Asus NUC 14 Pro

When Intel announced a year ago that it would no longer produce mini PCs under its own name, it looked as if there might not be a next Next Unit of Computing. But Asus picked up the mantle of the NUC from the chip giant, agreeing to support Intel's existing 10th to 13th Gen Intel NUCs and produce new Asus-branded ones under a non-exclusive license. (Several other PC partners, notably MSI and ASRock, have also debuted NUC models.) One of Asus' early NUC efforts is the NUC 14 Pro (starts at $869), a tiny productivity-focused system that's easily mounted behind a monitor or under a desk; it's also suitable, in a commercial capacity, for kiosks and digital signage. Under the hood, an AI-ready Intel "Meteor Lake" Core Ultra CPU, up to 96GB of RAM, and room for three storage drives make this diminutive desktop a serious alternative to a traditional productivity PC.

The Design: Fits in the Palm of Your Hand

Fulfilling Intel's promise to "enable our ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth," Asus has launched the NUC 14 Pro as both a preconfigured, ready-to-run model and a bare-bones kit without RAM, storage, and operating system. The company backs the mini PC with a better-than-average three-year warranty.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Intel Core Ultra H-class processors give the NUC 14 Pro the computing power of a high-end laptop. Some of the new CPUs, such as the Core Ultra 7 165H in our test unit, support Intel's vPro Enterprise to simplify remote management and deployment at scale. That said, you can also get the NUC 14 Pro with a lowly Core 3 100U for undemanding tasks such as digital signage or kiosk duty. Only Core Ultra chips offer more advanced Intel Arc integrated graphics and a built-in neural processing unit (NPU).

The NUC 14 Pro is small enough that it can be grabbed with one hand, with a footprint of 4.6 by 4.4 inches. The Tall version reviewed here stands 2.1 inches high, 0.6 inch taller than the Slim version, which is identical save for the lack of a 2.5-inch drive bay. The Asus is even more compact than the ECS Liva Z5 Plus (1.5 by 5.8 by 4.7 inches).

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Most of the NUC 14 Pro is sturdy plastic, but the baseplate is metal. An included VESA monitor mount screws into the latter. Design-wise, the bite-sized black box doesn't attract the eye; an Asus logo is the only decorative touch.

Connectivity and Upgradability Galore

The NUC 14 Pro's impressive connectivity starts with an Intel AX211 networking card supporting Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, which doesn't require an external antenna. The front panel offers one USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and the power button. Around the back are two more USB-A ports (one 3.2 Gen 2 and one legacy USB 2.0), two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, two HDMI 2.1 video outputs, and a 2.5Gbps Intel Ethernet jack. Using the Thunderbolt ports for DisplayPort output, the NUC 14 Pro supports four monitors.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Other features on the back of the unit include a cable lock slot (essential for a device that might be used in a public space) and the jack for the laptop-style external AC adapter. Like most mini PCs, the NUC 14 Pro is simply too small to accommodate an internal power supply. The adapter supplies 90 or 120 watts depending on your CPU choice. A cutout below the rear ports hides the 2.5-inch bay.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Servicing the little Asus couldn't be simpler; turn a lock nut on the bottom of the chassis, push a latch, and the entire top half lifts off the base in clamshell fashion. Inside are two DDR5 SODIMM memory slots and two M.2 solid-state drive slots, one 80mm and one 42mm.

Testing the NUC 14 Pro: Small Yet Mighty

Our NUC 14 Pro test sample is a ready-made model featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 165H processor (16 total cores, up to 5.0GHz turbo), Intel Arc integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro.

Though Asus' online store lists an $869 starting price, I found a Core 3 100U bare-bones kit on Walmart for $399 and a Core Ultra 7 155H kit for $871, both sans memory, storage, and an operating system. (I didn't find any prebuilt models for sale.) Adding those components to even the Core 3 system would push the price to $600 to $650, so this is a rather expensive little PC. The ECS Liva Z5 Plus we tested was just $630 in ready-to-run form.

In addition to the ECS, our benchmark comparison systems include the Acer Vero Veriton Mini, the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini, and the MSI Pro DP21. The NUC 14 Pro's Core Ultra 7 looked likely to deliver the best performance in the group, though we expected the Lenovo's Core i7 to be close behind.

During my testing, the sound of the NUC's cooling fan was sometimes distracting in my small workroom. I had the unit on a desk; I suspect much of the noise would be muffled if it was mounted out of sight.

Productivity and Content Creation Tests

We run the same general productivity benchmarks across both mobile and desktop systems. Our first test is UL's PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world productivity and office workflows to measure overall system performance and also includes a storage subtest for the primary drive.

Three other benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon's Cinebench R23 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Geekbench 5.4 Pro from Primate Labs simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (lower times are better).

Finally, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Systems, which uses the Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe's famous image editor to rate a PC's performance for content creation and multimedia applications. It's an automated extension that executes a variety of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks ranging from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving an image to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters.

The NUC 14 Pro led all but the overachieving Lenovo in PCMark's productivity benchmark, though all five mini PCs easily cleared the 4,000 points that indicate competent everyday performance for office apps. The Asus rocketed past its rivals in the CPU tests, however, with an especially outstanding Handbrake time.

Graphics and Gaming Tests

We test desktops' and laptops' graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs).

We also run two tests from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which stresses both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering. The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase tests, rendered offscreen to accommodate different display resolutions, exercise graphics and compute shaders using the OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation respectively. The more frames per second (fps), the better.

The Intel Arc integrated graphics of the "Meteor Lake" processors are head and shoulders above the Iris Xe graphics of the previous-generation chips in the Acer, ECS, and Lenovo machines. In fact, our separate laptop testing of this integrated graphics solution suggests that it's good enough for basic gaming (at 720p, or low-detail 1080p). The NUC 14 Pro likely won't be used to play games (its far from the point of this little PC), but it should have no trouble driving multiple monitors.

Verdict: A Pricey But Worthy Carrier of the NUC Flame

We're glad to see the Intel NUC line continued under the Asus brand (and others). The NUC 14 Pro offers gobs of connectivity and downright impressive performance from its Core Ultra H-class CPU and Intel Arc graphics, and IT departments will appreciate its vPro support and three-year warranty.

Alas, all this goodness doesn't come cheap, with prices starting at nearly $900 for a Core Ultra 7 kit without memory, an SSD, or Windows (or Linux). The ECS Liva Z5 Plus remains our top mini PC for the money, but this Asus is well worth a look for its next-level-for-its-size performance and connectivity.