Asus Zen AiO - Review 2022 - Fulghum Nold1950

Since you probably already own a smartphone and a laptop, and peradventure even a tablet, is there all the same room for a desktop in your life? Maybe, if you're a dedicated PC gamer. Merely the average American office worker probably doesn't want to come home from a long day of sitting at a desk to, well, sit at a desk. So consumer-level desktops take transformed into digital message boards, all-in-one PCs that tin sit in the kitchen and let you video chat with grandma, find a craven parmesan recipe, watch video clips, or play some music. Ownership an Apple iMac, the best-known all-in-one, is going to cost you, but there are a handful of capable Windows alternatives that seek to replicate the iMac feel as much every bit possible for less than $1,000, including the Asus Zen AiO ($999). Exist prepared to compromise on computing prowess, withal: This organization is fine for a kitchen PC, only power users will want to spend a bit more than for the Editors' Choice 21.five-inch iMac.

Sleek Design

The pattern is decidedly iMac-like, but the black, sleek bezel that surrounds the display is even narrower than the ane on Apple's AIO, specially at the bottom. Information technology'south marred only by an Asus logo at the lesser center and a rather blench-worthy "SonicMaster Premium" moniker at the lesser right. It's supposed to bespeak the prowess of the AiO'southward speakers, simply it's an odd thing to highlight since the 2 stereo speakers delivering a total of six watts of sound are hardly anything to get excited over. They're loud enough for playing videos or music in a large room, but they're nowhere near as notable as the incredible speaker array on the Dell XPS 27 all-in-one, which sounds better than many home theater setups.

The brandish itself is an LED console with in-airplane switching (IPS) applied science, which means that the colors and dissimilarity don't launder out when yous view information technology from an angle. It'due south a touch screen, which is perhaps its signature advantage over the not-touch on iMac. An all-in-1 installed in a cardinal location in your business firm just begs to be touched, since family members will virtually likely use it for quick tasks like pausing music or swiping through a photograph album. The full Hard disk (1,920 by 1,080) resolution, however, leaves something to be desired. It somehow appears grainier than laptop screens with equivalent resolutions, and is certainly inferior to the gorgeous Retina display on the iMac. The graininess problem is alike to what we've experienced while using the Acer Aspire Z3—if y'all wait closely, y'all'll see the individual square pixels, which makes text look jagged and images less vivid.

Standard Port Complement

The keyboard and mouse that come with the Zen AiO are basic wireless models, which connect using a tiny receiver that you plug into ane of the USB 2.0 ports at the rear of the unit. They're fine in a compression as a backup input method for tasks that tin can't be achieved with the touch screen. The mouse is ambidextrous just on the small side, and information technology's non sculpted to fit your hand. The keyboard's chiclet-manner keys are satisfyingly stable, but the board itself is flimsy and yous tin hear it rattle as you blazon. If yous plan to apply the AiO for longer typing sessions, you lot'll certainly want to invest in a higher-quality keyboard.

With the receiver for the keyboard and mouse taking up 1 of the USB ports, that leaves ane more than USB ii.0 port and a total of four speedier USB three.i ports available. It'due south a relatively standard complement for an all-in-1, although USB-C ports—at present standard on most laptops and desktops—are conspicuously absent, as they are on the Asire Z3. The iMac's superior I/O complement includes 2 USB-C ports and four USB 3.0 ports, and although it lacks the two USB 2.0 connectors, its keyboard and mouse connect via Bluetooth, so there's no dongle to have up an extra port.

The AiO also features an HDMI-out port for connecting to an external monitor (which yous probably won't need to do), a gigabit Ethernet jack, a unmarried sound-out jack, a Kensington-manner lock slot, a power button, and an SD carte reader. They're all easily accessible at the rear of the calculator, and while the ability push and Ethernet port are somewhat hidden by the stand, they're nowhere near as difficult to accomplish as the ones on the XPS 27. Measuring 18.ix past 25.6 by 2.four inches (HWD), the unit is relatively light—it just weighs 16 pounds, compared with the 38-pound XPS 27—and the stand up blueprint makes it fairly easy to rotate the AiO to admission the ports if you need to plug something in. The stand up offers fairly limited tilt options, still, which means yous'll desire to install it on an elevated surface so you're not touching your chin to your cervix to look at the screen. I prefer the XPS 27'south stand, which supports a completely horizontal orientation that lets y'all interact with the PC every bit if it were a big tablet lying on a tabular array.

Adequate for Skype and Streaming Video

1 of the nigh appropriate tasks for a kitchen PC is video conferencing, whether via Skype, Facebook Messenger, or another platform. The Zen AiO's forepart-facing camera and built-in microphone is adequate for coincidental video sessions, although y'all'll want to skip taking nevertheless photos with its measly ane-megapixel sensor. As an added bonus, there are infrared sensors so that yous tin log in to your estimator using Windows Hello Face up Sign-In. That'southward a nifty feature for a PC shared amongst family members, since you tin train Windows Hello to recognize a different face for each user business relationship.

Wireless connection options include 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1, and Asus supports the organisation with a i-year warranty that includes render shipping. If you demand to send your AiO in for service, y'all'll take to pay for outbound shipping yourself, which is a far more costly proffer than sending a laptop.

Midrange Processor

Asus offers a few different Zen AiO versions, but they're not configurable—you've got to be satisfied with the components that Asus pre-installs. My configuration of the Zen AiO is decidedly midrange, as its price suggests. In my testing, the Intel Cadre i5-7200 CPU running at 2.5GHz and the 8GB of retentivity helped videos stream smoothly and web pages load quickly, which is the majority of what you'll likely use this AIO for. Besides, the storage configuration—a 128GB SSD and a 1TB HDD—results in quick startup times while nonetheless providing ample room for your photos and videos. It's a much improve setup than the single 2TB difficult drive in the Aspire Z3, which takes an eternity to boot up since it lacks an SSD.

Asus Zen AiO Performance Chart

Confirmation of the AiO'due south suitability for everyday computing tasks comes in the form of its event on our PCMark eight benchmark test (3,124), which measures web browsing, video conferencing, give-and-take processing, and many other activities that PC users are probable to practice every mean solar day. Annihilation higher than iii,000 on this test indicates snappy operation, although the Aspire Z3 scored a bit college (three,341) cheers to its Core i7, and workstation-class PCs typically score a few hundred points college.

Asus Zen AiO Graphics Performance Chart

Unfortunately, yous could be disappointed if yous plan to utilize the Zen AiO for anything other than multimedia consumption or web browsing. The Aspire Z3 can edit photos and video much faster, finishing our collection of Photoshop epitome-manipulation tasks in 3 minutes and iii seconds, nearly a infinitesimal quicker than the Zen AiO. Likewise, the AiO was slower at completing our Handbrake video-editing task (2:fourteen) than both the Aspire Z3 (1:08) and the iMac (1:04). Still, the AiO was quicker at both of these tasks than the Lenovo ThinkCentre X1, a business-oriented all-in-one with an older sixth-generation Intel Core i5.

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Without a discrete graphics carte du jour, the AiO is too unsuitable for playing graphics-intensive games, although at to the lowest degree information technology's in expert company. None of the comparable all-in-ones was able to generate acceptable frame rates on our Sky and Valley video game simulations at full resoulution and maximum quality settings. Even the iMac, with its superior AMD Radeon Pro 560 graphics card, failed to alienation the 30fps threshold that's commonly regarded equally the minimum for enjoyable gameplay. If you lot plan to employ your all-in-one equally a gaming rig, you lot'll have to significantly increase your budget to purchase a organisation with a more powerful GPU.

Gear up for Your Kitchen

A midrange all-in-ane like the Asus Zen AiO tin can be a useful addition to a decorated household, even if every member of it also uses a smartphone. It'southward better than an iMac in i very significant fashion: It has a bear on screen, which makes it ideally suited to kitchen calculating. However, if you're willing to stretch your budget by a few hundred dollars to buy an ane of Apple'due south AIOs, yous'll exist rewarded with an immensely college quality (if slightly smaller) 4K brandish, along with more than computing power and a improve selection of ports. Depending on how yous and your family plan to use your new all-in-one, those advantages may outweigh the Apple'due south lack of a touch screen.