Review Of Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003 Desktop

A good computer but expensive for the features that it offers.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Good performance, neat interiors, spacious cabinet.

Thumbs Down:

Gateway SX2800-01 gives you better features than this for a lesser price.

Inside the Trunk:

Cabinet, mouse and keyboard.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Intel Pentium E5300 / 2.6 GHz, Quad-Core, 64-bit processor, L2 cache, 2 MB (Per Processor), Data bus speed 800 MHz, RAM 6 GB DDR2 SDRAM  (expandable to 16 GB) Hard disk – 750 GB, 7200 rpm,

Optical drive
DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM, CD / DVD read speed – 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD), CD / DVD write speed 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD±R) / 8x (DVD±R DL), CD / DVD rewrite speed 32x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW) / 5x (DVD-RAM), Graphics Processor / Vendor
Intel GMA X4500, Video Memory 1759 MB, Sound output mode 7.1 channel surround, High Definition Audio

Expansion Bays Total (Free) 2 (1) x Front accessible
5.25″ x 1/2H, 2 (1) x Internal – 3.5″ x 1/3H
Expansion Slots Total (Free) 1 (0) x Processor – LGA775 Socket, Memory, 1 (1) x PCI Express x16, 2 (2) x PCI

Interfaces 1 x Display / video
HDMI – 19 pin HDMI Type A, 1 x Display/video – DVI, Audio, 8 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A ( 2 front, 6 rear )1 x Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-TX – RJ-45

OS Provided
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition

Software
Adobe Reader 8.0, Nero 9 Essentials, Microsoft Works 9.0

16 in 1 card reader, RS-MMC, Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro, Microdrive SDHC Memory Card, CompactFlash Card, Memory Stick PRO Duo.

Razzle Dazzle:

The design of the Essentio CM5570-AP003 looks familiar because it uses the same tower as the Essentio CM5570-AP006 and the CM5570-AP002. It has plain, glossy, black face and spacious interior which are typical for a mid tower, in this price range. There nothing done which is out of the box although there are a couple of audio jacks, USB ports and a media card reader hidden behind a drop-down faceplate on the front of the cabinet.

Inside Dope:

Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003 isn’t among the best desktops that we have received in the test center. In fact it is the same CM5570-AP006 but it has inferior hard ware, which means it is a stripped down version of Asus’ previous product.

The computer is fast and you won’t have any problems running high end applications that are speed crazy. The processor used is Intel Pentium E5300 / 2.6 GHz, a Quad Core processor. It has L2 cache with 2 MB for each processor and the processor has data bus speed for 800 MHz.

The desktop is good for high end applications but cannot take gamming because it doesn’t have a discrete graphic card. Intel GMA X4500 is what you get on the motherboard which is integrated graphics and the size is 1759 MB. If you want to play games on this computer you can always add a graphic card as this mother board gives you an empty 16x PCI Express graphics card slot.

Along with this there are two slots for standard PCI card and 1X PCI Express card for wireless networking. The computer is upgrade friendly owing to its big body which has plenty of room for expansion cards and drives. For drives, you can put in extra hard drive and another optical disc drive.

The computer has six GB of DDR2 SD RAM and it is expandable to 16 GB but there aren’t any free slots so you will have to throw away the provided chips to make room for new RAM. There are four slots for memory and all of them are occupied.

On the rear panel of the computer you get digital audio out, Ethernet port, six more USB ports and a single PS/2 port for a mouse in addition to HDMI, DVI, and VGA ports to connect the system to a monitor. Asus actually offers DVI in addition to VGA and HDMI ports to connect the system to a variety of displays. You can always get a big display for this cabinet and then turn this computer into a HTPC (home theatre personal computer). The HDMI port is given just for that.

We compared this desktop to Gateway SX2800-01 and it has Core 2 Quad CPU which offsets its lower clock speed. If you are going to use applications which are really high end and use all four processors at once then we recommend you to go for Gateway SX2800-01, but a mid range user at which these desktops are targeted hardly uses such applications for which Asus is ideal. But we must say that Gateway is faster than Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003

Nitty Gritty:

Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003 provides you all the essential hardware that a mid range desktop user needs. But the features that it offers for this price is eclipsed by older Gateway desktop. We recommend you to go for Gateway SX2800-01 and skip this one.

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