ASUS’s take of the small form factor PC has a purpose. With the ability to house two storage systems in its small frame, it aims to be located smack dab in the centre of your home theatre system. In essence, the VivoPC wants to be a media hub, a Home Theatre PC if you will.

Smaller Than Most, Bigger Than Some

If there is one word that can be used to describe the VivoPC, it would be ‘compact’. The overall design of the VivoPC is pretty simplistic. In terms of size, the VivoPC is very much bigger than the other small form factor PC we had a few months ago, the MSI Cubi, thout it is still a highly portable thing.

Tiered Components

The components on the VivoPC is dependent on which model you’re looking at. For our review, we have the VM62N, which is the best model that ASUS has to offer. This model comes with an Intel Core i5-4210U processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 820M graphics card. The selling point of the VivoPC is the DualBay, which allows you to install either two 2.5-inch drives or a single 3.5-inch drive.

One Stop Media Hub

My experience on the VivoPC is, for the most part, smooth sailing. It does have a slow boot up, but other than that, there aren’t many problems with it. It’s also really generous with USB ports – 4 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports; you could use those to further expand on storage space with external hard drives. Due to a lack of 4K videos and a 4K monitor, I am unable to test whether or not the VivoPC could put up with the strain of playing 4K content as advertised, but I can safely say that it is able to output 2K content without a fuss. My only major problem with the VivoPC is the power button’s placement. Putting it at the back of the device where all the ports are is a curious decision, and would have been much more convenient if it was located at the front, or towards the sides of the PC instead.

Entertainment In One Place

If you’re looking for a PC for the living room, the VivoPC is an option to consider. Its potential storage capacity and performance makes it an ideal media archive for the entire family.

Dimensions : 190 x 190 x 56.2 mm

Weight : 1.2kg

Processor : Intel Core i5-4210U Processor

Memory : 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz

Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 820M 1GB, Intel HD Graphics 4400

Connectivity : 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac,

Bluetooth 4.0Ports : 4x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI, RJ45 LAN, DC-in, Optical S/PDIF out, DisplayPort, 2x Audio Jacks

Benchmarks:

PCMark 8 Home: 2063

PCMark 8 Creative: 1968

PCMark 8 Work: 2483

Value 8

Performance 8

Features 9

Design 8

Usability 8

Total Score 8.2

Verdict: A media library for the living room.

Byline: Sia Zhen Ning