Asus S500MC

amazon Asus S500MC reviews

In the new product range of Asus Desktop S Series devices launched in the market, Asus S500MC is a model aimed at individual and household users to serve online learning and working.

Fancy design, compact size

The Asus S500MC has a design inspired by triangular blocks and a rather fancy 3D textured surface finish. The appearance of the machine is also ergonomic with the lift angle at the front.

Asus claims this design improves cooling airflow to maintain high performance and component durability over time. At the same time, the company confirmed that the design of the Asus S500MC has won the Reddot Winner 2021 award.

This model has a moderate size Tower with “measurements” respectively 16 x 31.89 x 36.78 cm (Width x Depth x Height), Weight 5.9Kg. This size is suitable for modest workspaces and can be placed under the table or placed directly on the desk because it does not take up too much space.

The frame and case are well machined, solid, and sturdy. Asus claims the S500MC can work well in places with high temperatures and withstand shocks during transportation because it has been tested for vibration, drop, thermal shock, and humidity.

On the front, the device is equipped with a lot of connectivity ports including 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 5Gbps port, and 2 USB 2.0 Type-A ports, including 1 standard USB Type C port 3.2 Gen 1 5Gbps next to the headphone jack, and separate mic.

This number of front USB ports of the Asus S500MC makes it easy to add more USBs, portable hard drives, memory card readers, and connect to smartphones… without having to fumble behind the case. The device also has up to 2 headphone jacks. In particular, a jack is a type of headphone and microphone combo, commonly found on laptops, and compatible with today’s popular phone headsets.

True to the traditional sync case so far, the machine has only 1 power button on the front. When you need to reset, you will press and hold the power button for about 5 seconds to turn off the device, then press the power button again to restart.

Asus S500MC still has a slot available to install an optical drive. This is a feature that is no longer necessary for ordinary users, but in state-owned enterprises or government agencies, optical drives are a must-have because of their higher security than USB.

The back has a classic design with traditional silver tones, arranged with many honeycomb heat vents. The power supply is still placed at the top in a traditional style. Asus S500MC attracts attention when it is still equipped with 2 traditional PS2 ports specialized for installing a mouse and keyboard.

Currently, most keyboards and mice on the market have switched to USB ports, but some older keyboards and mice still use PS2 ports. Having these ports available will add compatibility to the Asus S500MC. In addition, the machine also has a COM Serial port, also known as a “legendary” serial port to connect to old printers or POST cash registers.

There are 4 more USB Type-A ports on the back of which 2 blue ports are 3.2 Gen 1 and the black port is USB 2.0, in addition to RJ45 wired network ports with a maximum speed of 1Gbps. The machine has a lot of output options with 3 options including DVI-D, VGA, and HDMI 1.4. In addition, 3 audio jacks in/out are indispensable.

In particular, in the Asus S500MC version that I experienced, there is also a WiFi card available with an antenna with a fancy shape, looking like a wireless charging dock or phone holder but with a compact size only a pack of cigarettes.

This wifi antenna has a built-in magnet, so it can be attached to the case very firmly. The antenna also supports flipping so you can lay it flat next to the case for a neater look.

The Wi-Fi card on the Asus S500MC is the latest Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) type today, supporting Bluetooth 5.2, so it can take full advantage of high-speed Wi-Fi networks, almost replacing both wired networks.

The left side of the lid has a large grille to support hot air release for the internal components.

The bottom of the machine has 4 feet, of which 2 are covered with rubber to prevent slipping.

To increase security, the machine is available with a Kensington lock slot, preventing unauthorized movement.

The bottom of the machine has 4 feet, of which 2 are covered with rubber to prevent slipping.

Various upgrade possibilities

Components inside the case of Asus S500MC are arranged in an airy space, ensuring effective airflow and heat dissipation. The frame contains components that are made of the thick, solid, true quality of a movement from a big brand. However, Asus’ wiring is not very neat and beautiful, especially unused power cords and cables connecting the front I/O ports.

Asus proved to be very “playable” when pre-installed for S500MC 256GB SSD standard M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0. This is a Western Digital SN350 Green drive with NAND TLC and according to the manufacturer’s specifications, its maximum sequential read speed is 2400MB/s, sequential write is 900MB/s, random read 160K IOPS, random write 150K IOPS, 40TBW endurance. With a PCIe SSD, the S500MC’s startup and application opening speed promise to be very agile.

The upgradeability of the Asus S500MC is quite rich with 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 slot for adding discrete graphics cards, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1 slots for adding expansion cards, and 4 x SATA 6.0Gb/s ports, available waiting bays to install both a 3.5″ HDD or a 2.5″ SSD.

The machine has 2 RAM slots, of which 1 is empty for users to upgrade to up to 64GB of DDR4 Dual Channel 3200 MHz RAM.

However, the RAM slot is empty and the PCIe slots are blocked by the hard drive and optical drive area, so upgrading is not easy, you will need to remove all these bays.

Asus guarantees the use of 100% solid capacitors on the motherboard of Asus S500MC to make the product more stable, withstand a lot of fluctuations and generate less heat than ordinary capacitors.

Occupying the largest area in the case is a 300W power supply that can be increased to 350W in 30 seconds OEM by Ac Bel.

The machine also has a built-in Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 security chip to improve security and ensure compatibility with Windows 11.

S500MC comes with a set of Asus wired keyboards and a mouse, designed in a traditional style. The mouse has a moderate size, hugs the hand, symmetrical design suitable for both right- and left-handed people. 2 mouse buttons have good bounce, easy to manipulate.

Meanwhile, the keyboard is made in Full-size format, with a Numpad key cluster for convenient data entry. The keys have a good bounce, moderate travel brings a pleasant typing feeling.

where can you get a Asus S500MC online

ASUS S500MC Small Form Factor Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-11700, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, TPM 2.0, Windows 11 Home, Black, with an Optical Drive, S500MC-DH704: Buy it now

Fast performance, smooth running, cool

The Asus S500MC version that I use in this article has a suggested price of $600. At this price, the machine is equipped with specific configurations including:

– CPU Intel Core i5-11400 Processor (12M Cache, 2.6GHz, Turbo Boots up to 4.4GHz, 6 cores, 12 threads)

– Intel B560 Chipset

– Intel UHD Graphics 730″ instant graphics card

– RAM 8GB DDR4 U-DIMM 3200 MHz

– 256GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD

– WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.2

– Power 300W

– Windows 11 operating system

In this configuration, the most valuable point is the PCIe SSD and WiFi 6 card next to the 11th generation Core i5 Rocket Lake chip. The availability of M.2 PCIe SSD and WiFi 6/Bluetooth card shows the “playability” of Asus when most competitors in the segment only use HDD and WiFi 4 cards.

Intel Core i5-11400 Rocket Lake CPU is powerful enough with 6 cores 12 threads, a 2.6 GHz base clock, and can boost Turbo Boost to 4.4 GHz. This is a chip used in many net game systems, providing impressive performance, and can even meet heavy tasks such as editing and rendering. The retail price of the i5-11400 itself has reached about $200, accounting for more than 1/3 of the machine’s value.

In fact, with the usual office tasks that I use such as browsing the web with about 10 tabs, and opening Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and LightRoom in parallel, the configuration of the Asus S500MC is somewhat “redundant”. The machine responds very quickly and smoothly. Of course, the amount of 8GB RAM is not too abundant, so if you have multitasking needs, you should install another 8GB RAM stick for about $40, forming a 16GB RAM Dual Channel system to be able to multitask comfortably.

Even with only Intel UHD Graphics 730 instant graphics card, you can fully entertain with light games like League of Legends or Fifa Online 4 at moderate graphics settings, Full HD resolution.

The whole case uses a CPU cooling fan and an 80mm fan to push hot air on the back and with a moderate configuration, mainly heat comes from the CPU, so the temperature is completely cool. The advantage of this system is that the operation is very quiet, even when running at full capacity, there is no noise, so it is not uncomfortable in the bedroom.

If you need even more performance, the Asus S500MC also has the option of up to Intel Core i7-11700 8-core 16-thread processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX3060 discrete graphics card.

Summary

From what is shown, it can be seen that the Asus S500MC is a desktop model worth considering for individual users and households looking for a compact desktop model, quiet operation, and moderate performance requirements power. The machine responds well to today’s popular jobs and can play some popular online games. With this configuration, users have many options to upgrade such as adding more RAM or adding an HDD to increase storage capacity, thereby better responding to heavy tasks such as image processing and video editing.

Advantages:

+ Compact design, modern design

+ Port to connect peripherals, output a variety of images

+ Available PCIe SSD, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2

+ Performance is good for office tasks, powerful Intel Core i5 11400 processor

+ Quiet, cool operation

+ Good quality keyboard and mouse

Limit:

– It is not convenient to disassemble and upgrade the machine

– Still using many USB 2.0 ports