Which nuc did you get for that money? Is that NUC actually faster than the Pi 5? I've seen a ton of people claiming this and then it actually wasn't. I mean, it that's what's on offer where you live, great! It's certainly harder to find where I am. Is an SD card that expensive where you are? I mean, a SanDisk Extreme blahblah 256gb is 25 bucks here. Case costs about 5 to 10 bucks. Power supply is Free. Most ppl have a USB power supply capable of running a pi at hand.
Why wouldn't the zero 2w have the ability to run peripherals? Of course it can. Besides: why would I want to run peripherals and a display on my pihole?