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All-in-ones have changed dramatically in the past few years, exchanging chunky, unattractive builds for clean lines and sleek profiles. While the 2013 Apple iMac exemplifies this aesthetic, the $1,249 ASUS ET2322INTH proves that Windows-powered all-in-ones can look just as good. But this gorgeous 23-inch PC isn't all about design — underneath the hood, it packs a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and Nvidia graphics. The keyboard could be better, but otherwise, ASUS has created a very attractive machine.
Design
The first thing you'll notice about the ET2322INTH is its craftsmanship. A glossy, black edge-to-edge bezel frames the 23-inch touch screen, and the front panel is devoid of Intel stickers or other obtrusive design elements. A chrome ASUS logo at the bottom serves as the only adornment. A handful of ports are located out of sight along the left bottom edge, while the power button and volume controls sit on the right.
The plastic back panel features a matte-black finish and curves gently at the edges. An embossed ASUS logo rests in the center, directly above the hinge of the stand. A narrow vent, partially hidden within a groove cut into the panel, runs along the top. Additional ports are located on the bottom-right corner.
The elegant aluminum stand features a round base with a tapered shaft that connects to the rear panel. A wide hinge allows the display to tilt backward about 30 degrees and less than 10 degrees forward.
MORE: Acer Aspire Us-610 All-in-One PC Review
At 22.48 x 14.13 x 1.97 inches and 19.8 pounds, the ET2322INTH is heavier and thicker than the $1,099 Acer Aspire U5-610 (22.6 x 16.6 x 1.4 inches and 15.8 pounds). The svelte $1,299 2013 Apple iMac is noticeably lighter, at 20.8 x 17.7 x 6.9 inches (with the stand) and 12.5 pounds, but it has a smaller 21.5-inch display.
Display
The ET2322INTH's 23-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel display impressed us with its wide viewing angles, bright colors and responsiveness. When we queued up a 1080p trailer for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," the eponymous hero's red-and-blue costume popped off the screen, and we could move several feet in either direction without causing the colors to wash out. In rooms with lots of natural sunlight, however, the screen suffered from quite a bit of glare when viewed at an angle.
When we measured the screen with our colorimeter, the ET2322INTH displayed 93.9 percent of the sRGB color gamut. Although hardly shabby, this isn't as impressive as what you'll find on some all-in-ones. The Lenovo ThinkCentre E93z, for example, is capable of displaying 107 percent of the gamut (7 percent more than the standard sRGB gamut). The ET2322INTH registered middling color accuracy on our test, with a Delta E rating of 9.1 (1 is perfect accuracy). The Lenovo E93z achieved a Delta E as low as 6.2.
MORE: Apple iMac All-in-One Review
Thankfully, the ET2322INTH's panel is fairly bright but not the best in its class. When we measured the luminosity using our light meter, the ASUS registered 241 lux (204 nits). This beats the Toshiba PX35t (188 nits) but doesn't match up tothe Acer Aspire U5-610 (243 lux) or the desktop average (288 lux). The 2013 iMac measured a whopping 483 lux.
The 10-point touch screen responded quickly and accurately to our input. Gestures such as edge-swiping and scrolling executed promptly, and we could doodle with all 10 fingers simultaneously in Microsoft Paint.
Audio
High-fidelity audio is one of the ET2322INTH's main selling points, and in our experience, the all-in-one surpassed expectations. In addition to its Maxx Audio-powered speakers, the ET2322INTH features two subwoofers — one internal and one external. As a result, we enjoyed a perfect balance of treble and bass. When we listened to Prince's "Kiss," we could feel each beat of the bass line, and each instrument sounded distinct. Without a doubt, the audio quality is the best we've heard on an all-in-one.
Our audio test confirmed the power of the ET2322INTH's speakers. When we measured the volume of a single tone from 23 inches away, the ASUS registered 86 decibels. In contrast, the 2013 iMac and Aspire U5-610 registered 78 and 77 decibels, respectively.
MORE: Lenovo E93z All-in-One PC Review
The MaxxAudio Master audio suite lets you select from presets such as music, movies and gaming, as well as tweak individual settings like bass, treble and dialog. Using the advanced settings, you can set the intensity and frequency of the bass and treble, adjust the dynamic range, and fine-tune a number of additional audio properties.
Keyboard and Mouse
The wireless mouse and keyboard bundled with the ET2322INTH are serviceable but hardly noteworthy. The full-size keyboard includes a full number pad on the right but lacks the robust selection of function keys we've seen on other wireless keyboards. Furthermore, though the keys enjoy plenty of vertical travel (3.5mm, compared to 1.5mm on a typical laptop), the typing experience felt stiff.
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Though small, the optical mouse worked reliably. The top of the mouse, including the left and right mouse buttons, is constructed of a single piece of black plastic. A silver strip of plastic in the middle houses the scroll wheel.
Ports
The ET2322INTH features a standard spread of ports for an all-in-one. At the bottom of the display on the left are a USB 2.0 port, a 6-in-1 card reader, a microphone jack and a headphone jack. A larger selection of ports is located on the rear panel, including two additional USB 2.0 ports, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI-in, HDMI-out and an Ethernet port. A Blu-ray drive is on the right side of the PC.
Webcam
Pictures and video captured by the 2-megapixel webcam looked warm but lacked detail. In a photo we took of our face, our skin tone and eye color appeared true to life. However, small details, like individual hairs in our beard, got lost in a blur. On the positive side, video playback was smooth and didn't suffer from motion blurring.
Performance
Packing a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-4500U processor; 16GB of RAM; and a 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, the ET2322INTH can handle just about any task you throw at it. Anecdotally, we had no trouble composing a Word document while streaming music and browsing the Web with a dozen tabs open.
For our objective tests, we compared the ET2322INTH to two other consumer-oriented all-in-ones: the $1,299 2013 Apple iMac (2.7-GHz Core i5-4570R processor with 8GB of RAM) and the Acer Aspire U5-610 (2.5-GHz Core i5-4200M processor with 8GB of RAM). Both of these machines use less-powerful Core i5 CPUs and have half the RAM of the ET2322INTH.
When we ran Geekbench 3, which measures overall performance, the ET2322INTH notched a healthy 5,937. This beats the 5,473 turned in by the Acer Aspire U5-610, which uses a slower 5,400-rpm hard drive. However, the 2013 iMac blew away the competition with a sky-high score of 10,405, despite having a 5,400-rpm drive.
On our OpenOffice spreadsheet test, the ET2322INTH matched 20,000 names and addresses in 4 minutes and 31 seconds. The 2013 iMac took slightly longer than that, with a time of 4:47, while the Aspire U5-610 took a whopping 6 minutes and 13 seconds to complete the test.
The ET2322INTH's 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive copied 4.97GB of mixed multimedia files in 1 minute and 34 seconds, for a rate of 54.1 MBps. This easily bests the 37 MBps achieved by the iMac (1TB, 5,400-rpm hard drive) and the 24 MBps notched by the Aspire U5-610 (1TB, 5,400-rpm hard drive).
Graphics and Gaming
The ET2322INTH uses an Nvidia GeForce GT 740M GPU with 1GB of video memory. As our tests show, this low-end card gives the all-in-one just enough power to handle less-graphics-intensive games like "World of Warcraft."
On the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited graphics benchmark, the ET2322INTH turned in a score of 62,848. The Acer Aspire U5-610, which uses Intel HD Graphics 4600, achieved a score of 49,989. (The 3DMark benchmark suite doesn't run on Macs.)
When we ran the Cinebench OpenGL test, the ET2322INTH notched a score of 38.9. The 2013 iMac, which uses Intel Iris Pro 5200 graphics, fell behind the ET2322INTH, with a score of 25.
Despite these unimpressive benchmark scores, the ET2322INTH demonstrated that it can handle "World of Warcraft." When we ran the game with the graphics on Autodetect and the resolution at 1366 x 768 pixels, the all-in-one averaged 50 frames per second. Turning up the graphics to Ultra caused the frame rate to drop to 27 fps, just below the 30-fps threshold for smooth gameplay. In comparison, the 2013 iMac averaged 47 fps with the graphics on Ultra and the resolution at 1280 x 720p, while the Aspire U5-610 achieved 26 fps.
When we increased the resolution to 1920 x 1080p, the ET2322INTH averaged a playable 34 fps with the graphics on Autodetect, and 21 fps with the graphics on Ultra. In comparison, with the graphics on Ultra and the resolution at 1080p, the 2013 iMac and Aspire U5-610 notched 34 fps and 16 fps, respectively.
Software and Warranty
The ET2322INTH ships with a lot of preinstalled software, most of which comes from ASUS. MAGIX Music Maker (rebranded here as ASUS Music Maker) lets you create your own music with access to thousands of loops and samples, virtual instruments and studio effects. You can also easily remix songs by dragging and dropping samples, or create new mixes based on templates.
Using MAGIX Video Easy (once again rebranded as an ASUS product), you can import, edit and export videos using an interface that's optimized for touch input. The application lets you speed up or slow down video; adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation; add text to the video; modify the audio; and add visual effects like sepia tone.
ASUS Easy Update serves as a one-stop shop for the latest drivers, BIOS updates and application upgrades. Easy Update automatically detects if you need new software, and will download and install it from a single window.
The ET2322INTH also ships with a several third-party applications, including a trial version of McAfee Internet Security, Cyberlink PowerDVD, Skype, SkyDrive and a trial version of Microsoft Office 2013.
The ET2322INTH includes a standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty.
Configurations
In addition to the $1,249 configuration we reviewed (the ET2322INTH), the ASUS ET2322 series includes three other models. The ET2322IUKH (priced at $629 on Newegg.com) features a Core i3 or Core i5 CPU; Intel HD Graphics 4400; 4GB to 16GB of RAM; a 500GB to 1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive; and a DVD R/W drive.
The ET2322IUTH sports a Core i5 or Core i7 CPU; Nvidia GeForce GT 740M graphics; 16GB of RAM; a 1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive with a 32GB SSD cache; and no optical drive.
The ET2322INKH uses a Core i5 CPU; Nvidia GeForce GT 740M graphics; 8GB of RAM; a 7,200-rpm hard drive (size unspecified); and a Blu-ray drive.
Verdict
The ASUS ET2322INTH is one of the best consumer all-in-ones we've tested. At $1,249, this touch-screen PC is a bit expensive, but it provides solid Core i7 performance; a beautiful, 23-inch, 1080p display; and outstanding audio, all packaged in an elegant chassis with an edge-to-edge bezel and an aluminum stand.
Our biggest complaint is the included keyboard, which provides plenty of travel but feels stiff. We also noticed quite a bit of glare when using the all-in-one during the daytime. Still, these are minor issues when compared to everything this machine does right. If you're looking for a top-of-the-line all-in-one, the ASUS ET2322INTH is an excellent choice.
Specs
CPU: 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-4500U
Operating System: Windows 8
RAM: 16GB
Hard Drive Size: 1TB, 7200-rpm
Hard Drive Type: HDD
Display Size: 23 inches
Native Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Optical Drive: Blu-ray
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 740M
Video Memory: 1GB
Wi-Fi: 802.11n
Wi-Fi Model: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
Touchpad Size: None
Ports: Three USB 2.0, Three USB 3.0, HDMI-in, HDMI-out, Ethernet, headphone jack, microphone jack, 6-in-1 card reader
Warranty/Support: One-year parts and labor
Size: 22.48 x 14.13 x 1.97 inches
Weight: 19.8 pounds
