NUC 15 Pro

I have an ASUS NUC 15 Pro. Do not get an SSD heatsink, you won't be able to close it. The bottom of the unit opens up to put your RAM and M.2 drives. On that panel that opens, there is a pre-applied thermal pad. There's no need for a heatsink.

For your budget and photoshot needs, go with Asus NUC 15 Pro barebones with Intel Ultra 7 255H. The single core CPU works great for photoshop. Also, similar drivers as your Asus Zenbook laptop. You can add 2 sticks of DDR5 RAM and 1 TB of SSD storage later. You will need to download your OS to a USB

Thank you so much for the detailed suggestion! I hadn't looked into the Asus NUC 15 Pro but it actually sounds like a great fit, especially since I already have an Asus Zenbook and would probably feel at home driver-wise. That Ultra 7 255H looks very appealing for Photoshop and general multitasking,

Had not run into the Evo-T1. That said it looks like the final vesion has no PCIE 5.0, 3x NVMe 4.0 and an occulink aint shabby, but a hair short. Also looks like they went with H series Core 200, not V for the final design. Which actually I prefer but so close. I'd rate this on par with the near mis

We will need your budget and if any of those games are high graphic AAA games. Most mini-PCs are built for 1080p resolution EA shooter games, racing games, and retro games. Some highly optimized AAA games work well. Example: Doom Eternal: The Dark ages is possible at 1080p screen resolution, medium

Better option is the Asus NUC 15 Pro with the Intel Ultra 7 255H CPU. Get the bare bones version, and add the RAM and SSD for a lower total cost. Between $100 to $150 less. Keep in mind, you will need to download a fresh install of Windows 11 Pro from a USB Type A stick.