ASUS Essentio CM6850-03 Mainstream Desktop PC

Aug 9 2011 - The ASUS Essentio GM6850-03 does a good job as a multimedia system which it is marketed as. While it may not come equipped with features such as Blu-ray, its relatively low price is quite nice especially given the overall performance that it provides. The system does have a few annoyances to it though including a keyboard that shares the design of a laptop one but without any of the comfort of a traditional desktop model. Those hoping to upgrade it for better gaming may also want to look for other options as the power supply will limit upgrades.

- The ASUS Essentio series is essentially split into two categories, multimedia and gaming. The GM6850-03 is a relatively affordable model with a price tag just over $700 that is geared for multimedia. It offers a fair amount of performance thanks to the Intel Core i5-2400 quad core desktop processor. This second generation processor offers plenty of performance for even demanding tasks such as desktop video editing. This combined with 8GB of memory should allow it to run smoothly in just about any type of application. The nice part is that this is one of the faster processors you are going to find in this price range with much of the competition using either slightly slower i5's or i3 series processors.

Storage features on the ASUS Essentio CM6850-03 are fairly typical for a desktop system priced just over $700. It comes with a one terabyte hard drive that should provide a fair amount of storage for most uses to store applications, data and media files. More companies are moving to larger drives in the one and a half to two terabyte size though. The drive does spin at the traditional 7200rpm rate which does give it solid performance compared to the green drives that many desktops have switched to. A dual-layer DVD burner handles playback and recording of CD or DVD media. At least the system does feature two USB 3.0 ports for very high speed external peripheral devices. Many desktops in this price range fail to include this.

Graphics on the ASUS Essentio CM6850-03 are somewhat mixed. It comes equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 530 graphics card. This is a step up from the entry level GT 520 but it still is not a card that those hoping to do serious gaming on the platform would probably want to stick with. Games should be playable up to 1600x900 relatively consistently with 1920x1080 doable for many but with more limited detail and filters. It comes with 2GB of memory but for the most part this isn't going to be any better than the standard 1GB graphics cards. The only real benefit will be seen in applications such as Adobe CS and Photoshop that benefit from extra graphics memory.

Now, if you are hoping to replace the graphics card with something a bit more powerful, you will be a bit disappointed. ASUS seems to be equipping them with 400 watt power supplies. This will allow for some modest graphics card but does not have enough wattage to support the high end graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 6950 or GeForce GTX 570 and higher.

One aspect of the ASUS desktop that can be quite annoying is the keyboard. It uses a flat isolated keyboard layout similar to what is found on most laptops. This by itself isn't so much of a problem as the very flat layout of the keys. This is not a keyboard that I could use over an extended period of time without have some strain.

Many low cost desktops tend to pack in a lot of trialware applications onto their system. This is a means to help reduce the overall costs of the system to the consumer. Thankfully, ASUS does not go down this route as many of the larger manufacturers have which makes for a relatively painless setup processor. Users won't have to spend much time cleaning up the system to get the best performance or clean up their desktop.