ASUS NUC 15 Pro+ Review

This is a great little office PC that's terrible for games. Its Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity are solid, but the integrated graphics land it in the bottom 15% for gaming. Buy it to save space, not to play.

The ASUS NUC 15 Pro+ is a tiny desktop that's all about fitting a decent amount of power into a 0.6kg box. It's built around Intel's new Core Ultra 5 225H, a 14-core chip with a built-in AI NPU, paired with 16GB of fast DDR5-6400 RAM and a 512GB SSD. That combo lands it in the 67th percentile for CPU performance in our database, which means it's a solid step above the average office PC.

Where this thing really shines is in its connectivity and form factor. You get Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, and dual HDMI 2.1 outputs, putting its port selection in the 80th percentile. It's a toolless system, so popping it open to swap RAM or storage is a breeze. Just don't expect it to play games.

Performance is squarely in the 'gets the job done' category. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225H is a capable chip for office work, web browsing, and light creative tasks, sitting comfortably above average. The integrated Intel Arc Graphics with 16GB of VRAM is a bit of a mixed bag. It's fine for driving multiple 4K displays, which is a big plus for productivity, but its gaming performance is a real weak spot, scoring a dismal 13.6 out of 100 in that category. Think of the GPU as a display adapter, not a gaming card.

The 16GB of DDR5-6400 RAM is middle of the pack, and the 512GB NVMe SSD is just a bit below average for storage capacity. It's fast PCIe 4.0, but you'll likely need to upgrade it or rely on external drives if you have a large media library. The built-in AI NPU is the wild card here, designed to handle background AI tasks in Windows 11, but its real-world impact for most users is still emerging.

The price situation here is... bizarre. Our data shows a spread from $849 to a jaw-dropping $149,722 across different vendors. At the sane end of that spectrum, around $850-$900, the NUC 15 Pro+ is a fair deal for a compact, well-connected office PC. You're paying a premium for the small size and modern I/O like Wi-Fi 7. If you see it listed for anything remotely close to that high-end price, run away—that's clearly an error or a scalper. Stick to reputable retailers offering it near the MSRP.

Stacked against other desktops, the NUC's story is about trade-offs. Compared to a bulky tower like the HP OMEN 45L or Lenovo Legion Tower 5i, you're giving up all gaming capability and serious upgrade potential for a footprint that's a fraction of the size. Against more direct competitors like the Dell XPS Tower Plus, you lose some raw CPU power and storage options but gain that ultra-compact form and newer connectivity standards. If your top priority is saving desk space and you need modern ports, the NUC has a niche. If you need any kind of graphics performance or want to upgrade components later, a traditional small-form-factor tower is a better bet.

Gamers, skip this one. Its gaming score of 13.6/100 is a dead giveaway. Content creators working with video, 3D rendering, or complex image editing should also steer clear—the integrated Intel Arc graphics, while fine for displays, lack the muscle for serious creative work. If you think you might want to add a graphics card later, the 120W power supply makes that impossible. This PC is for productivity in a small box, not for heavy lifting.

The ASUS NUC 15 Pro+ is a competent ultra-compact PC for specific users. If your workflow is purely office apps, web browsing, and media, and you value a tiny, clean desk setup with great modern ports, it's a strong contender. The data is clear, though: gamers and anyone needing GPU power should look elsewhere immediately. At a reasonable price near $850, it's a good specialized tool. Just know its limits going in.