Intel NUCs may be the name you think of when it comes to mini-PCs, but Asus' PN50 could give the tiny systems a run for their money. According to a report from Korean publication iT DongA (opens in new tab), the PN50 will be armed to the teeth with AMD's Ryzen 4000 U-series (opens in new tab) (Renoir) APUs (opens in new tab).
The PN50 will reportedly feature Zen 2 APUs that span from the entry-level Ryzen 3 4300U chip with four CPU cores (opens in new tab) up to the octa-core flagship Ryzen 7 4800U. Surprisingly, Asus doesn't seem to offer the PN50 with a Ryzen 5 4600U, which means consumers who want a hexa-core option will be stuck with a Ryzen 5 4500U that lacks SMT (opens in new tab).
The current schedule for the PN50 pintpoints the Ryzen 3 4300U and Ryzen 5 4500U models with a release date in July and the Ryzen 7 4700U and Ryzen 7 4800U models for an August launch.
AMD Ryzen 4000 U-Series Specifications
| Processor | Cores / Threads | Base / Boost Clock (GHz) | Cache (MB) | Graphics Cores | Graphics Frequency (MHz) | TDP (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 7 4800U | 8 / 16 | 1.8 / 4.2 | 12 | 8 | 1,750 | 15 |
| Ryzen 7 4700U | 8 / 8 | 2.0 / 4.1 | 12 | 7 | 1,600 | 15 |
| Ryzen 5 4600U | 6 / 12 | 2.1 / 4.0 | 11 | 6 | 1,500 | 15 |
| Ryzen 5 4500U | 6 / 6 | 2.3 / 4.0 | 11 | 6 | 1,500 | 15 |
| Ryzen 3 4300U | 4 / 4 | 2.7 / 3.7 | 6 | 5 | 1,400 | 15 |
The PN50 looks almost identical to the current PN60 (opens in new tab) with a few changes here and there. Swedish retailer Inet (opens in new tab) has already listed different variants of the PN50, which also gives us a peek at the PN50's specifications.
The PN50 reportedly comes in at 4.5 x 4.5 x 1.9 inches ( 115 x 115 x 49mm) and weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7kg). These are the same dimensions and weight of the PN60.
Intel's NUC 10 Performance (opens in new tab) (codename Frost Canyon) measures 4.6 x 4.4 x 2 inches (117 x 112 x 51mm), making the PN50 a legitimate NUC alternative.
When it comes to the PN50's internals, there's an M.2 slot for M.2 drives and spacing for a standard 2.5-inch drive as well. The mini PC comes with two SO-DIMM DDR4 slots for up to 64GB of RAM, which is quite enticing for such a tiny device. Keep in mind that AMD's Zen 2 CPUs (opens in new tab) come with native support for DDR4-3200 memory modules, so the PN50 shouldn't be bottlenecked by memory.
The PN50 has one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port and one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port up front and another USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port and two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports at the rear. The other interfaces include a microSD card reader and 3.5mm audio jack.
Asus' mini PC provides a conventional Gigabit Ethernet port; however, Inet also lists the PN50 with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity via the included Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 wireless card.
The PN50 can also appease multi-taskers with one HDMI 2.0 port and one DisplayPort 1.4 output. You could also put the two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports into DisplayPort Alternative Mode and have the PN50 power up to four 4K (opens in new tab) resolution displays at the same time. The Ryzen 4000 U-series parts sport sufficient Vega cores so they aren't a slouch on iGPU performance either.
Since Inet is a Swedish store, we've deducted the standard 25% VAT (value-added tax) rate from the prices and converted the results from krona to dollars. The Ryzen 3 4300U and Ryzen 5 4500U models sell for $325.52 and $334.18, respectively. The Ryzen 7 4700U and Ryzen 7 4800U models, on the other hand, will set you back $385.69 and $505.96, respectively.