Acer Aspire Z3-615 review

Acer’s Z3-615 range of all-in-one PCs come in a bewildering array of specifications, so you should be absolutely clear which model you’re looking at before you buy it. Annoyingly, our review model (DQ.SVBEK.004) isn’t listed on Acer’s website, especially so because it has the highest specification, with an Intel Core i5 processor, a dedicated graphics chip and a whopping 2TB hard disk. This makes it suitable for use as a media centre PC, with the capacity to do a bit of gaming too.

We’re not keen on the styling of the Z3-615. The stand is an iMac-style silver, while the rest of the Z3-615’s front portion is made up of cheap-looking glossy black plastic and a thin layer of fabric covering up the speaker grille. It’s not ugly, but it’s far from the prettiest PC we’ve seen. On the left edge of the device is a USB3 port and a USB port for the wireless mouse and keyboard dongle. There’s also an SD card reader and a headphone jack with a further USB3 port and two USB2 ports on the rear. You’ll also find gigabit Ethernet connectors and 3.5mm audio input and output jacks on the rear.

We’re happy that at least one USB port has found its way into an easily accessible position, but putting the rest of the ports at the rear makes them hard to access, causing the same problems that iMac owners have. You’ll also find an HDMI port at the back, this can be used as an input for devices such as games consoles and set-top boxes, greatly increasing the Z3’s flexibility. There’s a Blu-ray drive on the right-hand side of the Z3-615, which is a welcome and handy addition if you have an extensive collection of discs.

The centrepiece of any all-in-one PC is the screen, and the Full HD touchscreen panel on the Z3-615 is reasonably good. Our calibration hardware measured sRGB gamut coverage of 88.9 per cent, which is about what’d you expect from a relatively cheap standalone monitor. Contrast levels of 1200:1 and low black light levels of 0.15cd/m2 make for a pleasing overall image with plenty of detail visible in darker scenes. The screen is glossy, though, and it picks up fingerprints if you slide your fingers around it.

Our review model had a quad-core 1.9GHz Intel Core i5-4460T processor installed, along with 8GB of RAM, both of which helped it score 66 overall in our PC benchmarks. This result shows that it’s a capable but not blazingly fast machine. In real terms, running multiple applications and navigating your way through Windows 8.1 should be a breeze, and the only time we experienced problems was when the preinstalled McAfee LiveSafe trial software decided to do a scan.

The Z3-615 comes equipped with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 840M graphics processor, which is an entry-level chip typically found in fairly cheap laptops. the GTX 840M isn’t hugely powerful but it does at least grant you access to plenty of games that would otherwise have been beyond the reach of the Core i5’s onboard Intel HD Graphics 4600 graphics processor. We put the GTX 840M through its paces in our Dirt Showdown test, which is representative of a moderately graphically demanding game. At a resolution of 1,280×720 with 4x anti-aliasing and High graphics quality, the Z3-615 produced an average frame rate of 48.8fps. Sadly, the average frame rate dropped to an unplayable 19fps when we increased the resolution to the Z3-615’s native 1,920×1,080 resolution with Ultra graphics quality. However, the PC did produce an average frame rate of 48.9fps at 1,920×1,080, which is about what we’d expect from an all-in-one at this price.

The internal speakers are loud and clear and have a little bass presence, but they definitely won’t replace a good set of headphones or external speakers. The supplied peripherals are very poor. The wireless mouse is strangely large and yet has no extra buttons, while the keyboard is spongey and uncomfortable to type on for long periods. We’d recommend replacing them.

The Acer Z3-615 is a good all-in-one PC with a pleasingly high-quality screen and decent internal components. Its physical design is underwhelming, though, as is the quality of its peripherals. The Z3-615 isn’t a bad choice for a family all-in-one, it’s bigger than the Dell XPS 18, bigger-screened and cheaper than the basic Apple iMac. Plus it’s more flexible with its HDMI input and Blu-ray drive. It’s not as powerful as the HP Beats Special Edition 23-n001na in terms of applications, but its screen is better. If you’re deadset on an all-in-one PC, then this is a decent example.