Asus NUC 14 Essential Fanless Unveiled — a Mini PC With Passive Cooling

Asus has unveiled the compact NUC 14 Essential Fanless computer with a fully passive cooling system. Measuring 135 x 115 x 45 mm, its enclosure has a volume of just 0.74 liters. The device is designed for continuous 24/7 operation. Asus is positioning the system for round-the-clock use in retail, manufacturing, educational institutions and other places where low noise levels and reliability are important.

Depending on the configuration, the NUC 14 Essential Fanless is equipped with Intel N150 or N250 processors with a TDP of 6 W, or a Core 3 N355 with a TDP of up to 15 W. Heat is dissipated by a large metal heatsink that covers a significant portion of the motherboard. The maximum amount of DDR5-4800 RAM is 32 GB, while M.2 2280 with PCIe 3.0 x4 and M.2 2242 SATA slots are provided for storage. Asus will sell both barebone versions for DIY assembly and ready-made configurations.

The computer comes with a wide range of interfaces: two USB Type-C ports, four USB Type-A ports, 2.5-gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4. One of the USB Type-C ports supports video output, allowing the computer to work with three 4K monitors simultaneously. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 modules are supported.

Pricing and the launch date for the Asus NUC 14 Essential Fanless have not yet been announced.