Is the Asus All in One PC ET2400IGTS-B008E ($1,299.99 list) the all-in-one desktop to best the Apple iMac 21-inch? It doesn't approach Apple's totally integrated ecosystem, but that said, it's one of the best-equipped and powerful Windows 7 touch-screen PCs out there. It takes over as our new Editors' Choice for mainstream/multimedia-oriented all in one desktops.
Design and Features
Design and Features The ET2400 uses the same design cues as other easel-type all-in-one PCs, with its two front feet and spring-loaded hinged foot in the back. The black glossy plastic chassis lets the desktop blend into any room's décor. The system can easily substitute for a medium-sized HDTV with its 23.6-inch 1080p full HD 16:9 display. The pair of inputs—one VGA, one HDMI—is a boon for users, since you could hook up two external devices. The VGA port is useful in keeping the monitor alive, even after the ET2400's internal PC is obsolete, by hooking it up to another PC,. The HDMI is even more useful: You can hook the ET2400 up to a cable or satellite box and use it anywhere you'd put an HDTV.
The ET2400 has four USB 2.0 ports in the back, though the wireless keyboard/mouse dongle and the USB IR receiver occupy two ports. As a side note, the ET2400 really should have had the IR receiver built in, since the desktop looks clunky with an external receiver. On the left side are two USB 3.0 ports, which are much faster than the USB 2.0 ports in the back. I'd like to see an eSATA port as well, but the desktop is pretty well endowed as it is. On the right side are the controls for the VGA and HDMI inputs, as well as the tray-loading Blu-ray player/DVD burner combo drive. The sides are understatedly curved, so the overall look is more attractive than a straight-sided utilitarian design. It's even attractive enough to mount the system on your wall (with an optional VESA mount kit).
The ET2400 comes with a 1TB hard drive, which is certainly enough to record hours from the desktop's built-in HDTV tuner. The TV tuner works with the Windows 7's built-in Media Center app, and can record over the air programming (BYO antenna). Note that the HDMI input is on a different circuit, so you won't be able to record from your cable box. There are several Asus Media Suite apps, like the Eee Cinema (movie playback) and Eee Paint program. The included programs work fine with the multi-touch screen, but the interfaces are varied and don't carry over from one program to another. The amount and quality of the included touch apps are better than on theDell Inspiron One 2305 (Blu-ray), but is still far behind what HP has put on its TouchSmart 310.
The desktop touts its "SonicMaster" sound software, which supposedly reproduces more accurate audio from music and movies. The ET2400 did produce better audio than some of the other all-in-one PCs out there; at no time did the system's speakers sound tinny. While the desktop isn't capable of producing room-filling sound, it was adequate for a small home office or quiet bedroom. At the very least, the system sounds nice up to and at full volume with no distortion or speaker issues. The SonicMaster software had sliders for voice enhancement, Bass, and virtual surround sound. Changing the sliders did produce a noticeable result, but you're likely to either set the settings once and never change them again, or just leave them at default.
Unfortunately, I did come across a few bugs while testing the desktop. The Eee Cinema app the system's movie playback program for DVDs and Blu-ray movies, correctly identified "The Thomas Crown Affair" and the first "Mission Impossible," but misidentified the first "Terminator" movie as "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." When I tried to change the volume with the IR remote while playing back a movie, the desktop acknowledged the key press, but didn't change the volume levels. Perhaps the more egregious bug in Eee Cinema was that both "Mission Impossible" and "Terminator" had major pixilation issues during playback (like when you start losing signal on digital cable or satellite). "The Thomas Crown Affair" had no such problems, and the problematic movies played fine on another PC with WinDVD software on it. Hopefully, the issues with older Blu-ray discs can be cleared up by a software update (Eee Cinema automatically checks for updates online).
The desktop comes loaded with a bunch of icons on the desktop, and more than a few programs that could be classified as bloatware. The system's SonicMaster, Eee Cam, Eee Memo, and Eee Paint programs are certainly useful. But there are a bunch of trialware and ecommerce programs on the system, including Asus @Vibe fun center, Game Park Console, and a short 90-day trial subscription to Trend Micro Titanium (Anti-virus, Internet Security, etc.) Asus tries to sell you on its Web Storage solution as well. One odd duck was the free Ai Charger program: it's designed to detect if you've plugged in an Apple iPad, iPhone, or other iOS device and automatically increase the power to that USB port, cutting recharge time. I didn't try the program out, but that program could potentially be useful.
Performance
The ET2400 comes with one of the new Intel Core i5-2400S (Sandy Bridge) processors. Though the processor has integrated graphics, the desktop uses its AMD Radeon HD 6740M discrete graphics. The i5-2400S is a true quad-core processor, so it's no surprise that the ET2400 is pretty good multimedia performer. The ET2400 makes quick work of our Handbrake video test (1:57) as well as our Photoshop CS5 test (3:30). These are the best scores I've seen on an all-in-one desktop PCs, and they show that you don't necessarily need a full-blown tower PC if you're into multimedia tasks like video and photo editing. PCMark Vantage showed class-leading scores as well, so the desktop is quick at day-to-day tasks too. The overall 3D performance was better than most, but you're still not going to play games like Crysis or Lost Planet 2 at full resolution on the ET2400.
Compared to the competition, there's a lot going for the Asus All in One PC ET2400IGTS-B008E. The desktop has just about all the checkboxes filled: quad-core processor, plenty of drive space, USB 3.0 expandability, TV tuner, HDMI in, wireless everything, class-leading performance, Blu-ray, and large multi-touch screen. The system has some features that the older Editors' Choice HP TouchSmart 310 ($1,159 direct, 4 stars) and Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core i3) ($1,199 list, 4 stars) lack (like USB 3.0, Blu-ray, and HDMI-in; plus the iMac lacks a true quad-core processor). Where the ET2400 comes up short is in some of the little details: external IR dongle, bloatware, and buggy Blu-ray playback software. Are those details a buzzkill? Yes. Are they a deal killer? No. I would recommend that Blu-ray aficionados buy a program like Cyberlink's PowerDVD to get the integration with Media Center, or wait for Asus to update Eee Cinema. That said, the Asus ET2400 throws a lot of what the multimedia maven is looking for in a compact package that works virtually anywhere. Therefore, it takes over our top spot as mainstream/multimedia-oriented all in one desktop Editors' Choice from the Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core i3).
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