Laptop Review: Asus VivoMini UN62 assessment

We've thought previously so as to the days of hulking desktop towers are pretty much concluded. On the whole make somewhere your home spirit in no way need liberty representing add-on cards, colossal power materials and multiple strict drives. With even reasonable specifications, cooling does not require colossal fans anymore. Optical drives are down, wireless connectivity is accomplished sufficient representing on the whole purposes, and everything as well can stay plugged in the field of via USB before ready online. But for you are a gamer before creative skilled with exclusive needs, you can stay exultant with a PC like this, which is simply a slight superior than the run of the mill restaurant takeaway box.
Asus is getting serious in relation to its own line of little desktop PCs. Boxes this size used to go with first Intel Atom processors which were simply accomplished sufficient representing straightforward productivity. They were considered weak and sub-par compared to full-sized desktops. Individuals days are vanished - in the field of actuality with laptops displacing desktops far and wide, it be supposed to stay nix disrupt so as to companies are taking the same parts designed representing lesser spaces and pending up with boxes devoid of their own screens and keyboards so as to are even slighter and lighter.


Look and feel
The VivoMini UN62 is understated yet accomplished looking. By the side of 131mm ethical and 42mm tall, it's parallel in the field of size to Zotac's Zbox mini-PCs. It's slighter (but taller) than even the current-generation Mac Mini. In the field of actuality, it's simply a short time ago a slight superior than a standard home DVD-RW drive and looks additional like a router before outside strict drive than a fully functional PC. By the side of 1kg, you can pretty much relay it around anywhere.

The VivoMini made of dark plastic and spirit look by the side of home-based on several desk before even after that to your living area television. It's faintly bowl-shaped; tapering towards the substructure, with rubber legs so as to allow it to take air in the field of devoid of obstruction. Nearby are plus mounting points representing the incorporated VESA bracket on the substructure, so you can hang the VivoMini inedible the back of an LCD observe.


The top has a silver Asus logo rectify in the field of the centre of a pattern of fine concentric rings, very parallel to I beg your pardon? We've seen on the company's ZenFone range. It looks heroic whilst it catches the light by the side of an outlook. There's a power button rectify in the field of the hub of the front panel, with an integrated pallid power LED so as to thankfully isn't distractingly brainy. There's plus a succeeding indicator faintly to its gone, representing a little right mind.

The rectify creep is unqualified but nearby are ports all around the other sides. On the rear panel, there's a DC power inlet, full-sized HDMI and DisplayPort cartridge outputs, two USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, and a 3.5mm headset socket. Fierce air is exhausted given away through a vent running beyond all the ports. Nearby are two additional USB 3.0 ports on the gone in the field of addition to an SD certificate slot and a Kensington security lock slot.


The fresh make an exhibition of outputs allow you to run three screens at the same time (using a DisplayPort daisy-chain). The two USB ports on the gone allow fast charging. In the field of dumpy, there's additional than sufficient representing on the whole connectivity needs. We'd advise up for grabs with wireless peripherals at the same time as far at the same time as viable to keep things looking accomplished.

Specifications and software
The VivoMini UN62 is practically configurable and nearby are quite of things you can customise. Our assessment component came with a low-voltage Intel staple i3-4030U central processing unit, which is a fourth-generation Haswell part with two cores running by the side of 1.9GHz and integrated Intel HD 4400 graphics. It plus had 4GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, a 128GB SSD, and an 802.11ac Wi-Fi module with Bluetooth 4.0.


You can wish to order yours with a staple i5-4210U as a substitute, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of luggage compartment. There's plus a VivoMini UN42 archetypal based around a Celeron 2957U which is probably additional correct representing corporate desktops before embedded situations such at the same time as running digital signage before kiosks. Barebones versions of both models, which don't include the RAM, SSD before OS, are plus existing.

The incorporated 65W power supply is pretty bulky even by laptop values, and is designed to plug unswervingly into a barricade socket. Other than so as to and a VESA mounting plate, nearby isn't much in the field of the box. Asus plus offers a wired before wireless piano and mouse, though our assessment component did not go with several.


The VivoMini UN62 comes with Windows 8.1 and a embarrassment of preloaded utilities, many of which are not all so as to expedient. There's a 60-day Norton Internet Security trial, the standard Microsoft responsibility trial, Adobe person who reads, WinZip and Intel lesser small business gain. Asus plus preloads its own AI Suite, AI Security, Homecloud head waiter, Media ribbon, Wi-Fi walk off, EZ keep posted, Remote Management Tool, WebStorage, Secure Delete, and upshot Registration Tool.

A little of these flummox up popups asking you to consent to expressions and conditions. On the whole of the Asus Web-related tools require an ID so you can sign in the field of and cascade media. Asus gives customers 100GB of online luggage compartment liberty representing a time and there's plus 100GB of Microsoft OneDrive liberty representing a time.


Performance
The components inside the Asus VivoMini UN62 were all more or less intended representing reedy and light notebooks, and retain been rearranged to fit into a lesser ethical box. With so as to in the field of mind, we were still quite exultant with how the undivided package came collected. Single of the most important advantages of a low-voltage CPU is its aptitude to run devoid of generating reheat, which in the field of fork course a loud fan is not obligatory. Nearby unquestionably still is a fan, but we in no way heard it in the field of prosecution. The VivoMini is almost entirely silent, which is enormously remarkable.

Day-to-day procedure didn't flummox up several problems. We hooked our test component up to our own observe, piano and mouse. It ran quite happily by the side of 1440p, though representing the purposes of hard, we took the decree down to a additional standard 1080p.


Scale scores were pretty accomplished in the field of on the whole belongings; by the side of par with before better than similarly configured notebooks. PCMark gave us scores of 2488, 2539 and 3596 in the field of the home-based, Creative, and come off runs correspondingly. 3DMark Fire occur to gave us 497 overall which is decent making an allowance for the integrated Intel HD graphics. CineBench R15's CPU test came in the field of by the side of 181 points, while POVRay finished tracing its home scale in the field of 11 minutes, 27 seconds.

Single area in the field of which the VivoMini UN62 stood given away was SSD performance. The SATA 600 module managed 528.84 MBps sequential reads and 308.9MBps sequential writes in the field of SiSoft SANDRA's procession classification Bandwidth module, which are both superb scores compared to parallel products with little SSDs. The simply catch is the low facility - simply in relation to 102GB is existing to the user, and that's not plus liberty taken up by Windows and the all the preloaded software.

The VivoMini UN62 was skillful of treatment all the media library we threw by the side of it. We possibly will feel the fierce air pending given away of the vents by the side of the rear whilst it was under burdensome oodles, but it still didn't get a hold loud. Single unknown but minor factor was so as to the power LED in the field of front on track flashing fast whilst the device went to be dead to the world, which we found very distracting. This disturbed us additional than several sound even whilst it was a short time ago sitting on our responsibility desks, so it would definitely befall a catch in the field of a dark bedroom by the side of home-based.

The actuality so as to a barebones version is presented indicates so as to by the side of smallest amount a little parts are modular and so as to nearby is budding representing upgrades and replacements down the line. It be supposed to plus stay comfortable representing users to friendly the VivoMini's armature themselves in the field of order to install parts. Certain sufficient, we found four unpretentious screws beneath pop-out rubber stoppers on the substructure, and opening the armature was nix catch. We found two standard SO-DIMM RAM slots, an mSATA slot occupied by the SSD, and a mini-PCIe slot occupied by the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module. All of these can stay swapped given away by anybody with a screwdriver and straightforward understanding of PC components.


Verdict
Asus has ready a pretty accomplished mission with the VivoMini UN62. We really like its size and overall look, which command somebody to it well suited representing several job. The hardware is plus pretty up-to-date and you can expect to get a hold pretty much everything ready so as to you would expect to prepare on a fresh laptop - so as to is to say responsibility productivity, media playback, surfing the net, and on stage light games. With a wireless piano and mouse, this possibly will stay a very neat home-based theatre PC.

We particularly like the actuality so as to Asus offers so many customisation options.The expend of an SSD instead than rotary drive does hold back liberty, but performance is better by far and blare and power consumption are bargain at the same time as well.


The test component we time-honored with the staple i3 central processing unit, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac module is priced by the side of Rs. 39,500. The same component barebones would start by the side of Rs. 26,500 where the barebones Celeron-based UN42 archetypal starts by the side of Rs. 13,500.

Compared to Zotac's Zbox products, such at the same time as the Zbox Sphere which we reviewed a slight while in the past, the Asus VivoMini UN62 is a small piece additional expensive, with a lower-spec central processing unit but SSD instead than rotary drive. The barebones versions of both are priced by the side of around the same level, which course the Zbox Sphere still comes with a better central processing unit by the side of so as to cost. Of possibility you possibly will plus get a hold a pretty muscular standard desktop tower representing this amount of money. You'll retain to decide if the looks, flexibility and connectivity are worth it.