Between the NUC 14 Essential and Mac mini M4 Pro, the NUC 14 Essential comes out ahead in tdp, while the Mac mini M4 Pro wins on ram and storage. Overall, the NUC 14 Essential scores 62.1 and the Mac mini M4 Pro scores 69.1 on our Mars Score.
Which should you buy?
The Mac mini M4 Pro edges ahead on the Mars Score (62.1 vs 69.1), but the 7.0-point gap is small enough that the right pick comes down to which spec advantages matter to you.
Pick the NUC 14 Essential if you care most about tdp. The biggest gaps in its favor are tdp.
Pick the Mac mini M4 Pro if you push the hardware — gaming, on-device AI, heavy multitasking — and the extra compute headroom is worth the trade-offs. Its strongest claims are ram, storage, thunderbolt, among others.
There are no meaningful ties on the headline specs — every popular-comparison metric has a winner.
Bottom line: the Mac mini M4 Pro is the safer default. The other model is the right choice only when its specific advantages line up with your priorities.
Why ASUS - NUC 14 Essential wins
- ▲TDP — 50.00 W less. 15 vs 65.
Why Apple - Mac mini M4 Pro wins
- ▲RAM — 200.00% more. 24 GB vs 8 GB.
- ▲Storage — 100.00% more. 512 GB vs 256 GB.
- ▲Has Thunderbolt.
- ▲Volume — 0.21 L less. 0.34 vs 0.55.
Spec comparison
Core
Form & I/O
| Spec | ASUS - NUC 14 Essential | Apple - Mac mini M4 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | 0.55 L | 0.34 Llead |
| Weight | 0.5 kglead | 0.73 kg |
| TDPⓘ | 15 Wlead | 65 W |
| USB ports | 4 | 5lead |
| Thunderboltⓘ | false | truelead |
Frequently asked
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