Looking for nuc recommendations

Check out the mini pcs by Minisforum and Beelink

Whatever you get, it can be helpful (and recommended for less experienced users) to go for a box with an intel CPU that has an iGPU to allow for QuickSync hardware transcoding. Plex doesn’t work with AMD AMF, and I’m assuming you won’t have a dedicated GPU, so QuickSync will be a must if you want buttery smooth transcoding.

I use the Beelink MINI-S12 and it’s worked really well. Its been able to handle 4k streams without any issues.

I'd look into something with at least a Intel® UHD Graphics 730 iGPU.

It'll give you some flexibility to add hardware transcoding in the future.

Honestly if it's direct 4k stream I feel like any modern mini PC will do, especially NUCs. Your bottleneck will be your network. I'm having trouble playing direct over wifi 6, so I recommend hard-wired if possible.

I would recommend anything Gen 8 Intel or higher. The quick sync is just so good.

If you can tolerate a slightly larger form factor than a NUC, you can often find better deals on SFF PCs on ebay or from refurbished office equipment sellers. For example, a small Dell Optiplex or a HP or Lenovo would easily meet your spec requirements, plus they have space for a hard drive inisde.

Thanks for all the advice and that really good to know about amd as I almost went that way. I was looking at the beelink before posting and I think I’m going to grab this as it’s on $200 right now.