> Intel just slapped a chip in a generic case.

The "NUC" was actually an Intel developed form factor, smaller than Micro ATX. They had to engineer motherboards, power supplies, and cooling for the extremely small footprint. They were available as barebones kits (without a CPU), so literally the exact opposite of what you suggest.

An alternative take is that the NUC is made of laptop parts, with a footprint, thermal capacity and level of bespoke-ness similar to a typical laptop.

My 2018 i7 begs to differ. The cooling was never adequate enough for that chip even at 65W.

Now it’s comically overpowered. For 25-35W TDPs the chassis is fine, but Intel couldn’t deliver performance there. Apple should have retooled the case, not slapped it in there anyways. At one point when I had to use that i7 everyday I debated if it would be worth it to hack a proper PC tower cooler onto it and operate it outside the case.