IMHO they are overpriced for what they are, you are unlikely to get an i7 for less than £400 though.
I had a look at them for Roon a while ago and bought a secondhand Mac Mini in the end.
I would look at a 2012 mac mini and install windows on it if you are looking for NUC sized machine.
I’m not actually too bothered about it being as small as a NUC. But that is roughly the spec I’d want.
I wouldn’t.
I’m using an i5 NUC as a streamer and general purpose PC - its bolted to the back of my TV, I either use a wireless kb and trackpad or login remotely using my tablet. Mine isn’t the latest generation and I paid about £250 for the NUC, then you need to add memory.
I ended up getting this. Seems pretty fast compared to what I’ve been used to. I remembered that I did need some kind of CD ripping provision. Might get another 2 x 2GB of RAM for it.
Looks fine, if rather ugly.
Check out whether it’s not much dearer to buy 2x4GB ram. You might be able to get faster stuff now
if you are planning on keeping data on it, I’d be tempted to leave the OS and applications on the SSD and stick in an appropriate sized HDD for you data.
I have a 3 and a 4 TB USB HDD although the latter has 2.4 TB of music on it. I’ll use the 3TB drive for my work files& leave the SSD free from unnecessary crud.