Razer’s small form factor Tomahawk gaming desktop is finally available for sale — mostly. The PC’s main appeal, apart from its size, is that you only need to worry about two parts: the NUC and the graphics card. Razer has a listing for a version that comes with just the NUC, which would allow users to slot in a graphics card they already own, but it seems to be marked as out of stock. The version that’s available for sale today comes with an otherwise extremely hard-to-get RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition.
If you have the $3,199.99 to spend on the version with the 3080, today’s launch seems like the real deal — you can add it to your cart, and Razer’s site says it will ship the next business day. As for the NUC-only version, it’s still listed as out of stock, just like both versions were when they (kind of, sort of, maybe not actually) became available for preorder in December. We’ve reached out to Razer about the availability of the NUC-only version but haven’t received a response.
The computer uses Intel’s NUC, or Next Unit of Computing, as its brain, meaning the actual PC part is just a card that slots in next to the GPU. It seems like there’s only one version of the Tomahawk so far, and it’s got some decent specs:
- An Intel Core i9-9980HK eight-core CPU
- A 512GB NVME SSD and 2.5-inch 2TB HDD
- 16GB DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM
- RGB, of course
At the price point, though, a CPU that is two generations out of date is a bit rough, but that can probably be blamed on Intel. So far, Intel hasn’t released a NUC Extreme Compute Element, like the Tomahawk uses, with its new 11th Gen processors. And because of the design, you can’t upgrade the CPU yourself, though it is worth noting that the RAM and storage can be swapped.
Still, it’s important to emphasize how small this PC is and how packed it is with features — it fits Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and four USB-A ports inside a 10-liter case. But if you’re thinking of buying it, you should just be sure you’re happy with how it is today: the graphics card can be upgraded, but the NUC is going to stay the same, unless Intel releases a new one. If you’re put off by the NUC element, though, Razer does sell a similar Tomahawk-branded Mini-ITX case that fits standard PC hardware for $229.99 — but it’ll probably be hard to find a CPU and GPU to put in it.