Acer Aspire Z3-615-UR15 Review - AutoenGadget.com

Introduction & Design

We still haven't seen a 17-inch laptop with one, but otherwise touch screens are everywhere nowadays—tablets, phones, phablets, gaming devices, laptops, convertibles, and now desktops, or at least all-in-one (AIO) desktops like the Acer Aspire Z3-615-UR15. This $949 family PC offers the multi-touch capabilities of a tablet—practically a must-have for Windows 8.1—along with a big, bright 23-inch desktop monitor.
Like most other AIOs, the Aspire relies on laptop components and integrated graphics, so you won't be doing much gaming on the machine. And you won't be doing any tower-desktop-style upgrading, since the components are encased within the display.

But you will be able to enjoy high-definition video, surf the Web, and listen to music as well as tackling productivity chores or schoolwork. And you'll be able to control it all with your fingertips. If your arms get tired, you can always use the included wireless keyboard and mouse, accessories that help make moving the Acer around the house—say, from the bedroom to the kitchen counter—a viable option.
So what exactly are you moving to the kitchen counter? The Z3-615-UR15 features a fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4570T processor with Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics, 8GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive, a DVD burner, and a 23-inch full HD (1,920x1,080) touch screen. It's backed by a one-year limited warranty and preloaded with consumer software ranging from Netflix to McAfee's nagging LiveSafe.

Design

We don't want to exaggerate how portable the Aspire AIO is. At 19 pounds plus its modest, laptop-style power brick, you're not going to be taking this 19 by 23 by 2-inch slab with you to Starbucks. But it should fit nicely on a desk, or on a dining table or kitchen counter if you seek a change of scene.
Below the 1080p display, which takes up the majority of the glossy black chassis, you'll find Acer's lowercase logo in silver. A front-facing speaker bar runs along the bottom of the all-in-one, with a power indicator light in the lower right corner. The desktop's stand grants a good range of tilt adjustment, but no height adjustment. The power cord that jacks into the back of the Aspire can pop out if you're not careful while adjusting the display; it pays to make sure the cord has plenty of slack.

   

   

On the system's left side you'll find a USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, and an SD card reader. The power button and the tray-loading DVD±RW drive are on the right.
Around the back are microphone and line-out jacks, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and another USB 3.0 port plus two USB 2.0 ports. An HDMI-out port lets you connect an external monitor, while an HDMI-in port lets you use the Acer's screen with a cable box, game console, or other video source. Wireless connectivity (802.11n plus Bluetooth) is standard.

Features

The 23-inch, 1,920x1,080 multitouch display is huge and bright. HD video looks terrific on it and it can fit plenty of windows, browser tabs, and the like on screen thanks to the spacious real estate. Viewing angles are excellent, too: Colors don't appear washed out even at extreme angles, so it's perfect for watching videos with groups.

There are some caveats, however. First, the Aspire sadly lacks a Blu-ray player, which would have complimented the lovely, bright screen nicely. (Presumably it would have pushed the price over the $1,000 mark, although we've seen various e-tailers selling the Z3-615-UR15 for $100 or so under its $949 list.)
Second, the display is highly reflective, which means glare can be an issue at some angles and you'll be seeing a lot of yourself in the darker backgrounds or shadowed areas of videos, movies, and games. We had a sense of foreboding, almost of being watched, while viewing the suspense thriller The Bourne Supremacy until we realized that the face staring back at us was our own.
Otherwise, the screen is ideal for Netflix or any other HD streaming service. The touch controls for tapping, swiping, and zooming work well, too, though how often you use them when you have a wireless keyboard and mouse handy is up to you.
The keyboard provided by Acer looks small and cheap, but it gets the job done. Its greatest strengths are that it's cordless and that it runs on two long-lasting AA batteries. Its greatest weakness is that the brushed black keys feel light and mushy; we found ourselves having to press hard on a few keys such as Enter and the space bar. There are no dedicated Home, End, PgUp, or PgDn keys, either—they're mapped to the numeric keypad and must be toggled. The arrow keys are miniscule as well. It's a functional keyboard, but it could have been better.

The included wireless mouse is powered by a single AAA battery. It has a battery-saving on/off switch on the bottom, which is easy to forget (it's been left on the entire time during our review). It's a standard two-buttons-plus-scroll-wheel pointer. Our only problem with it was that its click seemed to last a little too long at times, which resulted in a few windows or files getting dragged around when we didn't intend to do so.
Acer advertises Dolby-optimized surround sound for the Aspire AIO. We found the audio adequate for videos and games, but didn't hear much of a surround effect, nor did we hear much bass or clarity for music tracks. The Webcam above the display captures slightly grainy stills and video

Performance & Conclusion

With its dual-core Core i5 CPU and integrated graphics, you're not likely to be editing many large, workstation-style video projects on the Aspire Z3-615-UR15. Nor will you be playing the latest, graphically intensive games.
Sleeping Dogs, Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition, and Wolfenstein: The New Order all chugged along at a slow pace, even with settings on low. Lost Planet, an older game, ran well, with the frame rate ranging from the high 40s to 60-plus frames per second. Shovel Knight, a 2D sprite-based platform game meant to revive the NES days, predictably played very well. StarCraft II fared okay on medium settings, but played best on low settings. No, the Acer AIO is not a gaming powerhouse in the least, but it is adept at multitasking and keeping dozens of tabs open in a Web browser, making it well suited for casual and family use.
For our objective benchmarks, we compared the Aspire Z3 to two other Core i5 all-in-ones, Acer's own consumer Aspire U5-620-UB10 and Dell's corporate OptiPlex 9030 Touch (Computer Shopper review coming soon). We rounded out the charts with one Core i3 AIO, the Lenovo C560 Touch, also reviewed by PCMag.
In PCMark 8, a synthetic suite whose Work scenario assesses overall system performance for tasks such as word processing, Web browsing, and spreadsheeting, the Z3-615-UR15 took second place behind the OptiPlex 9030.

   

   

In our CPU-crunching Cinebench test, which renders a complex image to show a PC's suitability for processor-intensive tasks, the Z3 scored another silver with the 2.9GHz Core i3 Lenovo putting up a surprisingly strong showing for the bronze.

   

   

Multimedia Tests

The Lenovo and Dell blew away the two Acers in our Handbrake video editing benchmark, which times systems as they transcode a five-minute 1080p clip to smartphone format.

   

   

Predictable results returned in our Adobe Photoshop image editing test, which applies a series of filters and effects to a large JPEG.

   

   

Graphics & Gaming Tests

None of these all-in-ones put up impressive numbers in our overall graphics assessment 3DMark (though to be fair, none is designed for the Fire Strike Extreme test, built with high-end gaming systems in mind).

   

   

The Acer Z3 balked at running our DirectX 11 gaming sim Heaven at 1,366x768 resolution. At native resolution, neither it nor any of these AIOs came within a mile of the 30 frames per second threshold for smooth gameplay.

   

   

Conclusion

If you're seeking a home computer for casual use, or you have kids who like to play casual, kid-friendly games, or you believe in the Windows 8 touch ecosystem, you have plenty of reasons to invest in an all-in-one like the Acer Aspire Z3-615-UR15. If you're seeking a hardcore gaming rig, or ultrabook portability, you probably stopped reading a while ago.

   

   

The best thing about the Aspire Z3 is its great-looking display. Its best role is as a fine entry-level PC for families with young children or light users who want an easy, breezy machine to work on, toy around with, or watch DVDs or Netflix on. We would have loved a Blu-ray player to make better use of the 1080p screen, and a higher-quality mouse and keyboard, but that would have driven up the price.