[The_MjW]

Not sure about the latest generation, but there is certainly a big difference in acoustics between the 2. My i5 is virtually silent most of the time however the i7 sounds like a jet engine sometimes :/

I was afraid of that and I doubt the new NUC will be much of an improvement in that part, seeing as it's the same case.

I was considering the i7 because I'll be running AirVideo (an app that converts on the fly and streams my videos to iOS devices). But if it's noisy even when I'm watching a video on Kodi, then that's a deal breaker. I'd have to invest into a whole new silent case and I like the NUC's small footprint.