The ASUS Zen AiO Pro was introduced last year at Computex, a beautiful looking All-in-One (hence AiO) desktop that at a glance reminds one of Apple’s iMac.
OK so in case you didn’t understand what an AiO is, an AiO computer is ALL IN ONE meaning that the single unit houses every computer component and the monitor itself.
The ASUS Zen AiO is basically like the Apple iMac, just that it runs Windows 10 an comes with better specs for better visual experience, especially when it comes to gaming.
The ASUS Zen AiO is certainly sleek looking, it feels solid and the brushed-metal finishing makes it look absolutely gorgeous.
All connection points are placed to the rear of the unit so the front is purely just the screen.
As for the screen it uses IPS panel and the color output is excellent, just calibrate it a bit with whatever tool you have and you have beautiful looking workhorse.
The AiO comes in various flavors, the one in this review comes with a Core i5-6400T processor and GTX 950M mobile GPU.
While it isn’t the most powerful of specs, the Core i5-6400T is plenty powerful to get you through video and photo editing while the GTX 950M would be great for simple games like League of Legends, DoTA2, Counter-Strike : Global Offensive and other titles that aren’t demanding, or that is you don’t mind playing newer titles at low graphics detail.
Nvidia’s GTX950M is definitely far ahead from Intel’s onboard Iris Pro Graphics 6200 found on iMacs.
The ASUS Zen AiO comes with a set of wireless mouse and keyboard that matches the unit’s look and feel.
Here’s the specs for the Zen AiO (Click to enlarge)
User Experience
Setting up the unit is extremely easy, after all this is an AiO and if it’s not easy to setup then it would’ve failed as an AiO product.
In terms of user experience I have no complaints, the i5-6400T and GTX950M serves its purpose and the Zen AiO runs cool and quiet even when having all the components on load.
The unit has built-in speakers and it’s surprisingly good, there’s sufficient treble and bass output that makes it sound quite rich and the not-so-discerning users would easily be satisfied with it. I’m a little picky on audio and suffice to say the bass carries enough boom-factor but you can easily tell it’s low-quality bass, and the overall output lacks mid-tones.
As for the mouse and keyboard, suffice to say it’ll work for the general masses and only the picky ones like myself would opt for peripherals that are more refined.
Power draw is very low regardless how one pushes it.
The Verdict
The ASUS Zen AiO’s retail price starts from RM 4,599 and they come with 3 years on site warranty, the package is bundled with wireless Zen Keyboard and Mouse. While it’s not a performance power house, the Zen AiO is a beautiful machine, compact in size, reasonable performance in visual output, processing power, audio output and it runs cool while drawing very little power.
