Review: Samsung AIO E5 TV, an All in One that doesn't cost a kidney

The days of desktop computers are numbered, either because of the complexity of assembling one, or even the lack of portability. You All-in-One have captured this market and are actually more practical. I tested the Samsung AIO E5TV for a few weeks and was surprised by its performance, for a computer that doesn't cost that much.

Os All in One became famous when Apple showed the world its line of iMacs, something that happened in the late 90s. The idea was to put all the hardware of the case on the monitor and, in this way, save space. Recently, computers from other companies started to bet on this format, since it even allows some mobility. After all, with few wires, it's easy to take your computer off one desk and onto another.

Design and finishing

Looking from the outside, the AIO E5TV looks like a traditional computer. It has all the white plastic finish, very beautiful and that seems to me to be a dust lover. Think that with a look that is very reflective, all the dust and dirt will be visible. By far.

Even so, the set is pleasing to the eye. The front of the AIO has a screen of 21,5 inches, with resolution Full HD and which displays touch-sensitive front buttons to control volume and switch between input HDMI, or the mode PC. Ah, at the top you find the brightness sensor, the front camera with HD resolution (720p) and the microphone. As we are in a white model, these details are very visible.

Behind are all connections. There are two doors USB 2.0 and another two 3.0, a network port RJ45, entrance and exit HDMI, along with a socket for a power cable and a socket for headphones. The latter is also used to connect speakers, if you prefer a louder and more enveloping sound than what exists here. On the edges you have the on/off button and a card slot SD that supports the standards SD, SDHC e S.

The keyboard and mouse break the more modern and clean look, more clean. They work in an older design, with very tall keys and a keyboard face from the early 2000s. The mouse follows the same pattern, further clashing with the look of the set. Finally, the mouse has two negative points: the plastic appears to be thin and fragile, in addition to allowing the light emitted downwards, together with the laser and in red color, makes the entire mouse redden when there is little light in the surroundings. . It is, without exaggeration, pink when you use it at night.

Hardware and performance

Inside, there's hardware that almost borders on great firepower. We have one Core i5 from Intel, 8 GB of RAM memory, 1TB HDD and graphics card Intel HD Graphics 520. It may seem like little to run games, and it really is, but for everyday work this set is enough. It even allowed minor Photoshop edits and some video editing adventures.

In a few days I was using Chrome with, on average, nine tabs open and, next to it, the Deezer application playing music and Photoshop open in the background. During this time the computer did not freeze, it did not stutter and it did not complain about a lack of RAM memory. O Windows 10 I knew how to deal with it all openly. Handled very well.

This good performance only does not appear in the seconds following the boot. As soon as the screen opens, if you ask Windows to open the system settings itself, wait at least three seconds. There are three seconds between clicking the settings icon and entering settings. The good part is that you just have to wait a bit after booting, something like 30 seconds and the performance already fits what I said above.

Games? It's better not to abuse

If you're looking for an All in One computer for work and some fun with videos and movies, don't worry. I ran movies in Full HD, with Chrome open in the background and I didn't see any crashes. The same goes for running, for example, Netflix in one tab and having a few others open in the background.

However, if you expect to put some game in 3D and heavier, don't even try. Or try and set the graphics to medium, or minimum. I put a simpler one, which is Heroes of the Storm. It's a version of League of Legends, only from Blizzard. The game ran fine, but on medium graphics settings for the computer's native resolution: Full HD. I even tried running on high graphics, but the frame rate dropped.

In short: this is a perfect computer for anyone who wants to work, watch a movie, listen to music and play with something very simple. For all that, it works fine.

TV, but not actually TV

One of the extras that Samsung makes clear exists here is the digital TV tuner. All in One is able to list open TV channels in analog or digital signal. For this he makes use of an external antenna, which does not come in the box. The channel tuning worked very well, but I was disappointed with the way the TV works. It's not really a TV, but a channel manager that decodes the antenna signal, within a program pre-installed in Windows 10.

There is a remote with some shortcuts and the input HDMI it's even for you to put a console for a game on the screen, but as long as the computer is on. Unfortunately it is not possible to turn on the TV, or the part of HDMI just for something external. You must, of course, turn on the entire computer and then change the signal source. At this point, the only option is the HDMI input.

This limitation makes the “TV” part of All in One totally dependent on Windows 10 running. It's not practical. The control doesn't help either, as it only serves to control channels and some shortcuts of All in One itself, such as opening the browser or Windows settings.

Finally, the All in One has internal speakers that serve well as a breaker. They have 4 W power for each speaker, totaling 8 W RMS. The sound is focused on the mids, leaving the bass more to the side. There's room in the housing to reverberate the sound and create something more bass, but Samsung has put in simpler speakers. Quality is acceptable, but could be better.

Worth it?

If you think of the computer as a workstation, which also serves as a good player for high definition movies and even music, it's worth it. If you're into gaming, this isn't the machine for you (the All in One doesn't come with a dedicated graphics card).

What caught my attention is the price. He is in the range of R $ 3 thousand, a level that still does not offer good performance. This All in One is the opposite of that. It comes with plenty of RAM, lots of space on HDD and the extra one digital TV, even though this resource is limited. It even serves as a monitor for a Bluray or console, which is also somewhat limited.

If I could make some changes to the package, I would swap the mouse and keyboard for wireless models. Or just the look of the mouse, which I disliked a lot. If you want to venture out, at your own risk, and put an SSD in place of the HDD, the machine is even beefier. In this scenario, it's easy to stay with her for four or five years.

Even with the HDD de 1 TB, you can keep the computer for this time and without having too many stutters. The All in One from Samsung is, in fact, a nice surprise in terms of hardware and the look of the set – forgetting about the mouse, of course.

Specifications

• Brand: Samsung
• Model: AIO E5TV
• Processor: Intel Core i5 6200U (2.3GHz up to 2.8GHz 3MB L3 Cache)
• RAM memory: 8GB DDR3L 1600 MHz
• HD: 1TB HDD 5.400 rpm
• Video card: Intel HD Graphics 520
• screen size: 21,5″ and resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Audio: 8W stereo speakers (4W x 2) with tweeter
• Connectivity: 1 coaxial antenna port, 1 HDMI, 2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, 1 headphone jack, 1 RJ45 network, 1 SD card reader. Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1
• Weight: 5,6 kg
• Dimensions: 52,4 x 15,1 x 38,3 cm