I've reviewed a lot of mini PCs in the past year or so, but the Asus NUC 14 Pro is the first time I get one from what you might consider a mainstream brand. This tiny computer comes with Intel Core Ultra Series 1 processors, and it delivers all the performance you'd expect from such a small machine, and it's a great fit for a small office desk.

What helps this one stand out from many other models I've reviewed is how easy it is to make upgrades to the RAM and storage, since it's tool-less for the most part. It's a great little machine for an office space, and the ease of upgrades is also great if you intend to service the device later on.

About this review: We were sent the Asus NUC 14 Pro for the purposes of this review. Asus had no input in its content.

Asus NUC 14 Pro pricing and availability

The Asus NUC 14 Pro was launched in August 2024, and it comes in two primary variants in terms of the chassis: One with a taller chassis that has internal space for a 2.5-inch SATA drive, and a slimmer model without the SATA drive bay.

Pricing starts at $394, but that's for a barebones model with an Intel Core 3 100U processors and no RAM or storage.

The model I was sent for review is a high-end configuration, featuring an intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 1TB of storage, and 32GB of RAM, and it's also the tall chassis model with a 2.5-inch drive bay. That model goes for $1,099 on Amazon or $1,020 on Asus' wesbite. You can save an extra 5% on Amazon with the code XDANUCOFF, though only until the end of November 2024.

What I like

It's a fast PC

As you'd expect from a computer powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, the Asus NUC 14 Pro is a pretty fast machine, especially when paired with the 32GB of dual-channel memory. I used the computer for my regular workload, which includes two browser windows open with multiple tabs, Slack, Beeper, and occasionally running Photoshop and Lightroom and doing some file management. Everything ran as smoothly as you could reasonably expect it to.

The only area where a processor with integrated graphics lets me down is running the AI Denoise filter in Adobe Lightroom, which takes a little over two minutes for a 24MP RAW file. This is something that's much better in the newer Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors, but right now, there are basically no mini PCs with those chips. I just end up denoising images manually, which is fine.

But performance is great overall, as you can see in the usual suite of benchmarks I ran:

The SSD is the only thing that's not completely top-tier here, with read speeds hovering around 4,000MB/s. That's oddly low for a PCIe 4.0 SSD, but it's still more than fast enough for basically anyone, unless you're dealing with massive amounts of data. Of course, you can always upgrade the SSD.

It's easy to upgrade

I've reviewed a lot of mini PCs in the past few months, and while I've never considered them particularly hard to upgrade, Asus went the extra mile here to make upgrades that much more convenient. The NUC 14 Pro uses a completely toolless design for its chassis, so you can upgrade your RAM and storage with no tools at all.

Asus went the extra mile here to make upgrades that much more convenient

The bottom of the PC can be removed with a simple release slider that unlocks the cover from the rest of the chassis. And once you're inside, the SSD slots don't use screws, either. SSDs are held in place by a small plastic insert you can just pull out to install a new SSD and push back in when you're done. It's a pretty tight fit, so your SSD is very secure.

It's hard to stand out in the mini PC space, so little touches of convenience like this go a long way in making a device feel special. Asus also includes a VESA mounting bracket and screws so you can mount the computer on the back of a monitor, perfect for small office desks.

It's well equipped with ports (for the most part)

Despite its tiny size, the Asus NUC 14 Pro also has very solid connectivity for peripherals. The two Thunderbolt 4 ports are great to have for powering a monitor or connecting an external GPU if you need the extra horsepower. You also get four USB Type-A ports in total, two HDMI 2.1 ports (for a total of four display outputs, counting Thunderbolt), and even super-fast 2.5Gbps Ethernet.

The big downside is the lack of a headphone jack

It's always impressive to me how many ports can fit into these tiny PCs, and while the Asus NUC 14 Pro isn't necessarily exceptional, it's still quite good. I think the big downside is the lack of a headphone jack, which I frankly don't understand.

What I don't like

The chassis is plastic

This is a pretty small thing to complain about, but as I've already mentioned, it's hard to stand out as a mini PC, so a premium look and feel is something I also appreciate, and the Asus NUC 14 Pro doesn't really have that. While it's very compact and I like that, I do think it's unfortunate that the entire chassis is made of plastic. It just makes the device feel somewhat cheap, which is a bummer considering it's not exactly a cheap mini PC.

It's unfortunate that the entire chassis is made of plastic

At least the plastic chassis helps it be fairly light, so this is a pretty easy PC to pick up and move around if you need to.

It's already falling behind

Another problem with this PC is that it came out with an Intel Meteor Lake processor when Intel's next generation was already on the way. Laptops with Lunar Lake processors launched in September, and in fact, Asus itself announced new mini PCs with Intel lunar Lake at IFA 2024.

Considering the huge improvements to power efficiency in the Lunar Lake processors, I am inclined to say it's a good idea to wait for those. But to be fair, these are PCs you plug into an outlet anyway, so maybe the power efficiency isn't as relevant as it would be on a laptop. It's just worth noting you're not getting the latest and greatest hardware anymore.

Should you buy the Asus NUC 14 Pro?

In the realm of mini PCs, Asus has some stiff competition from brands like Geekom and Minisforum, who often undercut in terms of price. But Asus is a more reputable and recognizable brand overall, and this PC has the added benefit of being really easy to upgrade compared to most others. Plus, the price difference for a mini PC with comparable specs isn't that big.

If you want the extra peace of mind having something from a larger company and the easy of use that the NUC 14 Pro comes with, I think the slight premium for this model is totally justified. It's a great mini PC, after all.

You should buy the Asus NUC 14 Pro if:

• You want a compact mini PC with great performance
• You want to be able to upgrade RAM and storage easily
• You need ports for fast internet and peripherals

You shouldn't buy the Asus NUC 14 Pro if:

• You want the latest Intel processors and you can wait for new models to come out
• You want something that feels premium