ASUS VM42-S075V Review

The ASUS VM42-S075V is a good-looking compact and portable mini desktop PC with a trendy metal surface that matches the living room and office space. It features a 4th generation Intel Celeron 2957U (Haswell-R) 1.4GHz processor, 4GB memory, and a spacious 500GB serial ATA 7200RPM hard drive to store your files. The desktop comes preinstalled with windows 8.1 that is upgradeable to Windows 10.

It harbors a decent amount of connectivity ports for your devices and peripherals. The mini desktop targets users who are on a budget and not after high performance and power but in need of a modern desktop that does the job: streaming videos, mail checking, and other light duties.

ASUS VM42-S075V Specs

Design

The ASUS VM42-S075V measures 7.48 x 2.21 x 7.48 inches making it one of the smallest desktop PCs available in the market but does not beat the Dell Inspiron I3050-3000BLK which measures 2.1 by 5.2 by 5.2 inches (HWD) in the Small Form Factor PCs category. It matches Apple’s Mac Mini (7.7 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches) and Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M83 (7.2 x 7 x 1.35 inches).

It weighs only 2.6 pounds therefore you can carry it around to connect with your monitor or HDTV, be it in the kitchen, living room, or restroom, and fits almost anywhere due to its small size. As such, you don’t have to hide it below the table, as a matter of fact, it is designed to be displayed in the room to add some synthetic value.

Connections

Connectivity is always a strong suit for Asus, and this is no exception. The Mini Desktop has two USB 2.0 Ports and four USB 3.0 ports for connecting your PC to other devices and peripherals. There is also an HDMI port and a Display port to connect your PC to a display of your choice.

There is also an optical S/PDIF output for high-quality audio, headphone, and microphone jacks. It is important to note that the machine comes with a mouse and keyboard, obviously, you will have to purchase a monitor of your own choice such as the Dell E2015HV 20-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor or connect to your HDTV.

There is an 802.11 A/C wireless card for internet connection and a Gigabit RJ-45 port is also available. It also has Bluetooth 4.0 for file transfer and is sable with other peripherals. There is no optical drive, considering its small size, as such you shall have to connect an external DVD drive or make use of the built-in SD/MMC card reader. There are built-in SonicMaster speakers and MaxxAudio tuning, ideal audio for all your music, films, and videos.

Performance

The ASUS VM42-S075V houses a 4th generation Intel Celeron 2957U processor that runs on a dual-core set up and a low 1.4 GHz clock rate with no Turbo Boost Technology. Passmark benchmark score of a bit over 1500 for the Celeron 2957U is not too bad as manufacturers have been placing the low CPUs on notebooks but they have now extended this to lighter desktops as they have enough power to handle daily tasks such as video streaming, web surfing and listening to music.

There is 4GB of system memory installed in the desktop that is expandable to 16 GB with the two DIMM sockets on the mainboard. This is enough memory for light use for instance opening multiple browser tabs without slowing down the system.

The machine comes with 500 GB Serial ATA-600 hard drive storage at 7200rpm rotating speed, which is faster than the 5400rpm available in most budget machines. There is also a 100GB free web-based storage for 12 months. As such, all your files, documents, music, videos, and movies are taken care of. But if you are in need of some extra storage, then there is some room for you to add a hard drive and an SSD.

The ASUS VM42-S075V is no gaming warrior, this is a budget desktop for basic use hence all gaming expectations should be put under control or expect the least performance. The Intel HD (Haswell) chip is a poor performer that cannot handle heavy games like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4, it can only manage a poor 15 fps on low details.

When running World of Warcraft, the Asus just barely hit our 30-frame-per-second playable threshold with the resolution set at 1366 x 768 and the graphics on auto — any increase in graphics quality or resolution made the game unplayable. If you are a casual gamer, you will do just fine. For hardcore gamers, this is not the best option.

The Bottom Line

The Asus VM42-S075V is a good desktop for users after a small, fast and quiet PC to connect to an HDTV as a media center or for everyday home computing. Having four USB ports and AC WiFi are also useful, although for CDs and DVDs you have to get an external optical drive. The mini desktop offers dependable performance at a fairly welcoming price, but its upgradability is its main selling point. There is room to up your RAM and storage space to fit your needs whenever you feel like it.

If you are a heavy user and in need of a mini desktop, then the Apple Mac Mini is ideal thanks to its Intel Corei5, 8GB RAM and 1 TB Hard drive of storage space but you will have to part with more bucks. However, if you’re on a budget, the Asus VM42-S075V suffices for basic computing tasks and a diminutive small and sleek design that will look good just about anywhere in your home.