MSI Cubi NUC 1M mini PC review: Solid but pricier than the competition ^↺

The main problem with the Cubi NUC 1M is instead its steep price of $800 USD for the just the Core i5 120U configuration or almost $1000 for our Core i7 configuration as reviewed. Alternatives from Beelink or GMK are several hundred dollars less while offering faster CPU options and similar chassis sizes. Value is therefore poorer than expected relative to the competition.

The Cubi NUC 1M is now shipping on Amazon for $800 for the Core i5 configuration or $950 for the Core i7 option.

The MSI Cubi series fills in the gap left behind by Intel when they decided to end production for the own NUC series. It targets core business users and offices where low-profile PCs are preferred over high-performance alternatives.

Our test unit is the highest-end configuration with the Raptor Lake-U Refresh Core 7 150U CPU while lesser options are available with the Core 5 120U or Core 3 100U.

Alternatives to the Cubi NUC 1M include other low-profile U-series-powered mini PCs like the GMK NucBox M5 or Beelink Mini S12 Pro.

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The chassis is mostly plastic with metal reinforcement around the inner lining of the sides. Although this adds some weight to the unit, it gives a higher sense of quality especially when many alternatives from Beelink or GMK use far fewer metal materials to save on costs.

The smooth matte black surface is unfortunately a huge fingerprint magnet. A white or silver color option similar to the business-centric MSI Prestige series would have mitigated this problem.

Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support come standard. Wi-Fi 7 would have been great to see especially at this price point.

MSI utilizes 42.9 percent post-consumer recycled plastics during manufacturing alongside sustainably sourced wood pulp for the packaging. Nonetheless, plastic wrapping is still used for the AC adapter and accessories.

A removable SATA III cable is included for users who want to connect an external 2.5-inch SATA III drive to a special port on the right side of the unit. It's not a very elegant solution, but at least the option is there whereas most other mini PCs are now omitting 2.5-inch SATA support altogether.

The standard one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies with the option to extend up to three years.

We set Windows and MSI Center to Performance mode prior to running the benchmarks below.

While the Core 7 150U is relatively new, it's based on the older Raptor Lake-U platform and so it performs very similarly to the outgoing Core i7-1365U. It lacks the integrated AI features and improved integrated Arc graphics of the Meteor Lake platform.

Dropping down to the Core 5 120U configuration is not expected to significantly impact processor performance since the two CPUs share the same number of cores and threads. if you're trying to save money, then the Core 5 SKU may be worth considering for this reason.