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Acer’s Veriton Z2611G is a particularly compact all-in-one PC, with a screen size of just 20in and few of the bells and whistles that you’ll find on more expensive models. However, it’s reasonably priced and packs a 3.3GHz Intel Core i3-2120 processor.
Admittedly, it only has 3GB of memory and its 500GB hard disk is rather small, even by budget all-in-one standards. The system is rather short on ports, too. There are two USB2 ports on the side of the PC and another four on the back. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any USB3 ports. The addition of a memory card slot is handy, though, and it supports more formats than most, including xD and Memory Stick Pro, in addition to SDXC cards of up to 32GB in capacity. There’s a DVD drive on the opposite side of the PC, and network connectivity is facilitated by a Gigabit Ethernet port on the back panel; there’s no integrated Wi-Fi.
One neat feature is a switch for the screen that drops the PC’s idle power consumption by 10W to 26W. The Z2611G also has a VGA graphics output that lets you connect a second monitor or projector. Although there are only six USB ports, none of them are required by the mouse and keyboard because the supplied peripherals have PS/2 connectors and the Z2611G has two PS/2 ports. The keyboard feels a little loose and rattles too much, but it proved to be comfortable and accurate. The mouse is rather small and light.
Needless to say, this isn’t a massively powerful computer, but it achieved a respectable overall score of 62 in our benchmark tests and remains responsive even with multiple applications and browser tabs open. The integrated Intel GMA 2000 graphics failed our basic 720p Dirt 3 test. Dropping the quality to low and AA to x2 produced a frame rate of 16fps, but that still isn’t good enough, although older 3D titles can be made to run at minimum quality settings.
The screen’s resolution of 1,600×900 rules out 1080p video, although the PC can process the files perfectly adequately. The low resolution also means that spreadsheets and similar business documents can feel rather cramped, particularly if you’re used to a larger 1,920×1,080 display. Despite that, we were happy with the screen’s overall quality. It’s rather reflective, but we appreciated the bright whites and even dark tones. The integrated speakers aren’t really up to music because they’re rather harsh and don’t produce much bass, but they’re fine for system sounds and spoken word content. There’s always the option of connecting stereo speakers.
The combination of a budget all-in-one touchscreen PC with Windows 7 Professional is a bit of an odd one, and we can’t imagine most businesses opting for all-in-ones rather than standard workstations, and the touchscreen seems even more redundant. The model we reviewed came with a 32-bit version of Windows installed and this can produce compatibility problems with a handful of programs, because the 64-bit version of the OS is almost ubiquitous. Fortunately, the PC’s software licence lets you switch to the 64-bit OS for free, which also means you can use the extra memory should you choose to upgrade the Z2611G to its theoretical maximum of 16GB.
The PC also comes with a few bits of pre-installed software, including Microsoft Office 2010 Starter edition, as well as applications to support the touchscreen and webcam. There’s no touchscreen multimedia centre of the sort we’re used to seeing on all-in-ones which are aimed more firmly towards home users, though.
Despite the odd combination of business and consumer features, the Z2611G is a decent PC, but its limited power, its low resolution and small screen size make it look like an also-ran compared to the competition, including the HP Touchsmart 520-1130ea.
