ASUS says there is still life in the NUC with the launch of the ASUS NUC 14 Pro and 14 Pro+

In the middle of 2023, Intel surprised everyone by announcing plans to kill off its line of ultra-compact PCs, the NUC. Fortunately for it and those who love the NUC, ASUS stepped into the breach by signing an agreement with Intel to sell and support Intel NUC 10th to 13th generation systems product lines, with the view to developing its own NUC systems designs.

That leads us to the ASUS NUC 14 Pro and 14 Pro+ that were first announced at CES 2024. In terms of connectivity, both have two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports that can be connected to external displays, docking stations, high-speed storage, and even recharge-compatible USB devices. Two HDMI 2.1 ports let you connect additional displays, and four USB Type-A ports stand at the ready to connect a wide range of devices. Both the 14 Pro and 14 Pro+ also have Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

ASUS NUC 14 Pro

The ultra-small form factor (USFF) ASUS NUC 14 Pro comes with up to a 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, up to 96GB of RAM, and two onboard M.2 slots (2280 and 2242) for storage. ASUS says that the NUC 14 Pro is the first AI-ready NUC that features high-speed Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, Intel vPro Enterprise, and support for up to four external displays.

ASUS NUC 14 Pro+

Unlike the 4 × 4-inch chassis of the ASUS NUC 14 Pro, the ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ also comes in an optional 5 x 4-inch form factor. It comes powered by up to 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, Intel Arc graphics, and up to 96GB of RAM. Like the 16 Pro, the 14 Pro+ also has two onboard M.2 slots (2280 and 2242) for storage. And an additional 2.5-inch SATA drive as well if the user opts for the taller chassis variant.

ROG NUC

But the ASUS NUC 14 Pro and 14 Pro+ weren't the only NUC's from ASUS announced at CES 2024. also unveiled was a gaming NUC from ROG that will come with either an Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9 processor, and an NVIDIA RTX 4060 or 4070 GPU when it arrives later this year. it also features Intel’s tool-less chassis design, allowing for easy upgrades and maintenance, meaning that maintenance is achievable in less than ten minutes.

In terms of connectivity, the ROG NUC comes with an HDMI 2.1 port, DisplayPort 1.4, Thunderbolt 4/USB-C Type-C port, USB 2.0 port, 2.5G LAN port, Wi-Fi 6E, and interestingly support for both Windows 11 and Linux OSes.

Pricing and availability

We currently only know when the ASUS NUC 14 Pro will be released (mid-April 2024) but have no visibility on its pricing and have neither for the NUC 14 Pro+. The ROG NUC will arrive sometime in the middle of the year, but again, we lack pricing information. We will update this article with more information when we get it.

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