I'm spoiled by the ridiculously low power and diminutive size of the Raspberry Pi. And that's the machine that's actually doing more work in my flat than anything else - it's a seedbox, a media server, a development web/app server - and it's still running off the power from a USB cable from my NAS.
I'm trying to find something that runs Windows (so i can also use it as a secondary desktop sometimes) and still consumes lesser power than a 10-hour Atom netbook and fits in a box smaller than an Mac mini. Also, the Pi can't handle x265 video (at all), so it's days are numbered. I thought the Celeron NUC would do the trick, but from whatever I've read, the performance is terrible for the price (which goes up to 15-20k when complete). So I looked at the next option.
But even the i3 NUC is a bad deal - it'll cost you 30k without RAM+HDD. An i5 Mac mini costs 34k and it comes with everything. Sure, the NUC will consume far less power than the mini, but I'm stumped while trying to understand how a bare-bones, DIY solution from Intel ended up being more expensive than an Apple product. I'm literally scared of finding out the price of the upcoming i7 NUC - I may only be able to afford it if I sell my car.
So, in conclusion, if I want to spend a reasonable amount of money, I can either get a big fat/mid-size cabinet and hide it behind my TV/monitor or just get a laptop.
