Asus NUC 14 Essential review: An efficient mini PC as a desktop replacement that's useful for everyday use and at the office

The Asus NUC 14 Essential is a compact mini PC aimed primarily at users who are looking for a space-saving, energy-efficient and cost-effective solution for everyday tasks. With its Intel Core 3 N355 processor, the device offers solid performance for office applications, web browsing and multimedia uses. As a result of the processor's modern architecture, you can also carry out some light multitasking—in part also thanks to its eight computing cores. The Asus NUC 14 Essential is far ahead of the widely used quad-core processors in this device class. The PC's build quality is impressive with its robust construction, which you can expect to last a long time even with intensive use. Its simple, functional design blends well into various environments, whether on your desk or as an invisible media center behind a monitor or TV.

A big plus is how energy-efficient the Asus NUC 14 Essential is. With a TDP of a realistic 30 watts under load, its power consumption remains low even during longer periods of use, making the NUC 14 Essential ideal for continuous operation when working from home or as a media server. Its variety of connections—including USB-C, HDMI and Ethernet—ensures that the mini PC can be used as flexibly as possible. On the other hand, it has some problems with graphics-heavy applications, which quickly overtax its iGPU. This integrated graphics unit is simply not designed for such scenarios. All-in-all, the Asus NUC 14 Essential offers a good total package for anyone looking for a small, quiet and energy-saving computer for everyday use.

The Asus NUC 14 Essential is not yet available to purchase. According to the manufacturer, our test sample will be launched as a barebone with an MRSP of around $300.

Compact PCs have long been more than just niche products—they score points with their space-saving design, energy efficiency and surprising performance. With the new Intel Core 3 N355, which is the focus of this review, Asus has installed a powerful CPU with eight cores inside the top-of-the-range model of its NUC 14 Essential. As a barebone version, Asus sells the top model for around $300, although the cheapest device with an Intel N150 is available for around $230. Alternatively, the Asus NUC 14 Essential can be had with an Intel N97 (approx. $240) or an Intel N250. With the exception of the Intel Core i3 N355, the other SoCs are native quad-cores. The DDR5 standard is used for its RAM, which can be easily installed in the form of an SO-DIMM module.

There are loads of inexpensive mini PCs on the market. Nevertheless, Asus' product is definitely an interesting one with its native 8 cores, which should be easily superior to the 4-core devices. As a real challenger, our test sample has to face the Maxtang MTN-ALN50, which is also equipped with a frugal 8-core SoC.

Visually, the Asus NUC 14 Essential looks a little more modern than the previous NUC mini PCs, which is also due to its rectangular design. As a result, the device is slightly wider compared to our competitors, but this is by no means a problem. With a height of just 36 millimeters, the Asus NUC 14 Essential is still super flat. Asus continues to rely on a mix of plastic and metal for its choice of materials. We can see the latter on the underside, which also serves as a maintenance cover. In addition, the outer plastic case is internally reinforced with a metal cage, which gives the device excellent stability. All surfaces are robust, and we consider its lack of a piano lacquer finish to be a positive point. There are no flaws in its build quality. The Asus NUC 14 Essential can be attached directly to a monitor using the supplied VESA mount.

The Asus NUC 14 Essential is a barebone device, which means that you have to install the RAM and SSD yourself. This is not a major challenge, as the underside is easy to remove. Only four screws need to be loosened. An SSD and a RAM module (DDR5) can be installed in the Asus NUC 14 Essential. Maintenance also includes the supply of drivers and updates. The manufacturer offers the option of carrying out system updates directly via the MyAsus software.

Equipped with the Intel Core 3 N355, the frugal SoC combines eight native computing cores. The processor's power limits are defined as a power consumption of 20 to 35 watts. DD5 is used for its main memory, which is installed as an SO-DIMM module. M.2 modules with a capacity of up to 2 TB can be installed for mass storage. As a barebone device, users can choose the size of the RAM and SSD themselves. In order to be well equipped for everyday use, you should at least stick to our test configuration with 16 GB RAM and an SSD with 512 GB.

We carried out all performance tests using the energy profile balanced. The SoC's power consumption was not changed and was left in the PC's delivered state according to the BIOS settings. We like the extensive BIOS settings that are available. Compared to the mini PCs of various other manufacturers from the Far East, such as Geekom, Minisforum or Acemagic, Asus is far ahead in this respect.

The Intel Core 3 N335 is Intel's latest SoC with eight cores. In general, the SoC is based on the already familiar Intel Core i3-N305, which is also equipped with eight cores. However, the newer N355 model delivers 100 MHz more in Turbo mode, which means you can expect 3.9 GHz under optimum conditions. Still, the available power consumption has the greatest influence on its performance. Inside the Asus NUC 14 Essential, these are set at 20 watts (PL1) and 35 watts (PL2). In our opinion, the selected power limits are well chosen.

During our performance comparison, our test sample was able to secure first place by a wafer-thin margin, closely followed by the Maxtang MTN-ALN50. Under continuous load, the Intel Core i3-N305 in the Maxtang MTN-ALN50 only had up to 15 watts at its disposal, which made all the difference here. As was to be expected, the other competitors based on quad-core SoCs were consistently worse. The Intel N97's single-core performance was nevertheless good and on par. This is interesting because Asus also offers the NUC 14 Essential based on these SoCs.

You can find more processor benchmarks here.

Its good CPU performance additionally ensured excellent results in the system performance benchmarks. Our test sample was only beaten by the Minisforum UN100D during the RAM tests. The Asus NUC 14 Essential masters everyday tasks without any problems.