[Ned Scott]

So update the bios or use another linux distro. Using Windows on a $140 NUC that's just going to be an HTPC seems like madness to me, but I've never really liked Windows in the first place.

I don't like MS at all but they done great work with Win8.1.
I've played a bit with a friend's Bay Trail tablet (which I recommened to him instead of Apple and Android) and it's way superior to Android, Google should take some notes from MS.

Well, unless you really need Windows, it's still hard for me to justify the license cost on a $140 device that will likely just do HTPC stuff.