The Intel NUC: The GoRite “Hidden” USB Lid

I really can’t say enough good things about the NUC lids from GoRite. Each one of them solves a particular problem, and all are well thought-out and designed.

I’m in the middle of a project involving the Intel NUC5CPYH. The project is going great, and you can expect more posts on that later. After I finished assembling the NUC, I noticed an issue: both of the rear USB 3.0 ports were occupied, one with a flash drive, the other with the Logitech unifying receiver for my keyboard and mouse.  That was going to be an issue with the particular build because I knew there was a good chance I’d need to plug in an external hard drive eventually, and I didn’t want it plugged into one of the front ports.

Enter the “hidden” USB lid from GoRite. When I first reviewed the GoRite lids, the only thing that occurred to me for this one was an internal flash drive. I worried about heat from the flash drive causing problems, as some of my smaller flash drives get pretty hot.

But I realized a keyboard/mouse receiver was a perfect fit (pun intended). It’s more than small enough, doesn’t need USB 3.0 (the lids’ ports are USB 2.0), and doesn’t generate heat the way a flash drive would.  Best of all, any nano-type receiver should be more than small enough.

So here goes:

Perfect fit.  I could not be happier with the outcome. I not only freed up one of my USB 3.0 ports, I also added a USB 2.0 port for good measure.  It’s like my NUC came with built-in keyboard/mouse support.  Everything works perfectly, and I get my USB ports back!

Pretty cool, huh?