ASUS Malaysia sent us a computer, which is not something we report every day in the Vesper adventures. We looked at some cool laptops and even the MiniPC. But this is the first office, and I’m glad we have to do it. In these times of pandemic that we are all experiencing, and with the increasing number of cases on an unexplained level, domestic work has become the new norm and people need machines to work from home. Since laptops are sold everywhere, the next option will be desktops. Not everyone has the opportunity to choose the best of the best, which is what the ASUS S500SA is all about.
Form factor
Desktops usually take up a lot of space, but not this one – because the S500SA has a very simple and compact design that can be removed anywhere – under the monitor, on a table or under the desk – because it doesn’t take up too much space. It looks incredibly simple and clean when you look at those combs on the front with a few I/O’s to carry – 4 USB-A ports, headphones and a microphone jack. The whole body is made of metal, which gives it a certain durability. It’s much more valuable than I thought. If you remove the side panel, you can see that the PC is well assembled and well designed.
Specifications and opportunities for improvement
The specification we received from ASUS for the S500SA looks like this: since it is a simple and easy to use PC, you expect the specification to be simple and nothing will surprise you, like here to cover the basics:
- Intel i5-10400 processor of 10. Generation
- Intel HD Graphics 630
- Single-channel RAM 8 GB DDR4 U-DIMM
- 1TB SATA 7200RPM 3.5 HDD
As soon as you look at the specs, the memory stores a huge red flag, because in 2020, when so many devices have SSDs, it’s a bit weird and bad to have a hard drive. There’s a good reason for that, because it’s still an economic memory, and it may not be the fastest, but it works. But if you plan to upgrade, well – S500SA won’t stop you.
As soon as you open the PC, you will notice that it has a 2.5 or 3.5 hard drive lock to add another hard drive or SSD. On the motherboard there is a special option for saving SSD M.2, which means you can still use SSDs on this device, which I strongly recommend when purchasing this PC. Your computer is equipped with a USB memory stick, but you can upgrade or add another USB memory stick at a different location for certain two-channel operations. At the bottom you have PCIe slots to add extra cards if necessary.
Power
In terms of performance we have worked a lot with this PC, with tests such as Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R20. The scores in this benchmark give you an idea of the size of the base of a machine, and that’s the idea, because it should have covered the basics – including tasks such as daily observation, performance and types. Even if you look at the official ASUS website, you will see that the product manager’s image uses a PC. That makes sense, because people who want a PC to only perform basic tasks need nothing more than the budget and functions that are underutilized. Well, there are certain things any mass user would say – the hard drive is slow.
The good thing about the desktop is that it is always possible to update internal components, and in this case, ASUS has not ignored the update options. Let’s say that if it were a laptop, consumers would be stuck with a machine that has little or no functionality to update their memory, RAM and list. These computers are also strongly represented when customer service or after-sales service is important; in this case you can see where these computers are also used. But I suggest you buy an SSD at the exit.
Conclusion
In the sea of everything to do with professional machines, it is nice to see that there are simple machines like the S500SA, because they are used by everyone and everyone to make sure they cover your work. Because of the pandemic and the fact that people are seriously cutting the budget to get something for it, it is nice to see that the machine takes care of the budget conscious masses. This is a good deal for the RM 2399 – and it comes with a simple keyboard and mouse. You can buy a very affordable monitor like the AOPEN, which we checked not so long ago to complete the installation.
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