the best signal quality, and the NUCs were positioned on monitor stands behind each screen, keeping the desk completely clear of tower cases.

We performed a clean Windows 11 Pro installation on each NUC, set up a local workgroup network connecting all three machines to the office router, configured Windows File Sharing to allow the shared drives on each machine to be accessible from the others, installed Microsoft 365 Business using the client’s existing licence, configured Outlook with each staff member’s email account and set up OneDrive on each machine to sync the business file folders continuously.

We also set up Windows Defender and configured automatic Windows Update on a staggered schedule across the three machines to avoid all three updating simultaneously during business hours. All three workstations were tested, named, documented and handed over with a one-page summary of the network configuration and login credentials before we left.

Need data migrated or setup a new PC? Get in touch with one of our technicians on 0484 357 559