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The Asus ET2300ITUI isn’t the prettiest all-in-one PC we’ve ever seen, but behind its chunky facade lies a surprisingly quick machine that’s great value.
It has a huge base, measuring 375x255mm, but it’s here where all its hardware lies as opposed to being hidden behind the screen. This means you’ll need a fair bit of space to fit it on your desk, but provided you’ve got the room, its large base quickly becomes irrelevant as its articulating stand allows you to fold the screen back so it’s completely flat. This makes it both a great desktop PC and a tabletop entertainment centre.
The hinge is a little stiff going from flat to standing, but its 23in touchscreen works great from either angle. It’s surrounded in edge-to-edge glass, and folding the screen flat made it perfect for tapping on Windows 8’s big apps and icons. We had a few problems with reflections given the screen’s glossy finish, but generally the ET2300IUTI’s display is easy to view both standing up and lying flat.
Our solid colour image tests were similarly encouraging, with bright and vivid reds, greens and blues, deep blacks and true whites. The screen’s contrast levels were also very good, but sadly its viewing angles weren’t quite uniform across the board. Having the screen flat didn’t look half as good as looking at it head-on, as the screen quickly darkened even when we were standing only 10cm away.
Folding the screen flat also made it wobble quite a bit when we were tapping icons or playing games. It was worse in the upper part of the screen where it doesn’t get as much support from the stand, but as long as you don’t jab too vigorously then there’s little need to worry about damaging the screen thanks to its strong double-hinge.
The Asus ET2300IUTI also stands out from other all-in-ones when it comes to raw processing power. Its 3.3GHz Intel Core i3-3220 processor is a proper desktop processor, rather than a low-power laptop CPU. It’s a dual-core model with Hyper-Threading providing two more virtual cores. Too often all-in-one PCs get lumbered with mobile processor chips that are more commonly found in laptops in order to keep their size down, but the ET2300IUTI has no such qualms about its overall design. As a result, the ET2300IUTI scored an impressive 58 overall in our multimedia benchmarks, making it one of the fastest all-in-ones we’ve reviewed.
It’s not quite so speedy when it comes to gaming, though, as it relies solely on its integrated Intel HD Graphics 2500 chip instead of having a dedicated graphics card. As a result, it failed all of our graphics benchmarks. It couldn’t even muster 15fps for the laptop version of our Dirt Showdown test on High Quality settings at a 720p, so you’ll have to lower the settings right down and disable the anti-aliasing if you’re planning on playing any kind of modern 3D games. You shouldn’t have any trouble playing games from the Windows 8 store, though, as titles like Jetpack Joyride all worked without a hitch.
Gaming issues aside, the ET2300IUTI’s plentiful supply of ports makes it an excellent entertainment hub. It has two HDMI ports (one input and one output, so you can add a second screen or connect an external device, such as a games console), a three-in-one card reader, a DVD optical drive, and five USB ports, all of which are USB3. It also has separate headphone and microphone jacks, an optical S/PDIF output for transmitting digital audio, a 2.5mm subwoofer line out and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Asus hasn’t compromised on its integrated speakers either, as they had plenty of volume and lots of audible bass.
We weren’t big fans of the bundled in wireless mouse, as it felt very small for our hands. The wireless keyboard was much better, as its chunky keys and brushed metal effect made it feel slightly more substantial than other cheap, plastic keyboards we’ve seen. Its Chiclet-style keys were also well-spaced and provided plenty of bounce and tactile feedback.
The Asus ET2300IUTI is a versatile all-in-one PC and its only major flaw is its lack of a dedicated graphics card. It doesn’t have a particularly elegant design, but its flexible design and power largely make up for this. That said, if you can live with a slightly smaller screen, the Asus ET2220IUTI is cheaper, faster and has dedicated graphics.
