ASUS starts NUC 16 Pro sales in China, Core Ultra X7 358H model costs $1,602
ASUS has started selling the NUC 16 Pro in China after first showing the system during its CES 2026 lineup reveal. The first retail configuration is listed at RMB 10,999, which converts to about $1,602 at the current mid-market exchange rate. That SKU pairs Intel’s Core Ultra X7 358H with 32GB of memory and a 1TB SSD.
The NUC 16 Pro is one of ASUS’s first mini PCs based on Intel Panther Lake, or Core Ultra Series 3. ASUS says the system scales up to a Core Ultra X9 processor and Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics. The company also lists up to 180 TOPS of platform AI performance for the range.
Source: ASUS
ASUS is positioning the system as a higher-end compact PC rather than a basic office box. On the official product page, the company says Core Ultra X7 and X9 versions support up to 96GB of LPDDR5x-9600 memory, dual-fan cooling, and two M.2 SSD slots with Gen5 and Gen4 support. The chassis also keeps the tool-less design that ASUS is using across the new NUC generation.
The Core Ultra X7 358H model uses Arc B390 graphics and includes dual 2.5GbE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two HDMI 2.1 outputs, and additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity on the front and rear. ASUS’s own CES material also highlighted dual 2.5G LAN, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 as part of the NUC 16 Pro feature set.
Source: ASUS
The elephant in the room is obviously pricing. This system costs $1600 and it’s not even the flagship Panther Lake SKU. In fact, if we look at prices for previous gen NUC systems and we only look at the most high-end NUC Extreme/ROG NUC series, then this system is simply more expwnsive:
- Intel NUC 9 Extreme: $1,050+
- Intel NUC 11 Extreme: $1,150+
- Intel NUC 12 Extreme: $1,150+
- Intel NUC 13 Extreme: $1,179+
- ASUS ROG NUC 2024: $1,629+
- ASUS ROG NUC 2025: $1,899+
So I’m not sure; pricing on this system looks terrible, to say the least.
Source: ASUS (JD)
