{"id":486754,"date":"2026-05-15T22:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/486754\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T22:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:54:13","slug":"intels-nucs-live-on-as-an-excessive-asus-mini-gaming-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/486754\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel\u2019s NUCs Live On\u2026 as an Excessive Asus Mini Gaming PC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asus is coming back with what\u2019s likely its most appealing, most excessive gaming-ready mini PC yet, the ROG NUC 16<\/a>. It will likely come with an accompanying price that\u2019s likely to make your wallet cry out in anguish.<\/p>\n

Intel\u2019s NUCs, short for \u201cNext Unit of Computing\u201d PC, were supposed to offer pint-sized PCs with desktop-level customizability inside of a premium chassis. But a combination of limited customization options and expensive pricing pretty much doomed NUCs like the Intel NUC 9 Extreme (\u201cGhost Canyon\u201d)<\/a>. So Intel\u00a0handed off<\/a> the NUC design to Asus in 2023. Since then, the ROG NUCs have proved especially appealing to mostly gamers with limited desk space.<\/p>\n

The ROG NUC 16 is the most powerful and most console-like of the NUCs Asus has produced so far. It maintains the same basic shell as the previous NUC 15, but it now includes Intel\u2019s refreshed Arrow Lake CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX. It\u2019s packing up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 laptop GPU (so not the larger desktop version that eats up an enormous 360W of power just by itself), and it can be configured with up to 128GB of RAM.<\/p>\n

\"AsusThere are plenty of HDMI and USB ports, though you\u2019ll only have one Thunderbolt 4 port on the rear. \u00a9 Asus <\/p>\n

And if you were wondering how and where you can get one, Asus hasn\u2019t indicated U.S. pricing details. The mini PC will start at 29,999 Chinese yuan, which roughly comes out to $4,420. The new \u201cMoonlight\u201d white version costs even more, closer to $4,490 in U.S. dollars. Asus promised that the Black version will be out this month, while the white won\u2019t arrive until June. Neither version has a precise launch date. The previous ROG NUC 15 currently starts at $3,400 with a lower-end Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX CPU, an RTX 5060 GPU, and 16GB of RAM. It costs close to $5,300 for a version with a higher-end Arrow Lake CPU, the RTX 5080, and just 16GB of on-device RAM.<\/p>\n

With the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX, the ROG NUC 16 promises better performance than the ROG NUC 15 with the same RTX 5080 GPU. However, Asus\u2019 own site shows that benchmarks like 3DMark\u2019s \u201cTime Spy\u201d equaled only a 3% uplift compared to the last generation. How much better performance you get will depend on the game.<\/p>\n

The ongoing RAM apocalypse<\/a> has driven up prices on all consumer electronics<\/a>. Gaming devices, which rely on more memory and storage than your average lightweight device, are taking the brunt of the harm<\/a>. On paper, the ROG NUC 16 sounds appealing, but there are a few missing puzzle pieces Asus has yet to put in place. On its store page, the different configurations of the ROG NUC 16 don\u2019t even list its flavors of GPU available.<\/p>\n

The ROG NUC 16 includes an updated stand to prop up the PC either vertically or horizontally, with the latter acting as a cradle that keeps the computer just off the desk. Asus promises you\u2019ll get even better performance with the PC hovering than standing up.<\/p>\n

\"2026The new version of the ROG Strix Scar 18 gaming laptop comes with a 4K, 240Hz mini LED panel. \u00a9 Asus <\/p>\n

Asus is also bringing back their ROG Strix Scar 18<\/a> gaming laptop for 2026. Like the ROG NUC 16, it\u2019s also been upgraded with the Intel Core Ultra 290HX CPU, and it\u2019s now packing a full 4K, 240Hz mini LED display. I especially appreciated the 2025 model\u2019s<\/a> toolless access panel that made it easier than ever to swap out the RAM and SSD. Over email, an Asus spokesperson told Gizmodo the ROG Strix Scar 18 won\u2019t be available until Q2 or Q3 this year, and it will have prices to share around release. Just like all gaming hardware in 2026,<\/a> don\u2019t expect it to be any cheaper than the 2025 model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asus is coming back with what\u2019s likely its most appealing, most excessive gaming-ready mini PC yet, the ROG…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[1497,18,7894,19,17,56521,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-486754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-asus","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-gaming","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-pcs","14":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116581057588288693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}