Small form-factor PCs originally designed for home users are finding a growing market among small and medium-sized businesses looking for attractive, affordable and compact solutions for their offices
That’s the word from Diana Hughes, Asus product manager at Tarsus Distribution, who says that many organisations are looking for space-saving PCs with a good balance of price and performance for a range of business applications. The Asus VivoPC range, for example, is finding favour for commercial applications such as digital signage, kiosks, point-of-sale, classrooms, and customer showrooms, she adds.
“As consumerisation takes hold in the enterprise, organisations are becoming more open to the idea of using consumer products for commercial purposes. The Asus VivoPC is popular among businesses because of its compact size as well as its elegant look,” says Hughes. “Many organisations are trying to maximise office space, while others want PCs that can easily be hidden from the customer’s view. If the PC can’t be hidden, they’d prefer it to be a sleek device that would look at home in a stylish lounge rather than the traditional beige box.”
VivoPC offers the functionality of a traditional desktop PC in a footprint slightly smaller than a projector. With a removable top panel design, it makes it easy for customers to upgrade the hard disk drive and DRAM. Users can install a solid state drive (SSD) as a system drive and a hard disk drive as a data drive to enjoy the SSD performance as well as adequate storage capacity.
The Vivo range also features a mobile app that allows users to remotely control the VivoPC from anywhere via portable smart devices, making it perfect for applications such as shop displays and digital signage.
The VivoPC is a capable, desktop-grade multitasker, and select models support 4K video playback. Another selling point is that it is one of the few mini PCs on the market with integrated speakers, featuring Asus SonicMaster technology for fine-tuned audio through a user-friendly interface.
