Tiny new Asus ROG NUC gaming PC puts mini-ITX to shame

Asus has confirmed it’ll soon be launching an ultra-compact new gaming PC that falls under the ROG brand name and is a new spin on the tiny NUC gaming systems Intel used to produce. Essentially a direct follow-on from the excellent if expensive Intel NUC 13 Extreme, the new Asus ROG NUC is to be fully unveiled by Asus at its CES 2024 press conference on Jan 9.

The new Asus ROG NUC comes after Asus took over management of the Intel NUC lineup of PCs. That lineup has been around for a decade or so and consists of a wide range of really tiny PCs – some that are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Most of these systems aren’t meant as contenders for a place on the best gaming PC lists of the world but rather are for things like reception desk systems, low-level office duties, or embedded systems.

However, Intel also produced some compact gaming systems that, while larger than the smallest NUCs, were still far smaller than even mini-ITX gaming PCs, such as the Intel NUC 9 Extreme review here. However, six months ago Intel closed its NUC division only for Asus to announce it would takeover control of it. Now, less than a year later and we’re getting the first gaming PC fruits of that endeavour.

The classically ROG-styled new Intel ROG NUC system, then, will pack in as yet unknown hardware, with the teaser from Asus announcing the new system just giving small glimpses of the hardware. It appears to be similar in form to the existing Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast, making it far smaller than some ot eh Intel NUC Extreme systems with desktop graphics cards. As such, there’s a chance the Asus ROG NUC could use integrated Intel Arc graphics or some other form of mobile GPU option.

Whatever the new Asus ROG NUC turns out to be, we’ll be on hand at CES 2024 to see what it’s all about. For more stories from CES 2024, check out our CES story tag.