Loving the NUC. You’re paying about what I paid and getting twice the RAM and twice the SSD space, so, from where I’m sitting, it looks like a good deal. I’ve got 4 VMs running on mine–and one of those is running about 8 containerized apps–so I’d say you should have room to do whatever you want with that bad boy.
If you’re doing any kind of media center, I would definitely prioritize high speed Internet and hardwired connections as well. I hardwired my whole house for my project.
I added a 4TB external drive to mine, which should easily fit within your budget, and I’d recommend it if, again, you’re doing media stuff.
Currently I’m not focussing on media stuff, more on experimenting with different technologies, that I use for work (like Openshift, Docker, Puppet, Ansible). Having dedicated hardware, that gets me further than some small VMs on my PC will be great for that.
Though I might move to media stuff in the future. Heard a lot about jellyfin, for example. Though then I need to upgrade my home network too. It still is limited to 100mbit. But I already have wired connections through most of the house.
hth. In truth my setup is also to experiment with automation and it’s a fun hobby, so more power to you! Getting to watch some very fast streaming TV is a bonus.