Asus NUC 16 Pro Intel Core Ultra 7 356H Panther Lake Mini PC Price and Specs
The Asus NUC 16 Pro first shown at CES 2026 is now on sale. You can find a basic model with an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H from the Panther Lake series on Newegg for $999. Asus said there would be models going all the way up to the Core Ultra X9 388H but this middle of the road one is the first you can actually buy.
The Core Ultra 7 356H inside is Intels latest for laptops and small PCs. Here is the important stuff
- What its built on Intel Panther Lake
- Graphics Card Intel Graphics 4 Xe3
- What it can do The Xe3 graphics are made to rival medium level integrated graphics like the AMD Radeon 780M. Its more about being efficient than playing demanding games.
Since its a barebone system youll need to add your own RAM and storage. Its made to handle a lot of both
- RAM Two SODIMM slots let you add up to 128GB of DDR5 memory
- Main Storage One M.2 2280 slot works with PCIe Gen 5x4 SSDs for really fast speeds
- Extra Storage There is also a second M.2 2242 slot for PCIe Gen 4x4 drives
- Total Storage You can put up to 16TB of storage inside
The NUC 16 Pro is still small but has plenty of ports including two Thunderbolt 4 ports so you can add an external graphics card. The full list
- Thunderbolt 2x Thunderbolt 4
- USB 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A and 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C
- Networking 2x 2.5G Ethernet for fast wired internet
- Display 2x HDMI 2.1
The case is easy to open without tools which makes it simple to install parts or do maintenance. Two fans inside keep the Panther Lake chip cool in such a small space.
The system is available as a barebone kit right now. Keep in mind youll need to buy DDR5 memory and M.2 storage separately so add that to your budget. More powerful models with the Core Ultra X9 series are expected later this year.
