big screen!

AIO, because the ability upgrade or repair only the parts needed would make too much sense.

My parents have one of these units. New, not refurb. It's a dependable machine with decent performance. I would recommend it if you're in the market for a non-Apple All-in-one.

AIO: all the preformance and reliabilty of a laptop, with the portibilty of a desktop!

But, at least it doesn't have windows 8.

I'm pretty sure there are some spelling mistakes here, but it is after 1am and I am on a mobile device.

I own the previous model from Asus, and I pretty strongly recommend it. Mine, at least (the ET2400), is a well behaved machine that fits into my office nicely. ASUS machines ship with remarkably little crapware. However, one of them -- the auto updater -- is badly bugged and of very little use, considering how rarely (if ever) Asus provides updates. Just turn on Windows Update.

I like the AIO form-factor, but as someone above mentioned it is really just an overgrown laptop. Although I have put more memory into mine, I don't have any idea how to do more than that. I've got no idea where the hard drive hides in here. I expect the LCD to be the first thing to fail, which might leave me in a world of hurt.

Note that these are heavy, and you probably need to buy an special plate to use VESA mounts. Even then, many VESA mounts can't hold machines this heavy.

FenStar wrote:AIO: all the preformance and reliabilty of a laptop, with the portibilty of a desktop!

But, at least it doesn't have windows 8.

I'm pretty sure there are some spelling mistakes here, but it is after 1am and I am on a mobile device.

Why you guys always judge win 8? Have you spent just little time learn how to use Win 8? Did you know win 8 security features are excellent and better than Win 7 in many ways? Did you even know how to use Win 8?
I have been using Win 8 for a while and I love it.
Don't always say Win 8 suck simply you do not know how to use it. Win 8 is a great OS.

taimeili wrote:Why you guys always judge win 8? Have you spent just little time learn how to use Win 8? Did you know win 8 security features are excellent and better than Win 7 in many ways? Did you even know how to use Win 8?
I have been using Win 8 for a while and I love it.
Don't always say Win 8 suck simply you do not know how to use it. Win 8 is a great OS.

I tried Windows 8 on a virtual machine and wasn't terrible, Truthfully I wouldn't mind the opportunity to run it especially with the touchscreen Asus but their upgrade promotion was only valid for purchases ending December 31.


[MOD: Just going to point out that this computer isn't touchscreen.]

taimeili wrote:
Don't always say Win 8 suck simply you do not know how to use it. Win 8 is a great OS.

Most likely because it does stink.

Don't get me wrong.. Win 8 is great for a touch interface device, it is not however any good for productivity or general computer use. If you end up having to go back and install third party applications to get basic functionality, you've got a problem.

Yes, I tried it in person for about 15 minutes at a store. Was not intuitive at all and the idea of moving my arm around constantly to manage regular tasks seemed absurd.

So instead I bought three Win7 machines in the last month. MS still gets my money but Win8 really did not consider real world use cases.

taimeili wrote:Why you guys always judge win 8? Have you spent just little time learn how to use Win 8? Did you know win 8 security features are excellent and better than Win 7 in many ways? Did you even know how to use Win 8?
I have been using Win 8 for a while and I love it.
Don't always say Win 8 suck simply you do not know how to use it. Win 8 is a great OS.

Looks like a decent machine, if you can live within its limitations. Like others have said, this is just an all-in-one, and as such it is more like a laptop than a traditional desktop. Within that paradigm, it is a fine deal.

I don't want to feed the trolls, but honestly it's not worth complaining that you can't upgrade anything other than memory here. Based on the specs, I would much sooner complain that I had a 27" screen with only Intel HD2500 graphics pushing it. That really puts a severely harsh limit on what, if any, gaming can be done, as well as its usefulness for any sort of photo/video manipulation. Intel's Quicksync tech is good, but not enough in this case to warrant my interest.

How do I find the Sq Trade extended warranty info. This machine doesn't appear on that Wootpage although it says on the bottom of the sales page that its authorized. Help Woot!

taimeili wrote:Why you guys always judge win 8

I don't believe that the judging comes from a lack of user knowledge of the OS...Because functionally, the two operate the same. I used Windows 8 myself for a while, and reverted back to Windows 7. Also, you are mistaken about the security. It's just as easy to hack/crack/infect 8 as it is 7, because they are built off of essentially the exact same platform. My biggest problem with Windows 8, is the tile view start menu, and some other querky settings that are optimized for touch screen devices, and inconvenient for desktop use. That being said, if they gave you the option to change these settings (use old start menu without 3rd party programs) I would still be using 8, because driver support, and native advanced format drive support is nice.

The screen resolution is a deal breaker for me. Only 1920X1080. For that much screen real estate you really want 2560X1440. Although I guess just a monitor with that resolution would cost about as much as this whole computer....

Anyone know if you can switch audio between outputs (headphone and audio out)? I have wireless going to part of the house and stereo directly connected, and I like to be able to switch or run both (the latter requires using different browser windows or aps).

squeaks321 wrote:Anyone know if you can switch audio between outputs (headphone and audio out)? I have wireless going to part of the house and stereo directly connected, and I like to be able to switch or run both (the latter requires using different browser windows or aps).

I guarantee that there is a way to do it, but it probably won't be as easy as just pressing a button. You may have to manually disable/enable the respective devices as you need. HD audio control panels usually give you the ability to change the output.

carverd wrote:I guarantee that there is a way to do it, but it probably won't be as easy as just pressing a button. You may have to manually disable/enable the respective devices as you need. HD audio control panels usually give you the ability to change the output.

Maybe W00t can find and put up a good audio splitter/switch for you. that would solve all of your problems.

Are there coupons/offers to upgrade to Windows 8 at low cost?

ohmark wrote:Are there coupons/offers to upgrade to Windows 8 at low cost?

After posting question, found my answer: The windows upgrade offer from Microsoft is only valid on new computers, not on refurbs.

ohmark wrote:After posting question, found my answer: The windows upgrade offer from Microsoft is only valid on new computers, not on refurbs.

Why in the name of Zeus would you want to "upgrade" to Windows 8? Mainstream support for Windows 7 will not end until 1/13/2015.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?alpha=Windows+7

I have heard several mentions on here about Asus touchscreen, but I do not see anywhere in the specs that discuss this as being a touchscreen. Does anyone know if this machine is a touchscreen?

squeaks321: The quickest way is to right click the speaker icon in the notification tray, choose Playback Devices, click on the device you want to use, then click Set As Default. I'm currently looking for a way to script this myself, so I can execute it via an IR remote I have for mine (MCE).

AnthonyLav: Good question! I know that Asus does make this machine in both touchscreen and non-touchscreen flavors. FWIW, I have the touchscreen version, and we NEVER use that feature. A mouse is just more natural with a desktop machine.

Regarding the Windows 8 discussion, I bought the upgrade for my refurb, no problem, and I used it for a week, but then restored a backup image of Win7 because I absolutely couldn't stand it. I really wanted to like it, I really really did, but it's so dramatically different. I was less productive, and I got tired of "learning". I spent a lot of time searching for so many things that shouldn't be hard to find. Now I'm very happily using Win7 again.

Oh, and one more comment...

We've been very happy with our ASUS AiO. It's very quick, more performance than we need for general surfing stuff, and it looks sharp. I'm fine with the display resolution, my eyes are getting old, and it's better than our iMac 27", where everything is microscopic (and can't be changed).

There are only two negatives;

1. The keyboard is so so. I think it's the flatness of the keys, they need some dish.

2. Poor sound. The speakers on mine distort at pretty low levels, I watch occasional youtube or news videos on mine, and it's noticeable.

AnthonyLavergne wrote:I have heard several mentions on here about Asus touchscreen, but I do not see anywhere in the specs that discuss this as being a touchscreen. Does anyone know if this machine is a touchscreen?

[MOD: Just going to point out that this computer isn't touchscreen.]

At this price, this form factor should be a touch screen. I have a lenovo A700 with windows 7 that is a touchscreen and I paid $600. It has an I3-380m but it has no problems- especially after I upped the RAM to 8GB. Even though I don't use the touch screen, my kids love it and use it all the time.

gak0090 wrote:At this price, this form factor should be a touch screen. I have a lenovo A700 with windows 7 that is a touchscreen and I paid $600. It has an I3-380m but it has no problems- especially after I upped the RAM to 8GB. Even though I don't use the touch screen, my kids love it and use it all the time.

Upgrading your ram to 8GB from 4GB will have no increase in performance unless you're running ram intensive programs such as a video editing software. You'll never even get close to using all 4GB of ram for everyday computing. You'd be much butter upgrading to a SSD or a better processor.

sleepy35758 wrote:Upgrading your ram to 8GB from 4GB will have no increase in performance unless you're running ram intensive programs such as a video editing software. You'll never even get close to using all 4GB of ram for everyday computing. You'd be much butter upgrading to a SSD or a better processor.

I do video transcoding, but besides that, I spending $30 to double your memory to 8GB from 4GB is the best investment per $ by far. With 64 bit processing, multiple cores and hyperthreading, Windows 7 and up can definitely use the additional memory. It's not
going to use it all the time, but start watching some flash video, while having other apps running, in addition to having windows and resident processes in the background,
you'll definitely see smoother performance. When you have 64 bit multi core optimized programs you'll access that extra memory like a fat kid accesses Krispy Kreme.