ASUS Announces First ROG NUC Mini-PC

Several months after it agreed to continue Intel’s line of NUC mini-PCs, ASUS has announced its first new NUC-branded mini-PC, the ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamers) NUC.

“ASUS has created the first ever ROG NUC,” the PC maker announced this morning. “The compact yet powerful PC—codename Scorpion canyon—is an ultra-small gaming marvel with Intel Core Ultra processors and NVIDIA RTX graphics that provides a versatile gaming solution.”

The ROG NUC product page provides much more detail, though pricing is perhaps the one major missing piece. But the ROG NUC features a slim, mini form factor with an optional stand for vertical positioning and it comes in two major models that feature an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and Core Ultra 9 185H processor, respectively. They each feature integrated Intel NPU, Intel Arc graphics, and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 GPU, up to 32 GB of DDR5 RAM, three M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 slots for storage and other expansion, Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, and Realtek ALC256 audio.

Expansion is pretty impressive given the small form factor. Each model includes two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, one SD Express 8 card reader with UHS-I support, and a combo microphone/headphone jack on the front, plus one Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Type-C (with DisplayPort 2.1 fast charging) port, two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, one HDMI port, two DisplayPort 1.4a ports, an Ethernet port, and a Kensington Lock slot on the rear. The power supply is 330 watts, which is pretty beefy.

The back panel of the ROG NUC features configurable RGB lighting and the chassis is tool-less. This looks quite interesting, frankly, but I’m curious about the pricing.