REVIEW: ASUS NUC 14 Essential, Needed device for essential Tasks

We have reviewed some of ASUS' mini PC before and we are excited to do another mini PC review, but this time, it's their acquire mini device from Intel, the ASUS NUC.

ASUS was able to acquire the NUC branding from Intel for more than a year now and they have continued to enhance the product line ever since. ASUS has started manufacturing their own version of NUC with the latest Intel Processors.

On this review we review their most affordable and entry level NUC, the NUC 14 Essential.

Disclaimer: This unit was sent by ASUS Philippines for review, though they have no say or influence on what will be the result of this review will be. They also sent us the SSD storage and RAM since they offer the NUC 14 Essential in barebone which means you get to choose the RAM and SSD brand and capacity you like that is in their recommended list and has no Operating system.

We have review the other Mini PC models from ASUS before, the Expert Center PN64 which we enjoyed because of its small footprint and the capability to do above average tasks.

WHAT'S INSIDE

Compared to their Expert Center products, the ASUS NUC has a more smaller box. They maintained the box material as the same with brown color which makes it more recyclable.

Inside the box is the NUC 14 Essential, the power brick and power cable, the vesa mounting kit and the manual. No keyboard and mouse.

LOOKS AND DESIGN

Compared to the ExpertCenter, the ASUS NUC has curvey edge smooth matte finish.

The ASUS NUC has 2 design on the PRO models, the basic thin design and the TALL design where you can add a 2.5" SSD or HDD and customize 2-3 ports. The NUC 14 Essential we reviews only has one design, the thin one which compared to an iPhone, can be 2-3 pieces stack together.

It is also smaller compared to the ExpertCenter product line, making it more compact but doesn't compromise performance, especially the high-end models.

SPECIFICATION AND PORTS

As mentioned above, the NUC 14 Essential here in the Philippines are being offered in barebone so ASUS also sent us a SO-DIMM RAM and M.2 SSD Storage from Adata which is compatible to this device. 

Processor: Intel® Processor N150, TDP 6W

RAM: 1 x 16 Adata DDR5 4800MTs

SSD: 256GB Adata Legend 710 NVMe 3.0 M.2 SSD

Graphics: Intel® Graphics

Wireless: Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+), Bluetooth 5.3

LAN: Realtek Ethernet Controller RTL8125BG-CG, 2.5G

Dimension: 135mm x 115mm x 36mm

Weight: 470g

OS: Windows 11 Pro (we installed this one)

Its processor the N150 is one Intel's processor from it's N-Series that has total of 4 Cores, Max turbo speed of 3.6GHz with 6 watts of based power. A low powered processor that can do most of the basic tasks and with the help of the 16GB of DDR5 RAM, it can accommodate more apps at the same time.

What we like about the NUC 14 Essential is the wireless connection, it is equipped with WIFI 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 which is pretty fast for its price tag.

We are also impressed with the ports it has especially the ones in the back.

Front I/O ports includes the following:

1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C

2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A

1 x 3.5mm Headset Jack

1 x Kensington Lock

The fact that it has a 10G Type-C port is a +1 for us, considering a lot of devices now a day are shifting to Type-C ports.

Back I/O ports includes the following:

1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C w/ DisplayPort 1.4

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A

1 x USB 2.0 Type-A

1 x HDMI 2.1 (TMDS)

1 x DisplayPort 1.4

1 x RJ45 LAN

1 x DC-in

We are impressed that with the NUC 14 Essential's pricetag they add 3 display ports on it, making it more versatile to those who want to have multiple displays, a +1 versus laptops that usually has 1-2 diplay ports only.

The presence of HDMI, DisplayPort and USB Type-C DP port is a good decision and well thought of since most target audience for this tiny devices has options to have not just 2 but 3 displays at a time.

The LAN port has been upgraded as well from the usual 1G to 2.5G making it more efficient for those who use wired internet connection or just simply connecting it to your NAS or server.

UPGRADABILITY

The ASUS NUC 14 Essential inherit the upgradability path from its distant ExpertCenter brother. The way to open the ASUS NUC for upgrade is more easier, on the NUC 14 Essential, you can just remove the 4 stand screws to open it up, no sliding of the lower case needed.

On the inside, once opened. You can easily see where to place the RAM and SSD. No screwdriver needed.

Based on paper, the ASUS NUC 14 Essential can up to 16GB 4800MTs of RAM and up to 2TB of NVMe 3.0 M.2 2280 or 2242 SSD.

BENCHMARK AND PERFORMANCE

We did test the ASUS NUC 14 Essential, though we limit it to benchmark and browsing only, no games since we already noticed that the Processor usage is reaching 100% every now and then even if we just opened a file explorer or 1 browser. Though this actually didn't affect perfomance or create a lag/delay, we are still bothered as we have not experienced reaching 100% CPU performance doing nothing at all

We did try opening multiple browser while playing YouTube videos and we reached up to 4 that play the videos smoothly without buffering. The monitor we are using has 4k resolution and we used an additional portable monitor for our setup.

For Cinebench 2024, the ASUS NUC 14 Essential had a score of:

CPU (Multi-Core): 144 pts

CPU (Single-Core): 54 pts

And while doing the cinebench 2024, the temperature of the ASUS NUC 14 Essential reach a maximum of 105 degrees

For GeekBench 6, the ASUS NUC 14 Essential has a score of:

CPU (Multi-Core): 3118

CPU (Single-Core): 1234

We also did Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0, but since the specs of the ASUS NUC 14 Essential is a bit lower, we can only do a smooth benchmark on a low settings with the following results:

Score: 643

FPS: 25.5

We also did browser bench to gauge the capability of the ASUS NUC 14 Essential on multi-tasking and multiple browser. The result can be seen below:

Speedometer 3.1 Score: 12.2

Motion Mark 1.3.1 Score: 465.87 at 120fps

JetStream 2.2 Score: 199.481

We also did test CrystalDiskMark 9.0.1 to measure the AData SSD we used on the ASUS NUC 14 Essential and here's the result.

Sequential Read (Q8T1): 3,104.28

Sequential Write (Q8T1): 1,944.33

This results are higher than what was offered by the SSD which is read and write speeds of up to 2,400/1,800MB per second

Generally the ASUS NUC 14 Essential show good perfomance on basic tasks and can handle minimal multi-tasks to say the least. This performance can be seen on small business or WFH setup that requires minimal task application use.

SPECIAL FEATURES

ASUS has been adding this feature since their Expert Center products, that is the mounting kit for their MiniPCs and was incorporated as well on their ASUS NUC products allowing it to be mounted typically at the back of a monitor keeping it hidden and offers a more clean setup on your desks especially if you have limited space. 

But aside from mounting it at the back of the monitor, we also mount it on one of our monitor arm since the vesa mounting is the size, 100mm x 100mm. This allows the setup more minimalist especially if your monitor doesn't support vesa mounting. In this setup you just need a dual monitor arm, one is used for the monitor and the other if for the ASUS NUC.

CONCLUSION

The ASUS NUC 14 Essential is a miniPC that can do basic tasks and can operate multiple minimal application, but we are worried on the 100% usage capacity on the CPU, though we haven't experience any major issues the time we test the unit.

Based on the SRP that was given to use, the ASUS NUC 14 Essential has 3 models available, all model are barebone meaning the price exclude the RAM, SSD and OS.

ASUS NUC 14 Essential (N97 Processor): PHP 9,490

ASUS NUC 14 Essential (N150 Processor): PHP 9,870

ASUS NUC 14 Essential (Core 3 N350 Processor): PHP 12,480

When it comes to price to performance, we can say that the ASUS NUC 14 Essential can be a good option. Though there are other brands offering higher specs in almost the same price point. 

We will be giving the ASUS NUC 14 Essential a Class B Rank as it can still do minimal multi-task, with better wifi connection and USB-C display port are a plus for us.

Here at All of the Above we have a way to rate the products we review. These are the scores we give the ASUS NUC 14 Essential.

• 9/10 Overall Design
• 7/10 Performance
• 6/10 Price to Performance

Overall, we are give the ASUS NUC 14 Essential a 7/10 overall score. The overall design is very premium, the performance is ok and the price to performance is a bit low for us. If the above price range already have RAM, SSD and OS, we can make the score higher.