ASUS PM700 Dark Gray 2025 Review

The ASUS PM700 is a compact Copilot+ AI desktop ideal for home office and business users. Its Ryzen AI 7 350 processor and 50-TOPS NPU handle on-device AI tasks well, and the 15L case is easy to upgrade. Just don't expect to game on it.

If you're looking for a compact desktop PC for work or school that's ready for the AI era, the ASUS PM700 is worth a look. It's a Copilot+ PC built around AMD's new Ryzen AI 7 350 processor, which packs a 50-TOPS NPU for on-device AI tasks. With 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD, it's set up for snappy multitasking and quick boot times right out of the box. It's not a gaming machine, but for a home office or small business user who needs a reliable, upgrade-friendly tower without a lot of clutter, this $850 system hits a lot of the right notes.

People searching for a 'Windows 11 AI PC' or a 'small business desktop' will find the PM700's specs align well. The 15-liter mini-tower design is a nice middle ground, offering more internal space for upgrades than a mini-PC while taking up less desk real estate than a full-sized tower. The port selection is excellent, landing in the 98th percentile in our database, which means you'll have plenty of options for connecting monitors, peripherals, and storage.

The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 is an 8-core, 16-thread chip that can boost up to 5.0GHz. In our CPU performance benchmarks, it scores in the 47th percentile. That puts it squarely in the mid-range for productivity. It's plenty fast for office apps, web browsing, and light photo editing. The 50-TOPS NPU is the star for AI features, handling Windows Studio Effects and local Copilot tasks smoothly. Where this PC hits a wall is graphics. The integrated Radeon graphics land in the 8th percentile. That means it's fine for video calls and basic media playback, but it's not built for gaming or any serious GPU-driven work like video editing or 3D modeling.

At $850, the ASUS PM700 sits in a competitive spot. You're paying a bit of a premium for the Copilot+ AI features and the compact, well-built chassis. If you don't care about AI or the small form factor, you could likely find a desktop with a more powerful traditional CPU for the same money. But if you want a tidy, future-proofed system that's ready for Windows AI features and easy to expand later, the PM700's overall package makes sense.

This isn't a gaming PC, so comparing it directly to the HP Omen 45L or Alienware Aurora is a bit unfair—those are built for entirely different purposes. A more apt comparison is against business-focused towers from Lenovo or Dell, or even a well-equipped mini-PC. The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i at a similar price might offer better pure CPU performance for tasks like coding, but it likely lacks the dedicated NPU. Compared to a mini-PC like an ASUS ROG NUC, the PM700 gives you far more room to add storage, a better GPU, or other internal upgrades down the line, which is a big plus for tinkerers.

Gamers and creative professionals should look elsewhere. The integrated graphics are a hard stop for gaming, video editing, or 3D work. Also, power users who need the absolute fastest CPU for tasks like software development or data analysis might find the Ryzen AI 7 350's mid-range performance limiting. For those users, a desktop with a higher-tier CPU or a dedicated GPU from the start, like those from the HP Omen or Lenovo Legion lines, would be a better investment.

Should you buy the ASUS PM700? If you need a clean, compact desktop for general productivity, schoolwork, or light business use, and you're intrigued by having local AI capabilities, it's a solid choice. The upgrade path is clear, and the port selection is fantastic. But if your workload is heavily CPU-bound, like compiling code or running complex simulations, you might want a chip with higher raw performance. And if gaming or graphics work is on the menu, you should skip this entirely—the integrated graphics just won't cut it.