ASUS has published the product page for its upcoming NUC 14 Essential (NUC14MNK), an entry-level mini-PC that will use a new generation of Intel processors for the basic series.

Intel announced Alder Lake-N processors at CES 2023 to fill the gap left by the discontinued Celeron and Pentium solutions, covering the entry-level and affordable PC market. They were a complete success if you look at the huge number of computers that used them, mostly notebooks and Mini-PCs. Although Intel has not officially announced the refresh, it is rumored to do so soon under the ‘Twin Lake’ platform. The biggest news will be the new ‘Skymont’ processor cores used in Intel’s Lunar Lake platform.

ASUS NUC 14 Essential, basic and economical

Considering that ASUS took charge of the continuation of the compact Intel NUC, it is not surprising that it is the first company to introduce news from the chip giant.

We see three new CPUs:

• Intel N150 (6W TDP)
• Intel N250 (6W TDP)
• Intel Core 3 N355 (15W TDP)

In the rest, this compact will follow the design of the current model with chassis o 135 x 115 x 36 mm and a good number of ports on the front and back:

• 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gb/s DisplayPort 1.4)
• 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gb/s data only)
• 4 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A (10 Gb/s)
• 1 USB 2.0 Type A (480 Mb/s)
• 1 HDMI 2.1
• 1 DisplayPort 1.4
• 1 x 2.5GbE Ethernet (RTL8125BG-CG)
• 1 3.5 mm audio jack
• 1 DC power input (19V/3.42A, 65W)

In terms of memory and storage, it only supports 16 GB DDR5-4800 memory single channel and has only one M.2 2280/2242 PCIe Gen 3 x4 slot for NVMe storage. Its basic and economical approach is also reflected in the lack of Thunderbolt ports that will mount higher models. In any case, they can deliver content to three 4K monitors simultaneously.

ASUS will distribute this compact in different configurations fully assembled, but also in the always interesting barebones format, without memory, storage or an operating system that the user will have to install. For maximum versatility, the Taiwanese company will also offer the NUC 14 Essential (NUC14MNB) motherboard, which will be sold without a chassis.

We do not know the price or availability. Certainly after the official presentation of the new Intel processors, ‘Twin Lake’, which will happen at CES 2024 at the latest