I have to confess that the ASUS ET2410 All-in-One PC is rather heavy. Not break your arms heavy, but you may (if you are a complete pansy like me) make a little, “oof” noise when you heave it onto the desk. And that, my friend, is the hardest part. Boy, do I love easy technology.
The ASUS ET2410 All-in-One PC comes with a remote control (batteries provided – nice), a small keyboard and mouse (also with batteries) and minimal instructions. The setup is pretty easy. Slot the batteries into the various devices, plug the USB dongle into the USB port at the rear of the all-in-one and off you go.
In the interests of testing, reviewing and being a total dork, I timed the setup of the ET2410 from start to finish. I had returned it to the box for extra authenticity. In total, from the removal of the polystyrene to the first moment I could use the mouse and keyboard and excluding tedious Windows updates, it took me 7 minutes. That includes cutting away the plastic around the batteries, inserting them, and poking at connectivity buttons.
The rest of the time I spent setting up the ET2410 was on making Windows happy with various downloads and updates.
What impressed me about setup was the fact that wireless was up and running without a hiccup, the keyboard and mouse were happy to get to work without me needing to do random restarts or any other silly nonsense, and the entire process, so far, has used only one cable – the power cable. How utterly brilliant is that?
I must confess that I am not a huge fan of battery powered wireless devices because of the fact that batteries usually run out when you a) need them the most and b) when you have none in the office and no time to go out and get some (or it is a holiday and everything is shut). I also dislike the environmental disaster that batteries represent.
So, with that in mind, I put my own rechargeable batteries into the keyboard and mouse and they work just fine. A good green step forward that.
My first impressions for setup were that it wasn’t too fiddly and that the ETS2410 All-in-One PC is rather quiet. There was a bit of a fan roar on startup and when downloading intensively, but it is muted and only heard because the testing room is so very quiet.
After my third Windows restart and a bit of an argument about whether or not the version of Windows I was using was real (it was), the ET2410 All-in-One PC is ready to go. Next up is my testing the multitouch capabilities. I can’t wait!