Publications across the web have commented on the wastebasket-like looks of the Mac Pro, but it's difficult to deny that it packs a lot of power into a petite package. If you're after something like that with specs that don't belong in a museum, check out Asus' latest release: the Mini PC ProArt PA90.
Regular readers know well my affection for mini PCs, so it should come as no surprise that I think this thing looks fantastic. It actually reminds me quite a bit of the Corsair One Pro that I reviewed back in 2017. They have extremely similar dimensions, too. The ProArt PA90 is a slightly squared cylinder just under 7" in diameter, and it stands a little over 14" in height (176mm x 365mm).
Inside, you'll find a 9th-generation Core i7 or Core i9 processor, up to the range-topping Core i9-9900K. It's slotted into a Z390 motherboard with four DDR4 SO-DIMM slots that will take up to 64GB of RAM. Asus will ship the thing with a single 2.5" 1TB hard drive and an M.2 SSD of SATA or PCIe flavor up to 512GB. Buyers can take their pick of an Nvidia Quadro P2000 or P4000 for graphics horsepower.
Up on the front of the ProArt PA90, you'll find a pair of USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports in classic Type-A form, as well as the usual 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks. Around the back, you'll find another pair of USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, as well as two Thunderbolt 3 connections, a regular old RJ-45 jack for gigabit Ethernet, and four DisplayPort 1.4, uh, ports. There's also a pair of RP-SMA connectors for Wi-Fi antennas, and a 3.5mm analog line out jack for old fogies like me that still use analog audio.
Since these are intended to be content-creation workstations, the obvious comparison would seem to be to the Mac Pro, rather than to the gaming-oriented Corsair One. The ProArt PA90 seems to have more in common with the One, though. It uses liquid cooling to keep its high-powered components chilled, and the top of the machine will expand automatically to improve airflow during heavy workloads—so don't set anything on top of it. The RGB LED lighting in the top will change colors to react to CPU load, too.
Asus didn't say anything about pricing or availability, but The Inquirer is reporting that the machine will be available in March starting at £2,499.99 ($3160).