Review Asus Zen AiO Pro monoblock
The first generation of Zen AiO was submitted almost a year ago at Computex 2015, then it was in all respects a good piece with the only exception that was low by today’s standards, the resolution (FHD). Autumn showed its updated version of Zen AiO S, where this unfortunate flaw corrected, and that this new version of the candy bar and we got to test Zen AiO Pro.
He noted with regret that despite the external similarity to the iMac, the power supply from the AiO S is not very compact, but otherwise standard set of keyboard and mouse will talk in a separate section.
Appearance, materials, controls, assembly Zen AiO Pro
Who would not say the first thing that comes to mind when looking at the Zen AiO S – design similarity with the iMac. A similar leg, sloping edges, the transfer of all the ports on the back side – in short, candy bars are very similar, and it is clear that Zen AiO – a response from Asus on Apple iMac. However, despite the resemblance, in Zen AiO has its firm lines.
For example, pay attention to this pattern, typical of the entire line of Zen.
The main body material – aluminum, from it made the back cover and leg monoblock as golden color chosen.
At the lower end of the established two stereo speakers with proprietary Sonic Master technology. They have a good sound quality, but even “naked ear” hear the difference between them and the speakers on the iMac, an advantage for the latter. By the way, here comes the hot air with the cooler.
On the back side there is the following ports and connectors:
Right: two HDMI-port, four-port USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports and one port USB Type C
Left: slot for SD-cards, connectors 3.5 mm headphone and microphone
And the right is the power button on the iMac is, on the contrary, to the left, so not used to try to find it on the wrong side
If we compare the number of connectors to the iMac, the advantage of the uniquely Zen AiO Pro. Then you and the two full HDMI instead of the Thunderbolt useless, and as many as six of USB-ports, and two separate connectors for headphones and headsets, and even USB Type C support!
The size of both the candy bar +/- are the same, but it is important to take into account that Zen AiO Pro slightly larger screen size, so it is wider and heavier.
At our test was an older model with UHD-resolution, and looks like the picture on this display just fine. Firstly, with such a high PPI displays for it does not matter the type of font smoothing, they look as smooth as possible, the feeling that every letter rendered thin marker. By the way, a growing number of applications for Windows optimized for such high resolutions, even Skype pulled, let alone the Telegram and say no. And view the photos on this screen – it is a pleasure.
On sale will be a version with a touch screen and the usual, our test sample kept pressing his fingers. Not to say that it is often used this functionality, but periodically conducted on the left side of the monitor to see the new notifications on or off any of the wireless modules.
The screen has an oleophobic coating, considering the display area, it is pretty good, in any case, the finger glides smoothly on the glass, and fingerprints easily rubbed with a cloth.
The angle is relatively small, you can see for yourself in the photo below.
Now the bad news. The screen is very much glare, unlike the iMac, there is no good anti-reflective coating, so the weather is sunny, you will see its reflection even at maximum brightness.
Operating system Zen AiO Pro
Bar is running Windows 10 with all its pluses and minuses. Since I regularly compare Zen AiO Pro to the iMac, then let me leave here a small comment about it. I switched to OS X three years ago, the first four months was incredibly uncomfortable and unusually (still leading that change hands). But when you get used to the slightly different logic of the interface and features, you begin to fully enjoy the other advantages of the system. This, of course, more interesting applications, most of which are Retina-Ready, finest scale and high speed.
I thought that the test Zen AiO – it’s a great opportunity to once again try to transfer to Windows, but it’s like changing the lead hand again, with special advantages I did not appear.
I am writing this is not to annoy you, dear users, this is more a comment for iMac owners who are planning to replace the computer. If you are using Windows for a long time and enjoy the top ten, feel free to ignore this paragraph.
Once we talked with one colleague from another publication, and he said something very important: the difference in performance from year to year is getting smaller, the same chipsets from Intel even getting better, but the gap is not as big as in the canon Example with the 386-m and 486-m. Of course all the daily tasks of the browser to Photoshop does not cause Zen AiO Pro no problem with this filling is not surprising.
Continuing the comparison with the iMac, I can not mention the use of mobile graphics from NVIDIA against the built-in Intel HD. I have heard many good reviews about a series 9hhm, so I decided to check how well they are truthful. As a result, some toys, like the last of “The Witcher” you can play at the highest settings, but only at 1080p. Still not a computer game in front of us.
Separately, I would like to talk about the level of noise and heat. My iMac is almost completely silent, I can work for him, even in complete silence, and nothing will irritate my ears. But in Zen AiO Pro coolers work, shall we say, quite clearly heard regardless of whether or not the music is on, run on your computer any productive task or I just write the text in Word. Of course, this behavior keeps Zen AiO cool the body as much as possible, but I have a background job coolers pretty annoyed.
Keyboard and mouse Zen AiO Pro
I’ll start with the keyboard. The first thing that I liked it immediately, it uses a full-size layout with separate Numeric Pad, hurray! No, seriously, you can not even imagine how I sometimes lack a wireless Apple Keyboard, and their own wired keyboard periodically stopped iMac’om determined. The second – a soft keystroke, still considerably from this wean, going on a Mac, where the majority of keyboards very short stroke.
Mouse perfectly ordinary, made in general with monoblock style.
And now the bad, and the keyboard and mouse are made of cheap plastic and does not fit on materials with a nice aluminum Zen AiO Pro. It is not clear what prevented Asus make them of the same material.
Camera and Microphone Zen AiO Pro
The monoblock set regular 1-megapixel camera and a 2 MP camera Intel RealSense. You can use it to unlock your computer on your image, I had previously read that as long as the function does not work very well, but my camera is perfectly recognized, the main thing – a little tilt the screen to your face fits in the frame.
Front camera not particularly impressed, it is suitable for communication in a Skype, but no more. By the built-in microphone no complaints: the other person can hear you fine, tested in the same Skype.
Conclusion Zen AiO Pro
The initial version of Zen AiO Pro worth 87 000 rubles, it is important to remember that there will be HDD and just FHD-resolution, so I recommend just to look at the option of SDD and Ultra HD resolution, at the moment, with the screen only sold older configuration (as we have in the survey), it will cost you 122 100 rubles. It is important to understand that a similar configuration iMac 4k will cost about 150,000 or even more.
If we compare the piece with the iMac, then on the side of the latter the best sound quality from the speakers, quiet operation cooler and a higher quality display, no glare in bright light. But in Zen AiO Pro graphics performance far more useful port, and it costs less than the same iMac 4k with SSD. And it works on Windows, which also will be another plus for many users.
As a result, we get a good iMac competitor to Windows at a lower cost and good appearance. Perfect for those looking for a stylish candy bar and is not ready to consider buying Apple’s technique (and such people can understand, given its cost).
