It seems odd that the 320GB 7200RPM drive is highlighted as if it is superior, when the 500GB drive likely costs more (based on a glance at newegg momentus prices).

As always, great review! If my parents need a new desktop in the next few years I'll probably point them towards the ASUS machine. Impressive idle power consumption..

Also: small typo in "Screen & Peripherals: Asus EeeTop ET2203" (page 4) paragraph 1, "The webcam is a 1.0mp model, but mes" => "manages"?

Would it be asking too much for someone to mount the dang thing on a stand? We don't have monitors just plopped on the desk like that--why should they be when there is a computer attached to them?

I don't think the imacs are that revolutionary or anything but they look a billion times better/normal.

Interesting to see what these companies come up with though.

visual appeal is always personal but I disagree strongly. lived for a month with the Asus and have to say i was very pleased with just about every aspect, including looks. It really loooks very cool. The latest iMacs look slightly 50s in comparison, still appealing and clean, but not "better" in any way except the slot loading optical drive on the iMac, which is more convenient to use than the slide out notebook type on the Asus.

Thanks for this review. I was wondering where the current state of the art PC all-in-ones were at. Judging from the review it seems they are catching up to the iMacs pretty fast. I guess they still need to work on acoustics and thermals at high load, bigger screens and a little better components (like the optical drive tray).

The Asus seems like it would be a nifty little office pc though.

Another couple of years and PC AIO's should be in the same league as today's iMacs.

i fail to see why the ASUS one comes with 4GB and 32-bit OS

I think I generally agree with your tastes Mike, but the Asus looks like a cheap plastic AIO trying to look like an imac with a bazillion garish stickers. Like a riced Hyundai Tiberon with type R stickers. No offense to Hyundai Tiberon owners.

The pictures don't do it justice unfortunately. IRL, it's a very attractive machine. As for the stickers, well I'm sure there's a tool you can buy to remove them.