ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ 2024, Core Ultra 9 185H, 32GB, 1TB SSD, Silver

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ is a tiny powerhouse with best-in-class port selection and solid productivity performance. Gaming is a hard no at 15.9 out of 100. Worth buying if you want a clean, compact Windows workstation and don't need discrete graphics.

The Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core mobile monster that handles productivity, development, and even local AI workloads without breaking a sweat. The 32GB of DDR5 sits in the 82nd percentile for this category, so multitasking is smooth. Storage lands at a solid 70th percentile with that 1TB Gen4 NVMe drive. The integrated Intel Arc graphics are fine for everyday tasks and light creative work, but the gaming score of 15.9 out of 100 tells the real story. This is not a gaming machine. Don't expect to run anything beyond older titles or esports at low settings. CPU performance is strong but not class-leading at the 66th percentile, which makes sense given the thermal constraints of a mini PC.

Against the Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra, the NUC 14 Pro+ loses badly on raw performance but wins on price and Windows flexibility. The Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS and HP OMEN GT16-0364 are gaming-focused towers that crush this thing in graphics but take up ten times the space. The Dell Aurora ACT1250 and MSI Aegis ZS2 are similar stories, bigger, louder, and far better for gaming. Where the NUC stands alone is port density per cubic inch. Nothing else in this comparison comes close to the connectivity this little box offers. If you're a developer or home office user who wants a clean desk and multiple monitors, the NUC makes a strong case. If you want to play games, literally any of the other competitors is a better choice.

Pricing is all over the map depending on where you shop. In the US you're looking at $1,309 to $1,399 across three listings. In Europe the spread is wider, EUR 1,981 to EUR 2,223 across four listings, and in Canada it ranges from CAD 1,558 to CAD 1,953. That's a CAD 395 gap between the cheapest and most expensive Canadian listings, so shopping around actually matters here. For the specs you get, the lower end of those ranges feels fair. At the top end, you're paying a premium for the form factor and port selection. If you need this exact combination of tiny size and serious connectivity, it's worth it. If you just need raw performance per dollar, a traditional desktop will beat it.

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ is a tiny aluminum box that packs a serious punch. Intel's Core Ultra 9 185H, 32GB of DDR5, and a 1TB NVMe drive all live inside a 5 x 4-inch chassis that weighs barely over half a kilo. It's built for people who want real desktop power without the desktop footprint.

Port selection is where this thing flexes. Thunderbolt 4, dual HDMI 2.1, three USB-C ports, five USB-A ports, and 2.5G Ethernet. That's a 94th percentile port setup in our database, which is wild for something this small. The toolless chassis also means upgrades take seconds, not screwdrivers and swearing.

Skip this if you want to play games, period. The integrated graphics are not built for it and you'll be disappointed. Also skip it if you need proven long-term reliability, the 37th percentile score suggests this platform hasn't earned its stripes yet. And if you're on a tight budget, a mid-tower desktop will give you more raw performance per dollar without the mini PC premium.

This is a productivity and connectivity machine, not a gaming rig. Developers, home office users, and anyone running local AI workloads will appreciate the Core Ultra 9 and 32GB of RAM. The port selection is genuinely best-in-class for a mini PC. But if you need discrete graphics or you're building a gaming setup, look elsewhere. The reliability score of 37th percentile also gives us pause, this is a new-ish product category for ASUS and the long-term track record isn't proven yet.