ASUS V500 SFF (V501SV) Review: A Compact Pre-Built Desktop for Students and Home Users

I’ve tested about a hundred laptops in my time as a reviewer. Seeing brands cram more powerful hardware into a small machine is always fun. Desktops, on the other hand, are a little different. My last experience with desktops was using one inside the computer lab at school. Sure, gamers still love building desktops, but getting all the components together and then trying to piece the puzzle together has never made me see the appeal. Given the huge increase in RAM prices in 2026, however, desktops make more sense than ever. You can configure them how you like and upgrade them later without replacing the entire machine.

If you’re in the market for a desktop for home use but don’t want the hassle of building it yourself, pre-built desktops are the way to go. And Asus has just released its new V500 SFF (V501SV) in India. You get Intel’s Core 5 210H processor, along with expandable 8GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB M.2 SSD. At ₹71,990, all of that could make it a decent option for home users and students alike. But should you buy? To answer that question, I’ve been using the V501SV for about two weeks and have made it my home computer.

Design & Hardware

Usually, when reviewing a laptop, there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to design and hardware. But with desktops, there isn’t much. These towers will generally sit beneath your desk, so design isn’t much of a concern. Still, Asus has given it some sweet details. On the front, you get a wood-like panel in a dark brown finish that adds a sophisticated feel. You can also get the V501 in white to match your interiors, and it replaces the wood with a grey mesh. Whichever you go for, the desktop won’t look out of place in most homes. As for the dimensions, the V501 is 12.15 inches tall and 11.59 inches wide. I wouldn’t call it small. It’s more of a medium-sized desktop and did fit well on top of my desk against a 27-inch monitor.

At a time when almost every laptop is removing ports, desktops are the last saving grace. With the V501, you get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, and a headphone jack, all on the front. At the back, there’s RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet, one HDMI 1.4, one DisplayPort 1.4, four USB 2.0 Type-A ports, and 7.1-channel audio. This should be plenty for most accessories, since I had no problems connecting everything I needed. Beyond that, there’s also a Wi-Fi 6 card and Bluetooth 5.4 support. I do have one problem with this port selection, though. That’s the lack of Thunderbolt ports, which limits your options for high-speed peripherals and external storage.

Keyboard & Mouse

Asus bundles a keyboard and mouse combo in the box to get you started. And that’s about all the praise I can give it. Don’t get me wrong, you can use the included keyboard for work, but it’s not my favorite thing. The keys have decent feedback, but are a little too noisy for my liking. They are also not that tactile, and the build quality is scratchy plastic. I’d recommend getting another decent keyboard for most office work.

The mouse, on the other hand, is okay to use. It’s wired, so latency isn’t an issue, and the tracking was pretty accurate in my experience. The buttons are also decent, and the scroll wheel was good for navigating long web pages and documents. The build quality is the same as the keyboard, but that wasn’t a big problem at all.

Performance

At the heart of the Asus V501 sits Intel’s Core 5 210H processor, which includes eight cores that can boost up to 4.8 GHz. It’s paired with 8GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD, both of which are expandable. As expected, the everyday performance of the V500 is pretty good. For home use, that is, browsing the web, making presentations, and watching videos, it handled everything perfectly, without any slowdowns or hitches. I was out of the country for a while, so the desktop was my sister’s primary work machine. She’s a student and said the V500 was great for filling out college applications, researching new topics, taking notes, and so on.

Since this is a machine aimed at students, I also installed a few IDEs to test the programming performance. The Asus V501 handled a large Python project in VS Code without any noticeable slowdowns. It can also be used to edit some photos and light videos, but the lack of a dedicated GPU makes editing 4K videos a distant dream. Since this is a review, I also ran a series of benchmarks to test the V500’s raw performance. On Geekbench, it scored 2214 points in the single-core test and 9496 in the multi-core test. In 3DMark TimeSpy, the device reached about 1,150 points. This level of performance should be enough for most household tasks for years to come.

As far as gaming is concerned, you need to set your expectations. The V501 is not a gaming desktop. You don’t get a dedicated GPU, which limits the games you can play. However, it can run esports titles such as Rocket League, Valorant, and CS:GO. I got roughly 60 FPS in Rocket League at medium settings. Valorant delivered a similar experience, regularly hovering around 60 FPS, with 1% lows of around 50 FPS.

Verdict

At ₹71,990 for the unit I tested, the Asus V500 SFF (V501SV) is a competent home desktop solution for parents and students alike. You don’t have to deal with the headache of assembling everything yourself, and you’re getting a capable machine without going too far up the price ladder. The design is unassuming, but I actually like the way it looks on a desk. You get a standard keyboard and mouse combo, and there are plenty of ports. Performance isn’t class-leading, especially with just 8GB of RAM, but it’s still good enough to handle all everyday tasks and some photo/video editing on the side.