Working from home isn’t all that bad, as the coronavirus pandemic has taught so far. In fact, it’s pretty liberating apart from the brutal Zoom calls. However, if you’re the type of person who likes to use a designated home office space for your home needs, you’re likely to want a big screen display and a space-saving solution for it, and a laptop won’t want that. cutting. This is exactly why Asus has launched its new line of AiO devices in India. The Asus AiO V241 is here with us and I’ve used it as my somewhat normal work PC. Here are my first impressions.
Design and Build
First of all, Asus has paid a lot of attention to the design and build quality of this machine. Not only is it one of the cleanest looking setups I’ve ever seen, it’s also well built. When you look at the V241, it looks like a large display slab with an accent metal grille at the bottom that also houses the webcam and microphones.
This webcam placement isn’t my favorite on both laptops and AiOs, but it’s the price the company has decided we should pay for thinner bezels. Not that I’m really complaining because I hardly ever use the webcam. However, if you’re someone who keeps the webcam on during video meetings, this isn’t a nice angle to bring the camera in.
Other than that, the design and construction leaves little to be desired. The stand is flawless and allows for seamless one-handed angling of the screen – another thing I appreciate. For example, all ports are on the back like you’d find on an iMac.
The White-Silver color of the AiO is here with us, but it’s also available in a Black-Gold color combination if you want a more substantial look on your desk.
view
Having a big screen is one of the main reasons you want to get an AiO for your business rather than a laptop, and the Asus V241 comes with a sizable 23.8-inch LED-backlit panel with 1920×1080 resolution. I’m not completely sold on the Full HD resolution for a screen this size, especially if you work with text frequently. Personally, the resolution along with the text combined with the screen size means the pixel density isn’t as high as I’d like, but it could also be because I’m used to the retina display of the MacBook Pro.
That very specific issue aside, this screen is great for anything I use. It is surrounded by thin bezels that seem even thinner for the size of the screen. Also, the display covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut. This, along with Asus Splendid and Tru2Life Video technology, provides excellent colors on this screen.
Asus also claims a 178° viewing angle on the screen. In my usage so far, this seems correct. However, the brightness decreases slightly when you move away from the center of the screen. I watched a few episodes of The Office along with some YouTube videos on this screen and the colors look pretty good.
Overall, the display on the Asus AiO V241 looks pretty good in my limited time with this machine so far.
Yield
Asus V241 comes with an 11pearl-gen Intel Core i5 processor paired with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB 7200RPM HDD + up to 512GB PCIe SSD. The variant we have with us comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Also, there is no dedicated GPU in this AiO, you just get the Intel Iris Xe GPU, which should handle most graphics tasks, but this is not a machine made for gaming.
In my use so far, which was by no means long, I’ve found the V241 to be pretty quick and snappy in ordinary day-to-day work. I’ve been writing on this machine for a while with music or videos playing in the background. Plus, a bit of Photoshop here and there, and nowhere has there been an issue with speed or lag.
The Asus V241 is mainly intended to be a computer you can keep in your home for normal work, watching videos or listening to music; and it’s great to do all that.
speakers
The Asus AiO V241 comes with 3W stereo speakers and they are surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much from these speakers, but they are really good. Sounds are loud, sound doesn’t distort even at maximum volumes, and there’s a healthy amount of bass output as well. This can be attributed to the large sound chambers Asus has built for the speakers in the V241.
In addition, the AiO comes with DTS Audio Processing, which you can use to customize the sound output of the speakers just the way you want. All in all, the speakers in the Asus AiO V241 are impressive and can serve you well for business video calls as well as watching movies.
keyboard and mouse
In addition to the 23.8-inch giant Full HD screen that collects all the CPU, RAM and storage components on its back, Asus also sends a wireless keyboard and mouse with the V241. Now, the keyboard here is a full-size keyboard complete with a numpad, but it’s not very good.
Sure, it has a 2.5mm of travel and the keys are pretty well placed, but there are a few issues here as well. Firstly, these keys are quite small, which makes it less comfortable for me to use this keyboard for longer typing sessions. Moreover, the keyboard is not tactile at all and is quite emotional. Also, the keys wobble a lot, which is both annoying and unreliable in the quality of the keyboard.
The mouse is fine and does its job well enough. I don’t have any big reservations about it. However, I think Asus should make these accessories rechargeable rather than powered by AA and AAA cells. The keyboard uses 2xAAA batteries while the mouse uses a single AA battery to power it.
Fortunately, Asus provides the batteries in the box, which I’m thankful for. However, I was honestly expecting a USB-C or even micro-USB charging system here. I’m not exactly sure how long the keyboard and mouse will last with these batteries, but I certainly don’t look forward to replacing them once the keyboard dies.
Ports and Connection
If there’s one thing I really appreciate about the Asus V241 AiO, it’s the port selection. You obviously get a power jack on the back of the machine and with it you get 4x USB 3.2 Type A ports, an HDMI out port and an HDMI in port as well as an RJ-45 ethernet port. At the bottom, you’ll find a microphone/headphone combo jack and another USB 2.0 port.
Now, HDMI on this port is exciting. At the bottom of the V241 is a ‘Mode’ button that you can press and switch between PC mode and monitor mode. So you can hook up your Xbox or PlayStation or a smart TV stick like a Fire TV Stick or basically anything and use the 23.8 inch screen as a monitor whenever you want. This is pretty impressive and lets me play games on PS5 without having to use a separate monitor at work or going to the office playground. So thanks, Asus.
On the wireless front, the V241 comes with Bluetooth 5.1 and WiFi 5 (802.11ac) for your WiFi and Bluetooth accessories needs.
Asus AiO V241: What’s It Like?
Look, this is by no means a review, and I haven’t spent enough time using the Asus AiO V241 to tell you frankly whether it’s worth your money or not. But based on the time I’ve spent using this machine, I can tell you this: The Asus AiO V241 is a pretty solid device for your home office or even your work computer. It offers a big screen with beautiful colors and brightness, impressive speakers and a really cool design. It’s not a high-end gaming PC, but it doesn’t have to be, and it seems to fit exactly in the slot Asus was hoping for – a simple home PC for people with work-from-home needs or for your day-to-day work.
Asus AiO V241 starting at Rs. 61,990 and will be available soon.
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