When it comes to the tiniest of PC form factors, the NUC is hard to beat but the compact dimensions usually mean you don't get the best of hardware inside. The 2025 version of the Asus ROG NUC, though, boasts some of the very best new parts on the market. The only problem is that the price might be so high that you could well be better off just getting a desktop PC or laptop.
For those unfamiliar with the term NUC, it stems from an innovation drive by Intel around 12 years ago. The Next Unit of Computing was supposed to bring powerful yet tiny computers to homes and offices around the world but despite being relatively popular in business and education, it never really caught on with general consumers. In 2013, Intel pulled the plug on its NUCs and handed the baton over to Asus, which has been 'gamifying' the NUC since then.
Essentially nothing more than the innards of a gaming laptop stuffed into a tiny box, the ROG NUC eschews the traditional dull design for something considerably more bling. However, two things have stood in their way of becoming an outright triumph: one, the choice of hardware, and two, the very high price tag.
In the case of the former, the 2025 version of the ROG NUC looks set to address those concerns on all fronts. CPU-wise you get the choice of a Core Ultra 9 or 7 Series 2 ARL-HX, aka laptop versions of Intel's Arrow Lake chips. While the desktop versions aren't amazing for gaming, their low power consumption is likely to be a boon in this format.
For the moment, there's only one choice of GPU and that's the new GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile. The Blackwell architecture is all about AI wizardry for gaming but outside of that scope, you're still getting 7,680 CUDA cores and 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM.
It's not clear at this stage what power limit Asus will use with the chip but I suspect neither the CPU nor GPU will be able to reach their full capacity, as it would mean a combined TDP of 310 W and that's too much for a NUC to deal with.
Asus says the NUC's cooling solution is good for 135 W which might seem very low but Arrow Lake really doesn't use much power when processing games. That said, it doesn't leave a huge amount for the GPU.
It's good news on the RAM front, though, as the 2025 ROG NUC sports between 16 and 96 GB of DDR5-6400. While I'd have preferred 32 GB to have been the minimum spec, I'm pleased to see that Asus has paired the mobile Arrow Lake with the fastest base RAM that it supports and it should go no small way to help counter its relatively weak gaming chops.
For storage, you've got a 1 or 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and just a single screw separates you and the chassis if you want to upgrade it for something even more substantial.
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Connectivity-wise, the 2025 ROG NUC is pretty decent—a WiFi 7 module and 2.5G Ethernet socket for speedy downloads and four display sockets (2x DisplayPort 2.1 and 2x HDMI 2.1). Round the back, there's one Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port and four 10 Gbps USB Type-A ports, with a further three (1x 20 Gbps Type-C, 2x 10 Gbps Type-A) in the front.
The main reason why one would ever consider the ROG NUC is, of course, its tiny size. With a volume of just 3 litres, the footprint is so small that you could pop it anywhere on your desk and barely notice it. However, the design suggests that it can only be used in a vertical arrangement and while that's great for not cluttering up your desk, it's not ideal if you want to tuck it underneath a monitor.
Whether the 2025 Asus ROG NUC fares any better than its predecessors will come down to the price. Previous models were hugely expensive, though Asus has shaved a fair bit of their price tags of late. But even so, you're still looking at over £1,600 just for an RTX 4060 model.
For that kind of money, you'd be better off building your own SFF gaming rig or just getting a decent gaming laptop. Neither will be as compact as the ROG NUC, but you're certainly getting a lot more for your money.
Let's hope the new year and new NUC are paired with a new, sensible price.
