Asus Essentio CG1330-05

Pros: Handsome design.
Convenient layout of the controls, USB ports, and card reader.
Big, heavy and roomy inside.
Screaming fast X6 processor.
8 Gig of ram expandable to 16.
Quiet

Cons: Crappy keyboard.
CD/DVD drive.
ASUS tech support center.

Summary: It looks cool. The layout of the controls, USB ports, and card reader is nice. The machine is big, heavy and gives me the room inside to do my own customizing and add-ons. I like the screaming fast X6 processor. 8 Gig of ram is plenty for now, and I can expand later up to 16. Whoo-hoo! It also has more available expansion slots than its more expensive competitors. Nowadays, the 1 TB HD is nothing special, but for a guy who's first hard drive was 20 MB, it is more than sufficient for the time being. The unit runs very quietly. It just seems something this big, powerful, and fast oughtt to make some kind of sounds.
The keyboard is light, flimsy, and has a crappy feel to the keys. I will probably replace the KB soon. On the first day of use, near the end of the installation of my programs and devices, the system suddenly refused to recognize the CD/DVD drive. After many repeated calls to the ASUS tech support center, I was finally told to take it to store and have the Geeks look at it. The techs were rude, brusque and generally unhelpful. They were more interested in getting me off the phone than fixing my problem. It has been a week since I talked to them and I still have the machine without the use of the CD/DVD drive. I managed to learn that the drive is a cheap and unbranded unit from China. This will probably be replaced soon also.
If not for the experience with the CD/DVD drive, this would be a glowing recommendation. But unfortunately for ASUS, they blew it with their choice of a cheap drive and that led me to experience their horrendous tech support. Two strikes already and the machine is barely a week old. Maybe we will get the drive problem fixed and the unit will give me years of unfailing service and then this would be a very different review. But I am now waiting for the third stike. For the money, I expected better. Honestly, it is still too early to know much more. I will have to put it through its paces and see what happens. If you are not technically inclined then I would steer clear of it. The size of the tower is a bit much, so if you are really cramped for space, then you would be smart to avoid this one. But on the bright side, if it proves to be a dud it will make a slick and dandy paperweight that would make Paul Bunyan proud.

Updated on Jul 17, 2010

I just got back from the Geeks. It turns out the problem was not with the machine. The real problem was in the OS. I guess it is a well known issue in the registry and the Geek on duty fixed it in about 2 minutes flat. It was a real pleasure doing business with him. Now, the tower is back home and connected, and I must admit that it is running superbly. I still would not reccommend ASUS tech support, but sure am glad I have the 6 month free "Ask a Tech" option from Best Buy. I would easily change the rating for this machine to 4.5 stars. So far, it's a great PC.