Pros: Core i3 CPU, 1 TB of storage, stylish design, 8 GB of RAM (upgradable), entry level price.
Cons: Integrated graphics chip not meant for gamers.
The perfect desktop computer is very hard to come by, at least when you're on a budget. You look and look and when you seem to have found the perfect option with awesome specs at a great price you're disappointed to find out in the comments that it's far from what you expected and then the search starts yet again.
Today we'd like to put an end to your suffering and offer you a fully fleshed review of the Asus M32AD-US001T. This desktop might not be a huge powerhouse with a Skylake chipset and all the latest standards but it works great and isn't that what we're really after?
A desktop that will work well with multitasking, have a good sound card and allow us to edit pictures and videos without draining our accounts-check for pricing here-. If that's what you want then keep reading to find out everything you need to know.
Do buyers Love or Hate this desktop? Read the reviews here!
Asus M32AD-US001T Review of the perfect desktop computer
A Simple yet elegant designForget about the clutter that most desktop computers seem to bring along with them. The Asus M32AD-US001T comes with a nice clean cut design that's going to be the envy of all other desktops. Front and centre we've got everything we need; power on button, a few ports, SD card reader and a DVD tray. The rest is a pure minimalistic aluminium design.
The tower isn't very big either, with a height of 16 inches and a very narrow body of 6.9 inches. As for the weight, it's not particularly heavy, marking just 18.3 pounds on the scale. As is expected, the desktop comes with a keyboard and mouse, however there's not that much to say about these since they're the traditional keyboard+mouse combo.
How's the performance? What about multitasking?
Performance on the VivoPC M32AD-US001T is spearheaded by an Intel Core i3-4710 dual core processor. This particular CPU works at a very impressive frequency of 3.7 GHz over four threads and has a very good 3 MB of cache.
Sure, it's not the processor you're going to use when you're working at the space program or developing a competing search engine to conquer the world but it's more than good enough for normal, everyday tasks.
Stuff like surfing the web, stalking your ex on facebook, writing your novel on the Office suite or watching guilty pleasures like Scandal or How to Get away with Murder are all tasks that this processor is more than capable of handling on its sleep.
However, stuff like editing a Full HD video or compiling code or even running a couple of virtual machines might prove to be more of a challenge if these are all daily activities. Possible, yet not ideal. This CPU is more aimed at less demanding tasks and will do its best work when we use it for just that kind of stuff.
RAM is also pretty good, with 8 GB of DDR3 running at 1600 MHz which will make multitasking a breeze. It's also worth noting for the more demanding set of users that RAM may be upgraded all the way to 16 GB, however, nowadays we'd hardly recommend it unless you're sure that you need it. Otherwise we'd check to see how we fair with the 8GB module before placing an order for an additional module.
8GB of RAM in and of itself will allow you to run several tabs and programs at the same time so unless you're planning on running 10+ programs at a time we don't really see 8 GB as much of a limiting factor.
The elephant in the room: let's talk about gaming
I'm not up for giving people false hope so i'll be blunt over here: this is not a gaming desktop nor a beginners gaming desktop. It can, with any luck, handle some games if the 2012 circuit at low settings such as Diablo III and Mass Effect 3 but anything more modern then that will lead to a massive letdown.
Specifically we've got an Intel HD graphics card 4400 which will do an ok job when editing HD video on random occasions but it shouldn't be taken into account to do jobs that require some serious graphics performance because, simply put, you'll end up burning your graphics card within a month -been there, done that-.
What about storage and that other stuff?
Storage on the reviewed Asus M32AD-US001T is given by a 1TB Hard Drive working at a standard speed of 7200 rpm. It should be noted that the hard drive is partitioned so you should take that into account when storing files. All in all, 1 TB should be more than enough for most users.
Finally, as we address the ports, it's nice to see we've got a couple of USB 3.0 ports, 3 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI out, ethernet port to get a faster internet connection, audio combo, SD card reader and a VGA out.
It's also really nice to see that this particular model has WiFi ac built into it which allows for a connection up to three times faster than the WiFi b/g/n most models have.
In terms of the OS we've got Windows 10 Home in its 64 bit version and the audio also deserves a call out thanks to the Sonic Master technology, it's pretty good, not mind-blowing but good.
In Closing: Is this Desktop worth it?
As we wrap up our review of the Asus M32AD-US001T we've gotta say we've been very pleasantly surprised by Asus. While this may not be a fully "specked-out desktop" the truth is that it offers an excellent value for what Asus is looking to charge us.
The Core i3 processor is very good at handling an assortment of tasks, 8 GB of RAM is plenty for most of us (though we may upgrade) and storage capacity is pretty much standard in the market. We would've liked a more "game-friendly" graphics chip but at this price point it's understandable that this wasn't in Asus's plans. All in all, as a desktop home computer to work or serve as an entertainment centre the Asus M32AD-US001T is an excellent choice.