Asus Essentio CM5570-AP002

The good: HDMI port and Wi-Fi uncommon in midtowers in this price range; slight performance edge due to more recent integrated graphics chip.

The bad: Seemingly nonexistent online support.

The bottom line: The Asus Essentio CM5570-AP002 isn't an overly remarkable desktop, but it has a few extra features that help it stand out. Its Wi-Fi and HDMI video out port give it some unique capabilities, and the best part is that Asus still manages to keep the price down. It's hard not to like this system, even though we wish Asus had more comprehensive support.

Specifications: Processor: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz) ; RAM installed: 6 GB DDR2 SDRAM ; Hard drive: 640 GB Standard ; See full specs

Price range: $499.99

Aside from the fact that it's a midtower system, the Asus Essentio CM5570-AP002 has much of the same charm that we found in a slim tower version from Asus last year. At a reasonable $510, the Asus offers living-room-friendly features like wireless networking and HDMI video output in a competent budget system. You might not necessarily want those features in a midtower, but you also don't have to sacrifice anything to get them. If you demand a slim tower with these kinds of features, Gateway's SX2800-01 offers a similarly priced alternative to the Asus midtower. For those who might want living-room-friendly features in a more upgradeable case, or who are simply in the market for an affordable, well-rounded PC, the Asus Essentio CM5570-AP002 is a great option.

Asus has previously ventured into the all-in-one and slim tower desktop arena's before, but this is the first midtower case we've seen from the Taiwanese vendor. Asus has dutifully followed the glossy black case trend common to the majority of recent Windows desktops with this Essentio. While it might not impress anyone on its looks alone, the design is perfectly serviceable, and it will fit into any environment.

	Asus Essentio CM5570-AP002	HP Pavilion p6110y
Price	$510	$520
CPU	2.6GHz Intel Pentium E5300	2.6GHz Intel Pentium E5300
Memory	6GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM	6GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics	32MB (shared) Intel GMA X4500 (integrated)	128MB (shared) Intel GMA 3100 (integrated)
Hard drives	640GB 7,200rpm hard drive	640GB 7,200rpm hard drive
Optical drive	dual-layer DVD burner	dual-layer DVD burner
Operating system	Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit)	Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit)

We'll get right to comparing the Essentio with its competition, and HP's Pavilion p6110y makes a great head-to-head. We won't begrudge HP the $10 price difference, but it's interesting to note just how much these systems have in common. The only significant component variation lies in the motherboard/graphics chipset in each system. Asus has an Intel GMA X4500 chip, a more recent integrated graphics chip from Intel than the HP. The Asus' chip is technically DirectX 10 capable, but practically speaking, you won't be playing modern PC games on either desktop, at least without a post-purchase 3D card upgrade.

HD movie playback is also limited in that neither system can support Blu-ray content. Of course neither system comes with a Blu-ray drive, but if the Asus' HDMI output had you thinking about adding a Blu-ray drive post-purchase, you're out of luck.

Source : reviews.cnet.com