Xbox is useless – here is why I need to purchase this compact gaming PC on Black Friday as an alternative

Well, the standard Xbox will not be lengthy for this world. Microsoft has successfully confirmed that we’ll seemingly solely see yet another console technology after the current-gen (and terribly-named) Xbox Series X, with the corporate’s gaming technique shifting to supporting its video games throughout different platforms, together with PlayStation and PC.

The excellent news is that with Black Friday closing in quick – and Sony additionally taking steps to make its first-party titles accessible on PC – there’s by no means been a greater time to make the shift to PC gaming. I took the leap greater than a decade in the past, leaving my drained outdated Xbox 360 within the mud to purchase a pre-built gaming PC, and I could not be happier about it – whereas the upfront value is likely to be higher, it is positively saved me cash in the long term.

Aside from the preliminary worth, the massive downside is that most of the finest gaming PCs cannot seamlessly change a console. They’re often simply too large; my first gaming PC was an actual chunky boy, sucking up mud beneath the desk in my tiny pupil lodging bed room. But if you’d like one thing highly effective, future-proof, and compact sufficient to suit inside your TV stand, I’ve obtained the reply: the 2025 Asus ROG NUC.

Now, this factor is virtually a brand new launch, so you may’t count on to see large offers on it but, however I’m personally hoping the low cost beneath will get a little bit deeper as we edge nearer to Black Friday. Right now, the RTX 5070 Asus ROG NUC is down to $2,349 (was $2,499) at Amazon, whereas the RTX 5060 model is $1,964.99 (was $2,099).

Today’s finest Asus ROG NUC (2025) deal

Don’t get me wrong; a 6% discount is fairly meager even if a $150 saving is nothing to sniff at, but as I said above, I suspect we’ll see that discount get a bit more appealing once Black Friday and Cyber Monday actually arrive – after all, we’re still three weeks out from the mega-sale event itself. I’ll be watching this one like a hawk (mainly because I’m tempted to buy one myself), so feel free to bookmark this page and check back closer to the big day, as I’ll update it with any price changes.

I really can’t understate how great the new ROG NUC is. I gave it a near-perfect score in my review last month, citing the unarguably high retail price as my main criticism against this powerful yet sleek and compact PC. Quite frankly, any sort of discount pushes it closer to that coveted 5-star rating in my mind.

For what it’s worth, I’d advise springing for the RTX 5070 model. If you’re already dropping upwards of a cool thousand bucks on a PC for gaming, opting for the 5070 over the 5060 will ensure your system is more future-proofed for handling more demanding games as time goes on – though of course, both models have access to Nvidia’s fancy new DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation tech for boosting your gaming performance.

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