I've had a NUC for at least 5 years if not more, and I absolutely love it, but yes it was a bit expensive. I figured the ability to repair it myself versus the difficulty of maintaining a laptop would pay off, and so far I've been right.
Laptops I've owned usually start falling apart after three years of use. With an ASUS ZenScreen and a bluetooth keyboard, I'm almost as mobile as a laptop too.
Happy to hear it worked for you. I mostly use my PC I built years ago. For things like home automation I want something small and efficient. I read that a NUC may work better than a Pi for that. Will look into it.