Customer Ratings & Reviews

KEY SPECS AND FEATURES CPU: i5-13400 (10 Cores / 16 Threads) 8GB 3200MHz DDR4 RAM 512GB Gen 4 x 4 nVME SSD Smart Card Reader / SD / MCC Reader PS/2 Ports (Yes, for real) Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 Card with External Antennas NO USB-C Connections USB Keyboard and Mouse Included INITIAL SET-UP Unlike my other Asus computers, initial set-up and updates did not go smoothly. Initial start-up and configuration went without issue and the computer started up and was running in no time. Browsing through the list of installed apps was a pleasant surprise as there is very little bloatware. Thank you, Asus, that is a welcome addition. Unfortunately, after initial start-up things went downhill before they got better. Windows update had several pending updates, including an Asus firmware update. That’s when things started going south. The firmware update triggered an error in my SSD configuration noting that it needed to be installed in a RAID configuration in the Bios. It was. I rebooted. Same error. Changed to AHCI. Same error. After a couple of reboots … BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). The PC failed to start entirely and went into diagnostic mode. Luckily, whatever was hanging it up, fixed itself, but not after many tense moments and a bunch of troubleshooting. After this initial headache, the computer has not experienced similar issues since. USE This is computer meant to be set-up, installed in an office, and never thought about again. It is quiet and unobtrusive. Even using nearly 100% available CPU resources, the Asus never got overly loud or obnoxious. However, that 100% CPU utilization was only for a brief time. There are no chassis or exhaust fans in the case, so repeated heavy use would most likely generate enough heat to either make the machine overly loud or thermal throttle. UPGRADEABILITY I would rate the Asus a solid D- in upgradeability. For starters, as others have noted, it ships with an anemic 300W power supply. That severely limits the ability to add an aftermarket GPU to the PC. Those wanting a discrete GPU will likely need to pursue something like a low power Quadro card, or several generations old discrete graphics card. The case has a popout on the front for what appears the ability to add a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. It even has the needed 5.25-inch opening in the chassis. However, there is no way to get that drive to fit without MAJOR surgery to front face plate. While it looks set up for a disc drive, the front cover will not accept one by default. To add insult to injury, not only will the front face not accept an optical disc drive, there are no available SATA headers on the motherboard to allow a data connection to said drive without buying an add-on card for a PCI-E slot. On a positive note, the buyer can easily swap to a larger nVME drive or even add a second nVME drive, as there are provisions on the motherboard for 2 drives. The machine will also accept up to 64GB of 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM. It ships with 8 and I upgraded it shortly after getting all the kinks ironed out to 16GB. The additional 8GB or RAM greatly reduced overall system resource utilization. CONCLUSION If you are looking for a well-built PC to serve as the starting point for a build and upgrade it, this is not the PC for you. You are severely limited in upgrade options unless those options can be hooked up via a USB connection. Oh, and those connections better support USB-A, as there are no USB-C connections and no Thunderbolt connections. USB-A in both 3.0 and 2.0. Ugh. For computing in an office environment or general home computing, this little Asus would be hard to beat. Even though short on RAM and SSD space, it is more than adequate for day-to-day tasks where it excels, asking for nothing in return. RECOMMENDED

My mom runs her own business from home and has been using a 9 year-old HP Pavilion with a 4th generation Intel Core i3 processor. Needless to say, it was time for an upgrade. Of course, she would never do this upgrade herself -- that what "tech support sons" are for, right? When I saw this new ExpertCenter D5 model from ASUS, I knew it would fit the bill perfectly. For word processing, email, and other day-to-day productivity tasks, this tower will provide more than enough power for years to come. It's certainly not meant for hardcore video editing or similarly heavy workloads, but it is loaded with modern hardware and connectivity that will be a big upgrade for business users stuck on older machines. === PROS === - This is a sleek-looking tower. ASUS has three sizes of towers, with this being their largest. But it is still very light and compact, measuring less than 7 inches wide and about 16 inches tall. - Build quality and cable management are very good for this mid-level tower. As you can see in the attached photo, cables are neatly zip-tied and there is plenty of room inside the case for proper airflow. - This model is equipped with an Intel i5-13400 processor, which is an excellent mid-level processor with ample power for virtually any productivity task. - There are plenty of modern and legacy ports included. The front has 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 2x USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a headphone jack, and a microphone-in jack. There is also an SD card reader and event a smart card reader for government and military personnel with Common Access Cards or similar. The rear has an ethernet port (1 Gigabit), 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x VGA, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x PS/2 (old-school mouse and keyboard ports), 3x audio jacks (mic in, line in, and line out), 2x USB-2.0 Type-A, and 2x USB 3.2 Type-A. - I was amazed at how quick and easy it was to set up this machine. With most pre-builts, I have to spend at least an hour removing bloatware, declining software or anti-virus trials, and agreeing to countless "terms of service" pages. Not with this computer. ASUS has left out almost all the bloatware and trials -- the only potential exception being the "MyASUS" app which requires an ASUS account for product registration and driver updates. - The ExpertCenter D5 has a built-in Wi-Fi 6 card and includes an external antenna, allowing for maximum signal strength. I ran a few speed tests and saw results of over 750 Mbps download on my 1 Gbps internet plan. - The machine is whisper-quiet. Even under the relatively heavy loads of installing software and performing updates, the CPU fan and power supply fan are barely audible. - The motherboard has some flexibility for upgrades. There is a second M.2 slot for an additional SSD as well as a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot. There are also two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots for things like sound cards, networking cards, and USB port expansions. I also see at least two SATA 6 Gbps ports, but I'm not sure if there is anywhere inside the case to mount 2.5" SSDs. === CONS === - ASUS has included two sticks of relatively fast DDR4 RAM (3200 MHz), but only 8GB total (2x 4GB sticks). This is probably enough for most users, but I wish they would have future-proofed the machine by including a minimum of 16GB. Luckily, this is a pretty cheap upgrade. - Amazingly, there is not a single USB-C port anywhere on the system -- another hit towards future-proofing. Yes, USB-C adapters are cheap and readily available, but this is the first machine in several years that I've seen without a USB-C port. - The 300W power supply will limit the upgradability of the PC. You're probably not going to be able to add a high-end GPU. - There is contradictory information on the actual specs of this model (D500TEC-I5512). Originally, the Best Buy listing page said that this machine came with Windows 10 Pro. However, it actually includes Windows 11 Home (it looks like the listing has finally been corrected). Additionally, some product images on both the Best Buy listing and the ASUS website show that this model includes an optical drive, but it does not. As such, you'll want to pay close attention to the reviews and the product listing so you can make an informed decision. As of today, it appears that the specs and features on the Best Buy listing are correct. === OVERALL === I set up this PC for my mom about a week ago and she has been using it to run her business ever since. It is a massive upgrade over her old system and I'm confident that it will last at least another 5+ years based on her daily workflow of emails, web browsing, word processing, and Zoom calls. It is an excellent workstation for these types of business uses. There are a few questionable design choices, such as the measly 8GB of RAM and the lack of USB-C ports, but these are fairly minor issues. Power users who need a dedicated GPU and maximum upgradability will want to look elsewhere. But for anyone else in need of a day-to-day productivity/office PC, the ExpertCenter D5 is a great choice.

People are always computing on-the-go, but a solid tower computer is indeed a beautiful thing to have! always great to have a tower at home or office and be able to use everything at once and easily upgrade. This ASUS Desktop is an excellent package for those wanting the option. The tower boasts an intel i7 processor, 16 GB fast memory and 2 TB SSD storage. So, I know there are lots of laptops with a similar configuration, but the desktop has three expansion slots, two USB 2, two USB 3, display port, HDMI and cat6 ethernet connection on the back. Also has old school keyboard and mouse connectors, and a vga !!! On the front you'll find a smartcard, sc/mmc/ms reader, two usb 2.0, two usb 3.0, mic and earphone jacks. Also a slot for dvd/cd player/writer on the front so you can still use and create on disc media. In other words, you are connected with this machine both current and past, which is helpful when you have data from a while back and want to read it! The box comes with the tower, plus basic wired mouse and wired keyboard. While I will probably use wireless connections, I like having wired versions around for those unfortunate times when batteries are unavailable.... So, basically, add your own monitor(s) and you are ready to go. the machine comes with basic intel graphic card, but as I mentioned before, it has three open slots so you can easily upgrade the video if you are a heavy gamer or doing a lot of intense graphic work. I watched some HD streaming shows, while having browser, spreadsheet and databases open and never a blip! I work from home, run a ranch and do some nonprofit work, so I often have dozens of things going on at one time. In the house, the machine is on the floor under the desk. Very quiet and has not really generated heat. Cannot hear a fan, so that is good. The chassis is lightweight which is another bonus.

When you’re looking for a no-frills desktop system that has good speed and expandability, the ASUS ExpertCenter D5 will fit the bill. Out of the box it’s very usable for lots of productivity and light graphics work. When I say light, I mean really light or web app light. You only get the integrated graphics with this unit. Fortunately the board has an i5-13400 processor which is plenty fast for practically everything including games once you add a graphics card. This is a pretty clean installation since it was probably intended for business use. There’s no bloatware included with the install and there’s really not so many drivers to install since everything is directly supported by Windows 11. You get a grip of USB 3.2 Gen1 ports and a few USB 2.0 ports. I guess since the chipset includes the USB 2.0 ports for free it’s not really adding much to include them. The sad part of this unit is that it doesn’t include USBC, nor is there a way to add USBC from the board. You do have the ability to add USBC via one of the PCIe ports. UPGRADES: You can upgrade the RAM if you remove the 2x4G sticks. You can also add a second NVMe card, and both slots support double sided cards. The WiFi card is AX (wifi6) so you probably won’t want to upgrade this chip but if you really had to, you can! Also, a full size 16x slot with 16 lanes is unpopulated so you can add a graphics card. UNFORTUNATELY, you would need to upgrade the power supply since it’s only 300w and has NO 8/6 pin graphics card power connectors, nor is there any way to add some to this power supply. 4 SATA3 and there are pin outs for more USB 2 connectors. It’s surprisingly quiet, even under load. I did a benchmark on the 10 core, 16 thread CPU: I got 24062 Passmark which is pretty respectable and matches a Core i9-11900K. Overall it’s a great computer for the price with upgradability that makes it a good deal.

This PC is designed to work well for those seeking a productivity workhorse or casual gaming. It's reasonable for its specs and it strikes a good balance between work and fun. The processor that this system is built on is the 13th Gen Core Intel i5-13400. It was designed to be power-efficient and fast for productivity. This CPU paired with the 8GB of RAM that comes pre-installed makes for a lag-free user experience. The setup of the PC was easy. As is the case with other Windows setups, the user is taken through a series of steps to get the system up and running. One of the screens states that it can take up to 30 minutes for the initial system startup to finish, which is accurate. Unfortunately, once the initial setup is complete, there are still more updates to be done from the Windows Update Center. All in all, I think it took me approximately an hour from start to finish to get everything ready to roll on this PC. One of the first things I noticed about this machine was how quiet it was. I never noticed a bunch of fan noise -- even when it was going through its updates. In addition to that, I never noticed an abundance of heat coming from the PC. The tower comes with a keyboard and mouse -- both are wired. They work well but are just a standard beginner-level keyboard and mouse. I plan on swapping keyboards at my earliest convenience. I didn't have any issues connecting the PC to my WiFi network. After I selected the proper network and entered the password, the computer connected and stayed connected. The wireless antennae that is included has a unique design. I love that the base of it is magnetized so it can adhere to the case of the PC. I also like that there were easy access ports on the front of the case. I like using the ports on the back of a desktop like this for items that should be permanently attached and leaving front-facing ports available for quick-connect items. I did think it was odd that the PC did not come with a cable for an A/V connection (i.e. HDMI or DisplayPort). Luckily, I had a spare HDMI cable available to use. As far as its performance goes, I was pleased with how quickly the system seemed to move for me. I didn't see the system stutter at all when I requested an action and when I ran benchmark tests, the system didn't seem too strained. I used Geekbench 6 and got a single-core performance score of 2354 and a multi-core performance score of 9623. These scores place the system squarely in the mid-range PC category. I really didn't have many issues running this PC. I do think it's best used for productivity tasks and not so much for gaming. It can handle some games, but it could choke under the weight of more advanced games that are available today.

I’ve been using the Asus Expert Center D500 as my everyday work computer, for personal productivity and remote work. Working with different Microsoft Office Applications, programming personal projects, Internet browsing and consuming media, has been great in general, no major issues at all. Using different communication apps has also been done without much trouble. I had a gaming Asus PC that I used as a work machine, and this one has taken that role, so I can leave the gaming PC for high-end graphics work and games. It is very quiet, I’d only hear the fans running if I placed the PC on my desk near me, so if I am in the mood for minimal noise, for sure this helps. Overall, for Home Office and regular Office use or just Personal use, I think this machine will suit most of your Productivity needs. - Pros: Wi-Fi adapter/antenna, fast Intel 13th generation CPU, fast PC overall. - Cons: No USB-C port, shared graphics/video memory. >> Hardware The Asus ExpertCenter D500 comes with a decent set of hardware features. It could be better though; for example, it lacks USB-C ports, which I find standard in any modern computer these days (I had to find a USB-A to USB-C cable to access my camera photos, for example.) Nevertheless, between the front and back panels, it has enough USB-A connectors I’d say. Here are some notes on a few of the components/ports/interfaces. Internals: - CPU: it has a recently released i5-13400 13th generation CPU that comes with 10 cores and 16 logical processors. I haven’t had any issues with the machine being slow or feeling sluggish, or the CPU going above 50% usage or the CPU fan going crazy. So far so good. - Graphics: integrated Intel UHD Graphics 730 with shared memory. I have the Asus D500 connected to a 34” curved monitor and I have been very happy with a resolution of 3440x1440 and refresh rates of 120Hz (also 60 Hz and 180Hz.) Check the CPU and Graphics details on the Intel website in case you are planning some more advanced monitor configuration. - RAM: only 8GB of RAM (2x4GB modules) at 3200 MHz, shared with video/graphics. I was expecting a single 8GB module; however, the two modules are better than a single one for dual-channel utilization. I might upgrade to two 8GB dual channel configuration, but so far things have been running with no issues (no perceived performance issues, if there are any.) - Wireless adapter: houses a Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160 MHz card, with gigabyte speeds, together with the Antenna, the speed and reception have been formidable. - Bluetooth: this is a must in everyday modern computers, the ability to connect wirelessly to Bluetooth devices, freeing you from having lots of cables around for peripherals. I am using this feature with my headphones for conferencing and might replace the mouse and keyboard that came in the package with Bluetooth versions. Back panel: - USB- ports: there are 4 connectors (with 2 being Super Speed), two of them I am using with the mouse and keyboard that came in the package. - Network: I haven’t used it yet, but for sure will be suitable for companies that prefer wired connectivity. - Audio: Standard three audio connectors, line-in, line-out and mic. I haven’t used them yet, but will attach a good set of speakers that for ambience music while working. - Video: One HDMI, one DP and one VGA port. I am still surprised this came with a VGA port, perhaps I am missing something in the target audience for this device, does anyone use VGA monitors anymore? Current port I am using: DP. - Wireless adapter/antenna: this is one of my favorite components, the antenna has a magnetic base which makes it easy, and fun, to attach it to the chassis or other metallic surface. I have it attached to the top of the case. Front panel - Multi-card reader: support for most common flash memory cards. I’ve already used this with some old SSD cards I had laying around. I don’t find myself using this too much, though, but nice to have it. - Audio: Two front panel connectors for headphones and microphones, since I mostly use Bluetooth headsets, I have yet to try them. - Smart Card reader: I don’t have use for this, but I guess if you run a corporation that relies on some form of smart card authentication, then this comes in very handy. - USB-A ports: 4 ports (2 Super Speed), similar to the ones on the back panel. I would have loved for a USB-C port to be available in the front panel, either to charge my phone, or connect my cameras directly to it without relying on a USB-A to USB-C cable. >> Software and Productivity Apps It comes with Windows 11 Home, so there is no support for virtual machines through Windows. Setup and configuration were easy. It comes with Asus Business Manager software, targeted towards small businesses or even multiple users within the household. For conferencing purposes, you’d need to get your own camera and microphone and headphones/speakers. As my everyday computer, I use it mostly for my personal (including some private business) productivity needs. What I usually do any day, is some coding for personal apps, read/reply emails, write Word docs (plenty of them), deal with Excel spreadsheets, create PowerPoint presentations (not so frequent), get into conference with other people, browse the news, watch videos, etc. I’ve been able to do all of that on the Asus ExpertCenter D500, I like having a PC on my desk that forces me to sit down and get down to business. >> Picture and Video I don’t expect to be playing games or doing heavy design work on this computer, I have a gaming PC for that, so I am not too worried about having this low-end graphics device. Putting aside the heavy-demanding GPU applications, I can say the image and video quality is great. I have a 34” curved monitor where the videos and images look great at a 3440x1440 resolution. I am used to having multiple applications on the same screen at once, and this machine hasn’t disappointed. I can be watching something on the left, and writing my compositions in Word on the right, or doing some debugging on my software development applications using side-by-side windows. >> Performance I see that most of the time the RAM to be above 90% utilization when running multiple applications; for example, Office apps and Web browsers. It even got as high as 96% when I added Xbox Gaming (well I won’t be playing any of my favorite games on this PC). Perhaps one of the attributes of this machine is that given its specs, it won’t allow you to play GPU intensive games, so you are left with devoting your time to work (or play less GPU demanding games.) In addition, I’ve found that for small projects in VS Code this is more than enough. One thing that I’ve noticed is that the Disk light on the front panel lights up frequently enough to perhaps wonder if content in the RAM is being moved to/from disk; inspecting with resource monitor tools, I can see the pagefile being accessed frequently enough to perhaps wonder if adding more RAM would help here. One last thing, I was composing a picture using Microsoft Paint, and I found the dragging of selected areas to be very sluggish, well, this seems expected anyways. As I mentioned earlier, overall, for Home Office and regular Office use or just Personal use this machine I think will suit most of your Productivity needs.

After several days of use, the bottom line is that this is a very nice computer. It is very fast in spite of having only 8 GB of memory. The memory can be upgraded if desired. There are two memory stick slots, and the machine comes with a 4 GB stick of 3200 Mhz DDR 4 in each slot. To increase the memory, these would have to be replaced. With only two slots, there is no way to simply add to the 8 GB already there. But memory is inexpensive these days, so upgrading to 16 or 32 GB would not be a financial burden. Getting back to the computer itself, it is what I would call a smaller-size tower-case style, and it is well equipped, including for legacy devices. There are three video connections, including VGA, DisplayPort, and HDMI. There are a total of eight USB ports, four on the front and four on the back. Half of these on each side are USB-2 while the other half are USB-3 (with the blue internal tab). There is the full complement of sound ports for speakers, microphones, line-in and out, and so forth. There is an ethernet port, and, as a throwback, there are two PS-2 ports that harken back to the days when you would connect your mouse and keyboard here. So get your favorite mouse from yesteryear out of the closet and hook it up. It can have a new life. Finally, while none were present, there are openings for older parallel and serial ports if you wanted to add either or both. The front panel, in addition to the aforementioned USB ports, also has a microphone jack, a headphone jack, and two memory card reader slots, one labeled SmartCard and the other labeled SD/MMC/MS, so you should be good to go no matter what type of card you have or want to read the contents of. The computer comes with a wired USB keyboard and a wired USB optical mouse, and both look good and work fine. There is also a wireless network antenna that has two connections that screw onto two ports on the rear of the machine similar to a cable-TV coaxial cable connection. These ports sit in one of the four expansion-card access slots, and it’s actually a dummy slot as there is no provision on the motherboard for an add-in card for that slot. But there are three other available expansion slots if you should want to add more USB ports, a sound card, or whatever. Standard internals include a 500 GB solid-state hard drive along with the above-mentioned 8 GB of memory. No monitor is included, so you will have to supply one yourself. No speakers are included, either, so that’s up to you as well. As is common nowadays with Windows PCs (the machine comes with Windows 11 pre-installed), initial setup means simply connecting all of the peripherals, connecting the power cord, turning it on, and going through the guided setup process. After less than 15 minutes, you are up and running. I have used it now for several days for mostly web surfing and spreadsheet and document preparation, and it has performed well. As I noted at the outset, at this price point, this is a very nice computer and would work well for many purposes. I will be turning this one over to my daughter who will be using it in her work-from-home environment as a paralegal.

With how far laptops have progressed over the years, I find that the desktop personal computer has fallen out of favor for a lot of people; I believe they've become a bit niche in purpose - oftentimes for those who need an incredible amount of processing/graphical power, operating as a business-related PC, and for your go-to computer at home. I'm using the ASUS ExpertCenter D500 (i5-13400) as an available-to-use PC in "Grandma's" house in the little office nook; it honestly felt like I was setting up a business center in a hotel. I'd say this is probably overkill for this purpose, given that it's capable of so much more, but it provides both adults and children a fast and capable PC for web browsing, low-intensity video games, basic Microsoft Office & Google Suite work, etc. I set up multiple profiles so at least we can provide some separation of preferences between users and this PC can easily handle all of that. Oftentimes with a communal PCs, you end up getting a glacially-paced, CPU hog. The ExpertCenter D500 has not been an issue. It's important to note that I've requested someone restart the PC once a week or so to ensure Grandma never has to deal with any issues. Design-wise, this PC is actually pretty sleek and inoffensive. It can sit off to the side somewhere or even on top of a counter without being an eyesore. At some point during the 2000's, the design of PCs started to get bananas with lights and unnecessary pizazz but I'm glad that aesthetic is geared more towards intense gaming systems. Some components I found to be a bit disappointing are the peripherals that come with the PC - the mouse and keyboard. Now, they will definitely suffice but something about cords to connect them and the design are severely antiquated and, honestly, somewhat unacceptable in 2023. It felt a little like unveiling peripherals that came with my Gateway from days of yore. That being said, this PC is equipped with B/T 5.0 to be able to connect wireless peripherals. Another component that I wish this machine had were standard USB-C ports, which are becoming increasingly standard for chargers and data transfer cables. Fortunately, it does come with 3 x USB-A 3.2 and 4 x USB-A 2.0 ports, which is sufficient but not ideal. I am not expecting to make major upgrades to this system and am hoping to at least get a good 5-7 years out of this machine. I think it's important to note that I enjoy staying up-to-date with tech but since this is intended for one-off use for the nieces and nephews and whomever may need a computer while at my Mother's house. The memory on this machine comes standard with 8GB of DDR4 RAM, which is (once again) sufficient, but will probably need to be changed out in a few years to handle a bit more. A wish would've been to have 16GB as a minimum to plan for the coming years but it's not a priority with the intended purpose that I have, at least for now. The ExpertCenter D500 is equipped with a 300W power supply, which is very standard but I won't expect to be making any major upgrades to the graphics card. Overall, for a "family computer" the ASUS ExpertCenter D500 i5 13400 is a great option.

The ASUS desktop is a powerful workstation computer that’s well suited for productivity. The desktop has more than enough processing power to handle my photo and video editing needs. I found the computer to be speedy and responsive. I do think it’s unfortunate that the computer only comes with 500GB of storage, but there is a 2nd NVME slot on the motherboard that should allow me to expand that. There are also plenty of ports that would allow me to hookup an external hard drive for some extra storage. I use a lot of flash drives in my workflow, and the front panel is loaded with lots of easy to reach ports. It also has a full-size SD card slot and a smart card reader. This particular model does not come with an optical drive (that’s a DVD, CD, and/or Blu-Ray drive - most modern computers don’t come with these anymore). I’m not a huge fan of the external Wi-Fi antenna that comes with this computer. It’s connected via two screw-in connections and can mount to the top of the computer case magnetically. I’m not a fan of the wires trailing from the antenna or the fact that the antenna is just sitting up top where anything can bump into it. This setup is practically asking your cat to get up to mischief with it. That being said, the signal strength is great, and it picks up my Wi-Fi signal from the opposite side of the house without issue.

TLDR: a tad bit underwhelming, but still a good workhorse. Pros: > Good CPU… The i5-13400 is no slouch and will get you through most/if not all CPU-bound workloads. > Lightweight desktop tower. Not a small form factor desktop, but for a tower this thing is pretty light and is easy to move around if you need to do so. > Case ports are good. >>> On the front panel, there are 4 USB type A ports (appears to be 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 & 2x USB 2 ports) along with a smart card reader, SD card reader, 3.5mm audio, and 3.5mm microphone ports. >>> On the backside you’ll find PS2 ports for mouse & keyboard, VGA, HDMI & DisplayPort (using integrated graphics from the i5-13400 CPU), 4 USB type A ports (appears to be 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 & 2x USB 2 ports), gigabit ethernet, and 3.5mm headphone & 3.5mm microphone ports. > OS image comes pretty clean with little to no bloat that i was aware of. There was some Asus software to help with keeping drivers/utilities up to date. For me personally, the less the better 🙂Setup was pretty quick and took less than 5 mins. What took long was getting the Windows updates after initial setup, but this is true for any machine. > Is wireless with Wi-Fi 6 & Bluetooth. Enjoying some pretty good speeds with my mesh Wi-Fi 7 router. The additional antenna that comes with this case is magnetic also, making it easy to mount anywhere along the case. > Thermals seem to be pretty decent. Running synthetic benchmarks & stress tests for elongated sessions yielded peak temps around 82°c. For sure this thing will not be used for any gaming or GPU expensive workloads as it only has integrated graphics, so that’ll help limit any intensive type workloads that may render high temps. Additionally, the fans were pretty quiet 🙂 Cons: > Only comes with a 512GB SSD. Would’ve like to see at least a 1TB SSD in this. I happen to have a handful of 2TB SSDs, so upgraded that a few days after setting up Windows (had to reinstall Windows again but totally worth it for more space). Please note, there is an additional M.2 slot for to populate another SSD! > 8GB of ram… pretty lackluster… considering this is a DDR4 system, you’d think the ram would be cheaper than DDR5 and it’d come with at least 16GB. A lot of my workloads require at least 32GB of RAM, so 8GB just won’t cut it. I happen to also have a handful of DDR4 RAM and upgraded this right off the bat to 32GB (using 2x 16GB 3600MT/s sticks). One thing to note is that the BIOS does not provide any settings for enabling XMP… So for me, that meant my 32GB sticks of RAM were stuck at the base DDR4 2132MT/s speeds… If you happen to be upgrading the RAM, ensure that you are getting JEDEC compliant sticks wherein you won’t need BIOS settings and the speeds will automatically be set to the intended speeds. This is probably the biggest trigger for me considering Asus makes MOBOs and they simply opted out of adding any XMP settings for the MOBO this machine comes with… > There appears to be 2 free/unused SATA power connectors from the PSU & multiple SATA connections from the MOBO however the drive cages appears to have no mounting screws??? Was intending to use this as a server and put in some HDDs however that doesn’t seem possible unless i jerryrig it… Another big disappointment… Overall, if you can catch this on a discount, I would say go for it… For the base price, it comes with pretty minimal drive space & RAM, which is expected in this price range of products… It’s not a bad machine, but it’s severely lacking upgrade options from the get go…

Well, not what I was expecting. Typically Commercial Desktops or Workstations have options for upgradability and can make some good Home Media PC’s too. Based on the ASUS product page for the D500TC, I was hoping the D500TEC would have the same tower specs since they are identical, but it appears the internal casing is a bit different. The dummy plate for an optical drive appears to be for a slim drive that would be found in a laptop, however, there isn’t a way to secure it inside the case. For HDD and Optical drives there may be a kit, but I haven’t found anything on ASUS webpage. As is, there is expansion for a PCI-E x16, not sure if it is 3.0 or 4.0, and two PCI x1 bays. The power supply is 300W, so too small to run anything that would be PCI x16 3.0/4.0. According to the ASUS webpage for the D500TC it is a 4.0, but who’s to say if it is the same. I’m guessing the BestBuy description was copied from an older model, as I don’t consider a mid tower case to be “ultracompact, flexible, and sleek”. Features section says Windows 11 Pro, and the specs page says Windows 10 Pro. It shipped with Windows 11 Home. The specs page also states a USB-C port, but there isn’t one on here. There are 4 USB (2x3.x and 2x 2.0) on the front and the same configuration on the back. You have two legacy PS/2 ports for a mouse and keyboard, VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort connections. Mic, Line Out, and Line In, and Ethernet complete the connections. The RAM is DDR4 3200 with 2 x 4GB and a 512GB NVME. There are only the 2 slots for RAM and the single M.2 Slot for storage. If just wanting to add storage, the PCIx16 slot can be used with an adapter to add another NVME. The i5-13400 is a great processor and can handle quite a bit, the stock GPU not so much, but as a workstation its not a bad option. It is designed for commercial or business use, so it will handle quite a bit you can throw at it from that standpoint. 8GB of RAM is a little anemic, 16GB would be better if running a lot of spreadsheets or if just using it to power a display board. I am a little disappointed in not being able to upgrade the storage and add an optical drive; unless ASUS sells an upgrade kit. Also disappointed in the incorrect specs listed. Hopefully my review helps you before you purchase. I can recommend the desktop as long as you understand these limitations and expectations.

The processor is way more than what most might need in a production environment, but it's always nice to have more than you need than need more...and the other components leave you needing more. First is the bad choice of using the bare minimum budge PSU. This seems to happen mainly with bigger company. The larger they are, the more they skimp on quality parts. 300w used to be decent, but with the power draw from every peripheral you put in, 500 should be the minimum. Examining the case, I haven't had a case that had the PSU above the motherboard in a very long time. Most are putting the PSU at the bottom to draw cool air and others also place a heat shield to isolate the heat from the PSU. This case seriously looks like it was an overstock of cases from the early 2k's. 8GB RAM is what 4GB was back when cases like these were more mainstream. My browsers alone take 2-4 GB of memory because I need lots of tabs open. So, unless you're production is just running with spreadsheets or lowkey work, 8 is pitiful. If they had chosen 1 8GB stick then you could just supplement it with another 8 and have enough to do almost anything. But 2x4GB is installed meaning you'll have to toss both sticks to hit 16GB. The positive is that 512GB NVME is enough for most tasks also and it's pretty easy to add another NVME if needed There's a mounting bolt that can be moved to accommodate different size NVME drives but they didn't include a stand off or screw, you'll have to remember to get them on your own. There's also 4 SATA ports to add more internal drives and connectors to the PSU to power them. If you get this desktop I suggest you get more RAM if nothing else. Asus make some pretty good pre-builts, but this one isn't one of them.

ASUS makes excellent computers this is my second ASUS Desktop my first one lasted 14 years during which time it never slept. My only disappoint with this one is the case won't accept an internal Optical Drive, so I purchased a ASUS external Optical Drive which so far functions as well as any internal Optical drive. You can't go wrong with ASUS Computers

Excellent Choice for a great price value, powerful desktop.

Summary: A reasonable system for the right audience (administrative work). But, it's almost as easy to say who the ASUS ExpertCenter D500TE Desktop core I5-12400 8Gb is NOT for as it is who it IS for. NOT for hard core gamers, upgraders, or graphics enthusiasts. It IS for those that want a turn key, reliable, snappy (ish) computer for the more mundane tasks of web browsing, report writing and bill paying. In short, it's a family computer that doesn't even pretend to be exciting. Your parent's PC. Or maybe your work PC if you are at a desk job. Sometimes reliable and budget friendly is enough. Pros: - A decent processor. The 13th Gen Intel Core i5-13400 2.50 Ghz , 4.6 turbo, is well regarded even in the budget conscious gaming community. 10 cores (6 performance) and 16 threads, this is NOT holding you back on this computer. BTW, to be really clear, a good processor alone does NOT make this a good gaming machine. - Snappy feeling. Almost old school now, but the internal drive is a fast NVME, with a measured (Blackmagic) 1684 MB/s write 3286 MB/s read so the system starts fast and feels responsive (most of the time, until it hits a RAM limit). - It is quiet. Making lemonade here, a weak 300 W power supply means not a lot of heat which means it doesn't make a lot of noise with its one fan. - It is lightweight for a tower. More lemonade, lack of beefy components leads to not much weight and easy to move around an office. I was surprised in fact at how lightweight. - Can drive multiple displays (not high res) and up to 4k at 60 Hz. This review was with a LG HDR 4k, 3840x2160, 60 Hz connected via HDMI. Not sure why some people say that doesnt work. Works fine. - Set up was easy. It took an hour to reconfigure itself, but really only a few minutes of my attention and it was up and productive. - The included software was well chosen and the support software and plan also seemed reasonable. This is why you buy a preconfigured system versus something you Frankenstein together. - Blue tooth and WIFI seemed plenty fast and I had no issue hooking devices up. A Matter of Taste: - One could almost say the lack of any speakers is a budget conscious move, I just found it to be a pain when setting it up. Had dig in my closet to find a speaker to attach. - Included peripherals include USB keyboard and Mouse (was worried it would be PS2 considering the inclusion of those ports!), and a movable WIFI antenna. Don't remember the last time I saw one of those, but hey, it DOES improve on reception. The mouse and keyboard are really bare bones clackety, and you will want to replace for work efficiency, but for home? You might find it quaint. - More upgradable than a modern Mac, but thats a very low bar since Apple literally solders everything down in place. Meaning, yes, you can (and should!) upgrade the RAM and NVME storage relatively easily up to 64 Gb (not sure of the NVME limit but at least 1 gb). But that is really about it. The case design does not lend itself to installation of optical drives, or even a dedicated graphics card (without changing the power supply to something better). - 300 Watt power supply. This bares repeating, this will only power the computer as is. Mostly these days people aim for 600 if they want to add a graphics cards etc. But then you have to worry about upgrading the fan system etc. - About those graphics, I tried Photoshop on it. Technically it works, but was slow. So without a decent graphics card it is hard to recommend this for commercial photo or video editing. For casual use its okay. - More about those graphics, do I have to say, lack of dedicated video card means lack of 3D game play? The built in INTEL graphics makes for a miserable experience in 3D games. 2D games, fine. 3D games, no. If you don't know this, your children do. - I actually liked that the case wasn't a light show, but some may wish to upgrade to that. You can't. Or at least not without Christmas lights. Ho ho ho. - Windows 11, Home. Ignore the description that says Windows 11 Pro. It is not. I actually like Windows 11, but it is a known memory hog and that conflicts with the modest 8 gb Ram included. Cons: - 8 Gb Ram. Really? And insult to injury, only 2 Ram Slots. Standard in a lap top maybe, but not in a tower configuration (often see 4 slots). Oh and slow DDR4 Ram. But hey it's cheap. $40 and you are at 16 which I would consider minimum for this kind of configuration (Windows 11, shared graphics memory). - USB A, No C, JUST a lot of A (8 ports total, 4 slow, 4 not as slow). Even 'high speed' USB A maxes out at a theoretical 480 MB/s but when I measured was getting closer to 400. Blah. Again, so 2000's. You can hook up external drives, slow but steady, they will be fine for music and simple tasks, but slow for video editing. USB C really is standard for this decade, and in fact to offload my camera pics I had to get a USB C to USB A adapter cable. - Could you upgrade? Sort of maybe if you squint, but in the end would not be cost effective. It would be a great lesson in frustration and learning what one really needs for a gaming computer and to just buy what you need if you want to buy ASUS. Or at least this ASUS. More Words: The ASUS ExpertCenter D500TE Desktop core I5-12400 8Gb doesn't suffer from a personality conflict, it knows it is boring and proud of it. From the start when you unpack the old style black metal rectangle box with only USB A connectors you know you have landed back in your parent's day of computers. In fact, I did toy with instead of writing about 'pros' and 'cons', of listing observations by 'last decade' and 'this decade.' The majority of the ports are legacy. The design is legacy. The peripherals are legacy. But it works, so for the rest of the review I am going to focus on the people that might actually want to buy this computer. I am not going to belabor the point that ASUS stretches things when they describe this as a machine one can expand moving forward, implying this humble computer could one day be a gaming monster. Nope. I squashed that marketing hype in the 'matter of taste' and 'cons' section. Nope. Nope. Nope. It is not nor ever will be a good 3D gaming machine. Let's get back to it works. Easy to set up. Connected right away to my cloud account, set up the Microsoft office suite, and there I was not an hour after unboxing starting this review. It handled all my workstation tasks with ease and efficiency. Powerpoint, excel, just breezed a long. If I had numerous tabs open in the browser it did start to bog down, but increasing the memory to 16 gb for $40 took care of that. Really, do yourself a favor, consider that cost to be required. The ASUS specific software was helpful and not intrusive or impede my work flow. I didnt even mind the cheap keyboard, gave me a sense of nostalgia. Bluetooth and WIFI worked seamlessly with all my devices, no finagling required. Printers, headphones, keyboards, no problemo. And the movable antenna which I first took as 'cheap' actually enabled me to tune the wifi by pointing it vaguely in the direction of the router to be faster than my laptop. And as long as I didn't want to connect all my USB C external SSD hard drives and expect snappy performance, well, the lack of USB C also did not impact my work flow. It did work well with my home server, a synology DS 920+. It technically worked with Photoshop and Lightroom (which I use with my server), but would not be my first choice for that. At the suggested list price I am not going to call this a great 'value.' You could build one like it for pretty much the same price. But you wouldn't have the built in support, warranty, and straight out of the box it just works experience. For people that don't like to spend their time getting their computer to work, this is a good choice, maybe even a value choice. You could buy cheaper, but for the work place I think this may be the sweet spot for the average desk jockey. And btw, when we say it is not a gaming machine, not to worry parents and bosses, it plays wholesome 2D games like solitaire and mine sweeper just fine. I am tempted to give it 5 stars for being the little engine that could work station, but feel ASUS oversells the 'upgradable' card, and it really is not, so it earned 4 stars. Yes I recommend it to those that understand and appreciate its limits.

In this day and age, it really is hard to find a mid-priced decent desktop. Indeed, some might say that you really don't need one with laptops and a HDMI cable. If you need more processing power, then you might just opt for a premium and pricier desktop. However, I do believe that these mid-tier desktops have their place. The ASUS D500 desktop is an option to look at. Out of the box, I was happy with the build quality and aesthetic. ASUS is not trying to reinvent the wheel here. It is just meant to be a simple minimal barebones desktop for small business or home office use. It feels solid and looks like it belongs in an office. Now the page describes it as an ultracompact and sleek form factor which is a bit of a stretch. In terms of features, it really is minimal. Some of the pictures show an optical drive but it does not have one which I do believe is a miss in a small business or home office use computer. Not everyone is utilizing the cloud. Several small businesses including mine depend on good old CDs. You can make the argument that CDs are outdated and I should not knock it for that, but then there is a lack of USB-C which at this point is ubiquitous in technology and makes it feel outdated. The page lists it as having one so I looked for it but I could not find it. The stock photos and descriptions may just be recycled over and over again among several similar desktops. It does feature a decent processor which is better than what you could find in a laptop of similar price range. Performance was decent and it stayed pretty quiet and fast. I would not game on this but some light casual gaming is fine. The ability to upgrade components is severely limited due to its power supply but it is repairable. All in all, it is a simple desktop that if you are aware of its limitations, it should work for the small business/home office use.

This is really a nice desktop system – would have preferred a wireless keyboard and mouse but the wired ones provided are functional. So let's review the Pro and cons Size – Pro Or Con depends on what you need - it’s a standard tower desktop – if you have room for it it’s great if not look for a mini case or a laptop with a doc Functionality – Pro – this is a powerful box right out of the gate, that being said it’s not a power user PC by any means however for everyday applications it’s more than adequate – for long-term use for me I would look at a RAM upgrade but for most everyday application it would not be a problem. I taxed it pretty heavily running spreadsheets, streaming music videos, and background virus scans and didn’t see any major hiccups or glitches – I did notice some performance drop in the spreadsheet world when I added some video editing and content conversion but it was not as bad as I excepted. That being said I was pleased with the performance of the system so this one gets in the Pro column Esthetics – Pro or Con this one is up to you as well – it has a minimalist style so not a lot of outside bells and whistles to mention. It does have a very clean look and with just one section for USB, card readers, and headphone and mic jacks Ports – Pro – it’s a desktop so this should always be a pro – pretty much had every port you would need for video – HDMI and display port, 8 USD ports ( a pair standard and a pair highspeed both front and back), all the audio you need for a based system and even the old school mouse, keyboard and video connectors. Expandability – Mid – not pro or con – really could not accurately rate this as I did not actually try any upgrade or expandability however it seems to be a little lite in this category once the box was open – nothing major just thought there should have been a few more open slots. Onboard graphics – another Mid – nothing to write home about” but it did perform the basic tasks with use – no hardcore gaming but even through the video editing it performed well Connectivity – Con – and the only real one - it requires an external antenna – that said once it’s hooked up it performs as I would expect Bottomline – I really like the system – it’s performed above what I expected and does have the ability to be upgraded if necessary

The ASUS ExpertCenter D500 TEC tower computer is a very good all-around desktop for the everyday user. I was able to set it up very quickly and easily. I was surprised to see that it comes with a wired keyboard and a wired mouse, but for a business, that would make sense. I plugged them into 2 of the USB ports, plugged in the power brick and plugged in my personal monitor via HDMI cable and I was off and running! I will add a wireless keyboard and mouse at a later date. This PC has a plethora of available ports both on the front and back of the tower. There are USB-A style, HDMI, VGA, ethernet, memory card plus more, but no USB-C ports, which I find to be a big disappointment. I have been using this PC for email, internet "surfing," and as I said above, for my everyday tasks. I have a MacBook that I carry from room to room for my special projects - to have it at the ready when an idea strikes. But for the basic things, I find I would rather sit at my desk and be comfortable rather than trying to balance a laptop on my lap. This desktop PC is surprisingly lightweight compared to my desktops of the past, but that doesn't take away from its quality. It comes with Windows 11 Home, and the 13th generation Intel 6 core i5-13400 processor and what I can tell you is that it is blazing fast. I can open Netflix and play a movie in about 3 seconds - really that is crazy fast. Speaking of that, it was so easy to connect to my wifi wirelessly and since I set it up, it has not once dropped the connection. It also has 8GB of RAM which wouldn't seem like much, but for all of my needs, it is just fine. I generally have about 10 tabs open when surfing the web - no issues there at all. Mind you I do not play games with this PC so I cannot speak to its ability as a gaming machine. I do know it wasn't built for gamers but it was designed for small businesses. This ASUS ExpertCenter D500 TEC desktop computer is everything you would want it to be for your everyday needs. It certainly has handled everything I have asked of it with flying colors! I would highly recommend this to anyone.

I was in the market for a new computer or my wife. Her needs are simple. She does not game so she didn’t need anything with a dedicated graphics card. She needed something to surf the internet, play an online trivia chat room, maybe videos from time to time and download pictures from her phone and camera. This desktop checked a lot of the boxes or her next system. The Intel i5-13400 is peppy enough for most daily tasks and add the Intel UHD-730 integrated graphics you have decent enough specs to handle her tasks not to mention basic business needs. The 8GB of memory is also more than adequate for home or business use. It comes with a 512GB NVMe SSD which was more than she had on her previous machine even with the tons of photos she amassed over the years. If you use Microsoft OneDrive you can get by with the 512GB with no problems. The beauty of this hardware are you can upgrade the memory and storage very easy at a later date if your needs change. Now for what I don’t like, or maybe better put as what can be improved upon… I was a bit dismayed to see that only a 300W power supply was provided making the addition of even a basic dedicated graphics card narrowed down to cards that don’t require external power from the power supply. Bump it to a 450W and add an 8 pin PCIe cable and it would be perfect for an easy graphics upgrade at a later date if needed. If you want to upgrade to something better than integrated you'll need to pony up a new power supply too. It’s a good thing that Asus uses standard components unlike some other manufacturers use proprietary components. I’m surprised that computer manufacturers still throw in the very basic cheap keyboards and mice, which I consider E-waste. The touch and feel of the keys and click of the mouse is subpar and I wish manufacturers would either include a voucher for a discount for you to purchase your own better I/O devices from their branded peripherals or just leave them out entirely and use the extra few bucks for that 450W power supply. All in all it fits the purpose for which it was acquired.

This PC is a home or small business mid tower size workstation. It comes with 8 GB DDR4 RAM, Intel Core i5 13th Gen processor, 512 GB SSD storage, Intel UHD 730 integrated graphics, and Wi-Fi 6. This is good enough for everyday tasks and some light gaming and streaming video. It comes with an optical mouse and mechanical keyboard, which in my opinion is far superior to the membrane keyboards that commonly come with PCs today. It also comes with an external Wi-Fi antenna. The external Wi-Fi antenna is not required for connection but would be useful if the pc were being placed distant from the nearest Wi-Fi router. This pc does not come with an optical (DVD/CD) drive. Asus includes a Business Manager app with this machine that can control and limit what attached peripherals can do and can lock Registry Edit among other things. That's nice not only for business control but also to prevent kids from doing damage. They also include a Video Editor app and an Audio Manager app that has an equalizer. The audio is Realtec HD 7.1 channel. The sound is decent, of course you have to supply your own speakers (and monitor too for that matter). There are plenty of ports for attaching peripherals - 4 front facing and 4 rear facing USB (2-2.0, 2-3.2 gen 2), front facing Mic & Headphone, 2 front facing memory card reader slots, Rear facing PS/2 mouse & keyboard, Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, Display Port, and the standard 3.5mm audio ports. The PS/2 and VGA ports are legacy, they're good if you have an older mouse, keyboard, and monitor so you wouldn't have to upgrade those, but I don't think many people or businesses would be using those older peripherals today. This pc was shipped with Windows 11 Home, not Pro as advertised. The other negative is the lack of an optical drive. The Intel Core i5 CPU is really the strength of this PC making it suitable for upgrading for intense gaming or video editing. The 8 GB RAM can be easily upgraded and there are 3 expansion slots so a graphics and/or sound card could be added. As is, it boots quickly and performs nicely on daily tasks, leisure surfing and video streaming.