ASUS NUC 13 Pro RNUC13L3KV70000UI 2023, Core i7-1370P, 64GB, Black

The ASUS NUC 13 Pro Slim is a tiny productivity workhorse with a strong CPU and excellent RAM capacity, but it's a barebone kit with no storage or OS. Gaming is a lost cause with Iris Xe graphics. Worth it if you want a compact, quiet desktop and don't mind adding your own drive and software.

The i7-1370P is a solid mid-pack performer in our database, landing around the 45th percentile for CPUs. That's fine for office work, coding, and light creative tasks. The RAM situation is actually a standout, 93rd percentile, so you can load this thing up with 64GB and never think about memory again. But the storage score is brutal, 2nd percentile, because there's no drive included. You're starting from zero there. The Iris Xe GPU sits right around average for integrated graphics, which means it handles spreadsheets and 4K video playback without breaking a sweat, but it'll choke on anything resembling a modern game.

Stacked against the Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS or HP OMEN GT16-0364, this NUC gets absolutely demolished in gaming and raw GPU power. Those are full desktops with dedicated graphics. But they're also huge by comparison. The Apple Mac Studio M5 Max is in a different universe performance-wise, and a different price bracket too. The Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 and Acer Nitro N60-180-UB33 offer more expandability but none of them fit in a coat pocket. If you need a tiny, quiet workhorse, the NUC wins on form factor alone. If you need any graphical horsepower, every competitor here beats it.

At $779 USD, this is a tricky value proposition. You're paying for the compact chassis, the processor, and the ASUS engineering. But you still need to add an SSD and a Windows license, which pushes the real cost up by at least $150 to $200. If you already have a spare M.2 drive and a Windows key lying around, this becomes a much better deal. If you're starting from scratch, the total cost creeps close to what you'd pay for a prebuilt mini PC with storage and OS included.

The ASUS NUC 13 Pro Slim is a barebone kit, so you're bringing your own storage and OS. What you get is a 13th Gen Core i7-1370P with 14 cores, Iris Xe graphics, and room for up to 64GB of DDR4. It's tiny, quiet, and meant to disappear behind a monitor.

This is a productivity machine, not a toy. The compact score of 50.6 out of 100 tells you it nails the small form factor brief. But the gaming score of 12.7 is a flashing neon sign that says don't even think about it.

Skip this if you want to play games, edit 4K video, or do any 3D work. The integrated graphics will frustrate you immediately. Also skip it if you want a plug-and-play experience out of the box, since you'll need to source storage and an OS before it does anything useful. And if reliability is your top concern, the 36th percentile score should give you pause.

Buy this if you want a nearly invisible desktop for office work, development, or as a home server. The i7-1370P has enough muscle for multitasking and the RAM ceiling is generous. Just know you're signing up for a small DIY project before it's usable. This is for people who don't mind installing an SSD and an OS, and who value desk space more than raw performance.