When Asus rescues Intel’s NUC-branded compact PCs from the dumpster, I have high hopes for the company also Revival of Intel’s ambitious micro gaming PC. That’s true, but be prepared—these systems can cost as much, if not more, than comparable gaming laptops.
The company’s website currently lists two models of the ROG NUC, with tentative prices Asus tells us are $1,629 and $2,199. The entry-level model comes with Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics, 16GB 5600MHz DDR5 RAM, and 512GB NVMe SSD storage, while premium configurations go up to Core Ultra 9 185H, RTX 4070, and 32GB 12/RAM.
Since you can easily find Asus’ popular Zephyrus G14 and G16 laptops with specs for that price or less – albeit with batteries and screens, too – these aren’t quite the barebones budget gaming options that Intel Gaming NUCs sometimes might have been in the past.
But you do get a good connection in a box that’s only two inches thick. In addition, there are 6 USB-A ports (4 of which are 10Gbps), an SD Express 8.0 card reader, a Thunderbolt 4 port that provides up to 12V fast charging for USB-C PD devices, and 3.5mm headphones and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet. to two DisplayPort 1.4a slots and one HDMI 2.1 port. On the wireless side, there is Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1690i and Bluetooth 5.3.
For me, I wish there were more USB-C ports, and you’ll notice that it uses a 330-watt external DC power brick. It also comes with the vertical stand you see in the image at the top of this story.
We haven’t seen what it looks like on the inside, but there’s a button on the back that opens the panel so you can swap out the RAM and at least add an SSD. It comes with three M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 slots, so adding lots of fast storage should be easy.
Asus tells us that a release date for the ROG NUC has yet to be determined, but it will likely launch alongside the non-gaming NUC 14 Pro Plus model scheduled for release in April or May, or soon after.
