ASUS NUC 14 Pro AI Review

Introduction

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro AI is one of the newest additions to the brand’s lineup of compact PCs for both work and play for minimalist setups, as well as for those who travel.

Our unit is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 288v processor, paired with an Intel Arc 140V GPU, and 32GB of LPDDR5X-8533 RAM along with a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD, which makes for a seemingly good package.

But just how capable is this device? In this review, we’ll take it for a spin on our daily tasks, plus our suite of benchmarks, to see how it fares.

Specifications

Design and Connectivity

At 130 x 130 x 34mm, the ASUS NUC 14 Pro AI‘s compact form factor makes it ideal for small spaces, travel, or for those who simply want a more minimal setup. For added peace of mind, ASUS claims that it has also passed multiple MIL-STD 810H tests.

Just because its small, doesn’t mean it’s less. The device hosts a comprehensive suite of ports – two USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports with support for DP 2.1, a LAN port, an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, and an audio jack. You can also mount it at the back of monitor using the VESA mount kit for an even more minimalist look.

You also get a dedicated Copilot Key, a fingerprint reader, a speaker with Smart AMP, and a microphone for issuing voice commands. An SD card slot would’ve been nice though. The top has a diamond pattern finish, with a single ASUS NUC branding.

The case even offers a bit of transparency, so you can have a glance at the components inside. By lifting a small handle at the bottom, you’ll also be able to easily access the SSD, in case you want to upgrade it in the future. It also features Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7 if you have a compatible router, and can connect to up to three 4K displays via Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI.

For thermals, the ASUS NUC Pro AI uses advanced Dual Copper Heat Pipes for the CPU heatsink, and a High-End Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan which improves heat dissipation while keeping noise low.

Benchmarks

Cinebench 2024

This benchmark measures a machine’s CPU and GPU capabilities by rendering a 3D scene. The latest version also incorporates the latest rendering architectures as well as other advanced features that lets users render the same scene on the same hardware.

Super Pi

Super PI is a single-threaded application that calculates pi to a number of digits after a decimal point. Max of 32 million.

Blender

Blender measures how many samples a CPU or GPU can compute per minute. Higher score is better.

Corona Renderer

Corona is free application developed by Chaos Group, in response to the popularity of Blender. It tests a system’s performance by rendering a scene and is suitable for CPUs in various price segments.

V-Ray is another tool that measures a system’s rendering performance by rendering sample scenes within a fixed amount of time. It’s mostly used by 3D computer graphics software applications for various purposes, including industrial and product design, architecture, film, and video game production. It’s not limited to 64 threads and supports multi and mega-threading.

3DMark Speedway

3DMark Speedway is a Ray Tracing benchmark that measures DirectX 12 Ultimate performance for high end gaming PCs using a combination of real-time ray tracing and traditional rendering techniques.

3DMark Steel Nomad

3DMark Steel Nomad, on the other hand, is a non-raytraced benchmark for testing the reliability, stability, and sustained performance of high-end gaming PCs.

OCCT – CPU

OCCT is a stability testing tool that is popular among overclockers, enthusiasts, and system integrators.

PCMark 10

PCMark 10 measures overall performance across various categories of tasks – including web browsing, video conferencing, documents, spreadsheets, photo editing, video editing, and several graphics tests.

Geekbench 6 – CPU Test

Geekbench 6 is perhaps one of the most popular benchmarks not just for PCs but also for mobile devices. It measures a processor’s single and multi-core performance for various tasks, including Augmented Reality and Machine Learning.

Procyon AI Benchmarks

Procyon offers benchmarks to measure the AI capabilities of a system, including how well it performs when using on-device AI to perform simple office tasks, image generation, and more.

Thermals

During testing, the CPU temperature went up to around 77°C to 80°C, putting the device’s fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) fan and dual interleaved heat pipe design to the test. I could clearly hear the fan noise, but it’s not distracting loud, and it’s expected when putting the system under such loads.

Generative AI

The Intel Core Ultra 9 288v’s NPU delivers 48 TOPS of AI computing power, which reflects performance in AI-related features and applications. For example, responses from Copilot arrived quick, at least with the usual prompts that we threw at it.

Verdict

The ASUS NUC 14 Pro AI is a decent solution for those who want a space-saving and mobile solution for productivity and media consumption. It offers a decent number of ports for your external devices, Wi-Fi 7 support for enhanced connectivity, and a design that allows for an easy upgrade. Plus, it’s easy to set up.

Having a compact package gives you the ability to be able to move the system easily from one place to another. Bring in a portable monitor, and peripherals, and you’re all set for a travel setup. Some would, however, argue that a laptop would be a better solution, and I would agree to an extent.

Then there’s also the argument that building a custom PC would yield you a better overall package, and the freedom to choose your own parts, and to that, I would also agree.

However, the ASUS NUC 14 Pro AI is about getting a decent package while remaining extremely portable and mobile, and in that regard, I think it delivers.

Emman Tortoza

Chief Editor and Content Lead at Gadget Pilipinas | Website

Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.