When Asus rescued Intel’s NUC model of compact computer systems from the dumpster, I held out hope that the corporate would possibly additionally revive Intel’s formidable miniature gaming PCs. It did, however put together for just a little sticker shock — these techniques could price as a lot or greater than a comparable gaming laptop computer.
The corporate’s web site at present lists two fashions of the ROG NUC, with what Asus tells us are tentative costs of $1,629 and $2,199. The entry-level mannequin sports activities an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H, Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics, 16GB of 5600MHz DDR5 RAM and 512GB of NVMe SSD storage, whereas the superior config bumps that as much as an Core Extremely 9 185H, RTX 4070, and 32GB / 1TB of RAM and storage respectively.
Since you possibly can simply discover Asus’ standard Zephyrus G14 and G16 laptops with comparable specs for that value or much less — regardless of additionally getting a battery and display screen — these aren’t precisely the barebone finances gaming picks that an Intel gaming NUC might typically have been prior to now.
However you do get first rate connectivity in a field simply two inches thick. There are six USB-A ports, 4 of them at 10Gbps speeds, an SD Specific 8.0 card reader, a Thunderbolt 4 port with as much as 12V quick charging for USB-C PD gadgets, 3.5mm headset, and a pair of.5Gbps Ethernet, along with two DisplayPort 1.4a sockets and an HDMI 2.1 port. Wirelessly, there’s an Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1690i and Bluetooth 5.3.
Me, I might have favored extra USB-C ports — and also you’ll notice that it makes use of a 330-watt exterior DC energy brick. It additionally comes with the vertical stand you see within the picture atop this story.
We nonetheless haven’t seen what it appears to be like like inside but, however there’s a single button on the rear to pop open the panel so you possibly can swap RAM and add SSDs at a minimal. It comes with three M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 slots, so including numerous speedy storage needs to be straightforward.
Asus tells us it hasn’t firmed up when the ROG NUC will ship, however that it will most likely come alongside or shortly after non-gaming NUC 14 Professional Plus fashions it plans to launch in April or Might.