ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC Review -This Tough Desktop Literally Means Business

Laptops are often the computing platform of choice for many corporate concerns and start-ups but there’s still a need for desktop PCs which is where the ASUS ExpertCenter series desktop PCs come into play. Here’s our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review where we put their workhorse desktop to the test!

What is the ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC

The ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC is a compact desktop PC that’s primarily intended for deployment en-masse in an enterprise setting. The design is fairly utilitarian with a matte black finish with a stylised grill up front and a tool-less access panel on the side for easy access to the interior. It’s considerably slimmer than the ExpertCenter D3 we reviewed awhile back.

Our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample has a relatively compact overall footprint and can be stacked vertically or flat down depending on circumstances though it’s somewhat heavy at 5kg. 

While the design looks modestly understated, it’s exceptionally durable and has been built to MIL-STD-810G standards while offering a generous number of expansion ports in the interior layout to add additional RAM, hard disks and SSD later on down the line. 

According to ASUS, the design of the ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC ensures optimum heat venting with isolated air chambers for the hotter parts of the PC to prevent heat pooling inside. While the PC is relatively quiet by default in its default Standard mode, it also has a high speed pedal-to-the-metal Full-speed mode which allows the built-in cooling fans to spin at maximum rpm to handle heavy workloads.

In terms of I/O, our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample is well equipped with a full array of ports on both the front and rear for easy access. Up front, the desktop comes with a vertically stacked set of I/O just below the power button.

Our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC Review features a comprehensive set of ports on the front and rear for easy access.

You get a headphone jack, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, a pair of USB 2.0 Type A ports, a pair of USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports and a single USB 3.2 Gen2 Type C port. Set just below the array of ports, you also get a full sized SD card and smart card reader as well as the quaint addition of a CD writer too though this is likely specifically for our review unit.

The main quibble here is that all the ports are set too closely to each other and if you’re using bulkier non-standard USB peripherals, you’ll likely end up being unable to use one port or another.

The rear set of I/O are intended for ports that are used less often like wired keyboards, the mouse, the WiFi antenna and the like. On the rear, you get a quartet of USB 2.0 Type A ports, a HDMI 2.0b port with support for up to a 4K@60Hz monitor, a wired Ethernet port, a HDMI 1.4 port, a VGA port, a Display port 1.2, the somewhat quaint addition of a pair of PS2 mouse and keyboard ports for legacy hardware, a trio of audio jacks and a serial port. 

Combined, this array of fore and aft ports is as comprehensive as it gets and covers most of the bases for hooking up to most necessary peripherals like projectors, monitors and whatnot. Bundled with the packaging is a relatively simple wired mouse, wired keyboard and a WiFi antenna. 

Popping the chassis open for upgrades is a doddle without the need for tools and the chassis features 4 DIMM slots to add additional RAM and the interior has space for a 3.5-inch hard disk, a smaller 2.5 inch hard disk, two M.2 SSDs slots while the addition of a PCIe 3.0 x 16 and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots allow for users to add additional graphics cards or I/O ports depending on how deep your pockets go.

ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC Review offered easy access to the interior bay via two thumbscrews, a slide-out panel and a swinging bay for access to the RAM, SSD and hard disk bays.

It’s not going to win awards for good looks but our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample has it where it counts with mil-spec grade build quality, plenty of upgrade bays and a comprehensive set of ports though this is contingent on what you order from Asus.

The most basic option with a 10th Gen i5-10500 CPU, 4GB RAM and a 1TB hard disk costs RM2,892 with more sophisticated specifications costing considerably more. We weren’t able to get an exact quote on the sample issued for review though it’s certainly going to be more than the base entry-level mode.

ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC Review – Specifications

Our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample comes almost ready to use out of the box and features the aforementioned wired keyboard, mouse and WiFi antenna as well as a power supply unit, CPU, motherboard, RAM, SSD and hard disk. The only thing missing is a monitor for users to get started.

Our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample ships with a free keyboard, mouse and WiFi antenna though you’ll have to fork out for your own monitor.

As it’s intended for enterprise use, it doesn’t come in predefined configurations and is typically made to order for a company. In this regard, our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample seems to be configured with a better than usual set of hardware beyond that typically required for data entry and general duties with sufficient pixel crunching punch to handle heavy paperwork though it’s still unable to handle content creation as it lacks a graphics card. In terms of configuration, our test sample came with the following:

The 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor offers plenty of power paired with the 16GB DDR4 RAM while a 256GB SSD acts as the primary boot drive with an additional 1TB hard disk for additional storage. There’s no dedicated graphics card and our  ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review has to rely on Intel UHD graphics though it does have PCIE 3.0 slots to allow for up to an NVIDIA Quadro P620 GPU.

Our review sample shipped with a single stick of RAM and the interior layout has 3 additional RAM slots to allow you to upgrade the available RAM up to a somewhat ludicrous 128GB DDR4 RAM with additional bays for SSDs and hard disks. Connectivity by default is capped at modest WiFi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5.

This kind of setup with a high end processor, a fair amount of RAM and a fast SSD makes it ideal for general computing and modestly serious productivity work like spreadsheets, documents, emails and the like.

The interior of our ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review unit is exceptionally well organised which makes updates and maintenance a doddle

As mentioned earlier, the lack of a dedicated graphics card in our  ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample means any serious content creation or gaming isn’t a very viable prospect in this configuration. However, the possibility of adding in an NVIDIA Quadro P620 GPU as an option means that it does have some utility for CAD and design work, assuming you or Procurement’s pockets are suitably deep enough to afford it

It also has their MyASUS management app that enables you to select fan and performance speeds. To test it at its full potential, we dialled it to Full-speed mode and got the following synthetic benchmarks:

These specifications are above the norm and it performed well on paper. Performance in general computing tasks is excellent in standard mode with the ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC speeding through multiple OpenOffice documents and spreadsheets, a dozen Chrome browser tabs and even some basic photo editing.

Needless to say, Turbo mode is inordinately loud and is fairly audible even in an office with low background noise. On normal or dynamic Performance mode, the fan noise is much quieter and is barely an audible murmur and odds are you’ll rarely need Turbo mode except under dire circumstances.

Should you buy the  ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC?

On its own merits as a desktop PC the ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC is a sturdy, compact and highly upgradable platform with plenty of space for RAM and additional storage.

If your needs revolve around general computing and you need a small fleet of PCs small form factor desktops to kit out an office or other concern, the ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC is worthy of consideration. 

ASUS ExpertCenter D7 D700SC review sample courtesy of ASUS Malaysia. For more details please visit https://www.ASUS.com/my/Commercial-Desktop/ExpertCenter-D7-SFF-D700SA/