Is this computer any good?

CastletonSnob

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I got this computer today. Is it any good? Anyone have any experience with Acer computers? I plan on using it to surf the web and watch streams.

I ask because I've heard of Acer products breaking soon after purchase, and I've heard horror stories about Acer's customer service.



 

Chimpzy

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Just for surfing and watching streams? Sure, it's plenty. You can go even lower. The laptop I'm using now to respond to you is pretty weaker specced than this, and it does those things no problem.
 

CastletonSnob

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OK, but I'm mostly worried about it breaking soon after purchase, because I've heard that about Acer products, and heard horror stories about their customer service.
 

Phoenixmgs

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IIRC from this video I watched the other day, that i5 did better than the new i9. I feel like they totally should've gave you the 16GBs for the RAM vs the 12. If you want it to play games, then you'll probably need a video card at some point. A Ryzen APU is better than Intel if you just wanted to use the integrated graphics. It'll do pretty much all normal PC stuff just fine.


OK, but I'm mostly worried about it breaking soon after purchase, because I've heard that about Acer products, and heard horror stories about their customer service.
I don't really see why it would break, PC parts are pretty good about not breaking. The SSD and CPU have no moving parts so they aren't gonna break. The only thing to look at is the power supply mainly and if you do want a video card, you might need to replace it because these pre-builts use pretty low wattage power supplies usually and a video card needs power.
 

Chimpzy

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Just found out my computer doesn't have a rear exhaust fan.
That's not really surprising. It's a budget desktop. I don't think it'll have much in the way of cooling, tho not it needs much for what you're going to use it for. There's a grate on the side, I'm assuming as intake for the stock cooler on the cpu, but I'm guessing that'll be it.

But, if it really bothers you, there's a vent in the rear with screw holes for I'm guessing a 100mm case fan. You can open the pc up and check if the motherboard has a free fan header. If there is, you can probably install a rear exhaust fan. That case is probably not going to have much options for customizing tho, so make sure stuff will actually fit before you buy anything (i.e. measure stuff if you're not sure).
 

CastletonSnob

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That's not really surprising. It's a budget desktop. I don't think it'll have much in the way of cooling, tho not it needs much for what you're going to use it for. There's a grate on the side, I'm assuming as intake for the stock cooler on the cpu, but I'm guessing that'll be it.

But, if it really bothers you, there's a vent in the rear with screw holes for I'm guessing a 100mm case fan. You can open the pc up and check if the motherboard has a free fan header. If there is, you can probably install a rear exhaust fan. That case is probably not going to have much options for customizing tho, so make sure stuff will actually fit before you buy anything (i.e. measure stuff if you're not sure).
It probably doesn't need one, though?
 

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It probably doesn't need one, though?
I wouldn't bet my life on that. Find a program that can monitor CPU temperatures (CoreTemp, HWInfo, even something simple like SpeedFan) and put the CPU under full load (you can get a trial of Aida64 for that). Typically 80 degrees Celsius is "you don't want it any higher" territory; 90 is "this is not good" and 100 is "shut the damn thing down" (though most computers will shut themselves down at about that point to prevent damage). If you find it running hot, putting a fan in that rear slot may help somewhat; I'd just put one in there anyway, since case fans are ridiculously cheap.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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It probably doesn't need one, though?
Depends on where you have your PC. If it's just sitting on top of a desk in the open then you're probably good. If you have one of those 90s desks with a PC enclosure that's closed off on all sides you're probably going to want all the venting you can get.
 

CastletonSnob

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My new computer has an optical drive.

Is that bad? I've heard that most modern computers don't have one.
 

Chimpzy

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But doesn't it mean my computer is old?
No, an optical drive is just a peripheral. My guess it has one because it's a budget pc aimed at a casual audience who might still have discs around they'd want to use. I remember that back in the early 00's, it wasn't unusual for budget pcs to still have floppy drives, even tho cd-rom was already starting to phase out. It doesn't really mean anything more.

Your actual computer basically a late 2019 system. Not the newest, but plenty up to date, and will last you at least a couple years. Things aren't like in the 90's and early 00's anymore, back when a year old computer was basically already horribly out of date.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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Chimpzy

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How much more powerful is my current one?
Quite a bit more powerful.

In fact, there's only one area in which your old computer manages a higher number, and that's price. But not in a good way. The fact Dell is apparently still selling units of your old computer feels like a trap for people not tech-savvy enough to know any better, because 625 bucks for hardware that outdated is a massive ripoff.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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Sorry, everyone. Just a bit worried that my computer will die early.
Well we can't tell you that it won't die early. We actually have no idea of the quality of components that are in the computer. The spec sheet doesn't tell us anything about the manufacturers of the parts. All we know are the speeds that things are going to be running at, not the quality or longevity of the parts.
 

CastletonSnob

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Well, I've had this computer for a little more than 2 weeks, and it's still fine.

It should be OK?