Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer

Acer offers up a sexy and powerful AIO computer with the Aspire AZ5700 that can do just about anything you throw at it.

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Manufacturer: Acer
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Introduction, Specifications, Availability, and Pricing


Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer 1


Introduction

The desktop PC market isn't dead, it has just moved to different types of machines for the most part. The desktop computer of today is often literally a desktop. With the all-in-one machines like the Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 I am looking at today, all of the hardware for the PC is inside the screen.

The upside to using an AIO machine is that you have more space on and around your desk. Many of the current crop of AIO machines are becoming just as powerful as the desktop machines that have a separate tower that sits beside the desk.

Today I have one of the best looking all-in-one computers I have had on my test bench. Good looks aside, what we really want to know is if the Acer AZ5700 has the go to match its show. Read on for all of the details on the Acer AZ5700 all-in-one computer.


Specifications, Availability, and Pricing

The Acer AZ5700 I am checking out today isn't on the Acer US website at the time of this review. The machine is readily available online, though, on Newegg.com and Amazon. The machine sells for $1009.99 on Newegg. Check out the full specifications of the machine below.

Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer 8

Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer 9

Acer AZ5700-U2112




Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer 1


Here you can see the big 23-inch touchscreen and the pair of USB ports on the left side of the Acer AZ5700-U2112 along with the wireless mouse and keyboard.

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The front of the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is silver and the black line you see is actually recessed, not just a line. What you can't see on this picture is that the top right corner of the AIO has the power button.

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The back of the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is very nice looking. In fact, the backside is so nice looking it's a shame to hide it. All of the connectivity is on the rear of the machine with four USB ports, Ethernet, power, HDMI output, coax input, eSATA, and a plug for an IR blaster.

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The right side of the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is where you find the slot loading optical drive, the memory card reader, and front ports for mic and headphones.

Performance


Audio and Video Encoding Performance

Below you get a look at the main screen CPU-Z screenshot to give you a look at the actual specifications of the unit that we will be testing further on below.

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The Acer AZ5700-U2112 will be run through the standard AIO test regime here at TweakTown. This includes iTunes Encoding and Media Transcoding.

Please note that no 3DMark or game tests are included for our AIO reviews since they are not powerful enough to run the graphics intensive tests. All systems are tested "as is", which means operating systems and drivers can and do vary and some come pre-installed with applications that may or may not affect performance. Any anti-virus or security applications are disabled and uninstalled before any testing is started as they can affect test numbers.


For the iTunes encoding test I take Stone Temple Pilots - Core CD album in MP3 format and encode it to AAC format using iTunes and time the results with a stopwatch.

All tests are performed with the system in High Performance mode with minimum CPU set to 100%.

Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer 6


The Acer AZ5700-U2112 is the fastest AIO machine I have tested so far. This AIO machine absolutely crushed all the other AIO computers that I have tested in the iTunes benchmark. This is one seriously powerful AIO computer.


For the movie encoding test I take the Microsoft Magic of Flight VC-1 WMV video with six channel audio (1080p HD) and transcode it to XviD (1080p HD) with LAME MP3 two channel audio and a MP4 container using MediaCoder 0.7.3.4616 32-bit edition.

All tests are performed with the system in High Performance mode with minimum CPU set to 100%.

Acer Aspire AZ5700-U2112 23-inch All-in-One Desktop Computer 7


The Acer AZ5700-U2112 was so much faster in this benchmark than the other AIO desktops I have tested that the other machines might as well not show up. The Acer AZ5700-U2112 is a benchmarking beast.

Hands on Use and Final Thoughts


Hands On Use

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The Acer AZ5700-U2112 AIO absolutely destroyed all other AIOs I have used in the benchmark section of this review, making it the best performing AIO to come across my desk. Once all those tests were done, I used the Acer AZ5700-U2112 to do some plain old computer work.

I really like the big, bright screen of the machine. It has very good resolution and enough screen space to get a pair of documents open on the screen at once. That big screen is glossy and throws a lot of glare. It is also touch capable so it picks up a fair number of fingerprints and smudges.

Fingerprints aside, the touchscreen of the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is excellent and very accurate. When you have a large screen with a high resolution, some of the options on menus and programs can be very small. The Acer AZ5700-U2112 touchscreen was dead on; if your fingers can touch the options you want the screen will click exactly where you press. I often can't use touchscreens because they simply aren't accurate enough to suit me. The Acer AZ5700-U2112 has one of the best touchscreens for accuracy that I have ever used.

If you aren't the touchscreen type, Acer also ships the machine with a wireless mouse and keyboard. The mouse is your standard resolution unit, which is good enough for the 23-inch screen. The keyboard is silver, has full size keys and offers average typing feel and feedback. The keyboard does have media controls for volume and other functions since the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is sure to be used for media. The wireless mouse and keyboard do require a USB dongle to be plugged in. I hate to give up one of the six USB ports on the Acer AZ5700-U2112 for the wireless mouse and keyboard; this is something that manufacturers really need to build into the machine.

The AIO also ships with a wireless remote control that allows you to control the computer from across the room. This is an important thing since the machine has an adapter that allows you to connect the AIO to your antenna, allowing you to watch OTA programs right on the computer.

I mentioned the screen already to some extent. What I didn't say was that despite the glare it produces, the colors are excellent. The screen has good black levels and fast motion doesn't make the image look choppy. Streaming content from Hulu is a snap and the video plays smoothly without any hiccups in windowed or full screen modes. The Acer AZ5700-U2112 is a fantastic multimedia machine. The onboard sound system has no bass to speak of, but it offers plenty of volume. You can hear it across a medium or small room without straining or missing what is being said.


Final Thoughts

When all is said and done, the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is almost the perfect AIO computer. The machine has loads of performance, looks fantastic and is a fantastic multimedia machine. The only thing missing from the spec sheet of the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is a Blu-ray drive.

I can forgive the lack of a Blu-ray drive leaving the only quibble I can really find for the Acer AZ5700-U2112 being the fact that one of the few USB ports the machine has is taken with the USB dongle for the included wireless mouse and keyboard. The touchscreen is fantastic and the GPU inside the machine is up to streaming content without any issues.

Overall, the Acer AZ5700-U2112 is my choice for the best AIO you can find and it's a bargain at around $1000.

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Shane is a long time technology writer who has been writing full time for over a decade. Shane will cover all sorts of news for TweakTown including tech and other topics. When not writing about all things geeky, he can be found at the track teaching noobs how to race cars.

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