ASUS NUC NUC 14 Pro+ Silver 2024

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ is a tiny, well-built mini PC with a killer port selection and plenty of RAM for serious multitasking. Its integrated graphics kill any gaming dreams, and buyer reports of poor support are a red flag. It's a solid buy for office work if you can snag it near the $932 low end, but skip it if you need any GPU muscle.

The Core Ultra 7 155H chews through browser tabs, spreadsheets, and compile jobs without breaking a sweat. Our database puts the CPU right at the 60th percentile, so it's solid but not groundbreaking for the price. The 32GB of RAM is a standout, landing in the top 83rd percentile, which means you can run VMs or keep a hundred Chrome tabs open without a hiccup. The weak spot is the integrated Arc graphics, sitting dead in the middle of the pack. It handles 4K video playback and light photo editing fine, but don't expect to play anything beyond indie titles or very old games at decent settings. The port selection is excellent though, with dual HDMI 2.1, Thunderbolt 4, and a pile of USB-C and USB-A ports putting it in the top 88th percentile for connectivity.

Stacked against traditional tower competitors like the HP Omen GT22 or Lenovo Legion Tower 5i, the NUC 14 Pro+ gets absolutely demolished in gaming and GPU-heavy tasks. Those towers pack dedicated graphics cards that run circles around the Intel Arc integrated chip. But they're also massive by comparison. The NUC's real competition is other mini PCs, and here it holds its own with a premium build and that excellent port selection. Just know you're trading raw performance for desk space. If you need a tiny PC for a home theater or office, this is a strong contender. If you want to game, even a budget tower will be a better experience.

Pricing on this unit is all over the map, with a spread from $932 to $1801 across different vendors. At the low end, you're getting a well-equipped, ultra-compact PC with great connectivity and enough RAM for years of use. That's a fair deal for a premium mini PC. At the high end, you're wandering into territory where you could build a much more powerful small form factor rig with a dedicated GPU. If you're buying, hunt for a price closer to that $932 mark. Paying anywhere near $1800 for integrated graphics and middling reliability is a tough pill to swallow.

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ is a tiny silver box that tries to do it all. It packs a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD into a 5x4-inch aluminum chassis you can mount behind a monitor. For office work, coding, and media streaming, it's a quiet, capable little machine that barely takes up any space. But if you're hoping to game or push heavy creative workloads, the integrated Intel Arc graphics will remind you pretty quickly that this isn't a desktop replacement for everything.

Gamers should run the other way. The integrated Intel Arc graphics land at the 53rd percentile and will choke on anything beyond the lightest indie games. If you need a machine for 3D rendering, heavy video editing, or any AAA gaming, look at a small form factor build with a dedicated GPU instead. You'll get way more performance for your dollar.

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ is for the person who values desk space above all else and needs a reliable workhorse for productivity, not play. It's a fantastic little machine for developers, home office users, or anyone running a digital signage setup who needs a ton of ports. The tool-less design and 32GB of RAM mean it'll stay useful for a long time. Just don't buy it expecting to game, and maybe factor in the cost of an extended warranty given the shaky reliability and support reputation.