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OUR VERDICT
EDITORS RATING
EXCELLENT
The Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92 is a great choice for a budget desktop, especially if you want an option to upgrade in your PC in the future. It has 4GB less memory than the Dell Inspiron i5676-A696Blu, but the Ace model’s included 512GB solid state drive (SSD) makes up for that – and it costs less.
The Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92 is a capable budget desktop computer with a speedy 9th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 12GB of memory, 512GB SSD storage, and a bit of room for future upgrades, and it come with USB-C (a fairly rarity in budget tower PCs). It has everything you need in a general-use PC, plus the extra features including Wi-Fi that make it an easy choice to recommend for the long haul. For the solid features and reasonable pricing, it’s our Editors’ Choice budget desktop.
- Fancy a gaming desktop PC? Check out Best Gaming PCs
Design
As part of the new Aspire TC Series, our review unit uses the same tried and tested chassis that we saw in the last few models we’ve reviewed, but this version adds some flair for a good reason. Instead of a plain black front panel, it now gets a V-shaped orange LED surrounding the power button on the top next to an ‘Acer’ logo, and a mid-line silver line running from the top to the bottom. The lower panel has the same Aspire logo, and right-half holds a tray-loading DVD drive and a couple of I/0 ports.
It looks classy, is compact and still provides some room for upgrades (PCIe x16, PCIe X1, one M.2 for SSD and one M.2 for WLAN/Bluetooth), but you won’t need much alterations to have it working. It measures 15.22 by 7.09 by 14.02 inches (HWD), all black except for the silver accents on the face. It’s not quite a small-form-factor which are often tiny, but it is in the bottom end of standard towers for general-use desktops.
Connectivity
The Aspire TC-885-UA92 has an excellent I/O ports. The front panel holds one USB 3.1 Type C port, one USB 3.1 port, microphone and headphone jacks and an SD card reader. Around the back are two more USB 3.1 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, two HDMI ports and one VGA port.
There is also a DVD-RW optical drive alongside an Ethernet port, while wireless connectivity comes via 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. Also bundled into the package is a wired keyboard and mouse.
Performance
The main highlight here is, of course, the 9th-generation Intel Core i5-9400 processor, with upto 4.1GHz clock speeds, 12GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD storage. The Coffee Lake CPU’s proficiency on multi-threaded tasks are impressive, and performs better than previous models, and again has higher clock speeds. This demonstrates the improvement from Kaby Lake, as well as the eight generation CPU’s aptitude at all-round productivity and multitasking.
While the processor has muscle for entry-level gaming, the results on gaming tests lean more heavily on the graphics card. As is the case, Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card has made appearances in budget gaming desktops with smooth playability.
However, the Intel UHD Graphics 630 on this system doesn’t suffice for gaming, only capable of casual games at very low frames per second (fps). If you intend on playing in HD, as many gamers prefer, you can look at the CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme GXiVR8060A8 –our Editors’ Choice for budget gaming desktop PCs.
Should you buy the Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92?
The Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92 is a great choice for a budget desktop, especially if you want an option to upgrade in your PC in the future. It has 4GB less memory than the Dell Inspiron i5676-A696Blu, but the Ace model’s included 512GB solid state drive (SSD) makes up for that – and it costs less. On just about all other factors, the TC-885-UA92 effectively triumphs over competing desktops in the market.
If you’re buying for a small office, home use or deploying a couple of units for your small office, it easily makes to the top of the list. It is our newest Editors’ Choice for budget desktop PCs.
Is there a better alternative?
With more money, there’s always a better alternative. However, if you want to stay strictly below $600, the Aspire TC-885-UA92 is among the best choices around. That said, if you want to do some basic gaming and don’t mind some LEDs on the chassis, the Dell Inspiron i5676-A696Blu offers better performance thanks to AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700 processor, 16GB DRAM, a dedicated AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics card and 1TB hard drive storage. It easily suffices for work and play, without being too expensive.
Should you buy it?
Yes. The Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92 is an excellent home-office PC that offers more computer than you’re paying for, backed by a solid feature set for daily home-office use.
Editors' Choice
Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92 Desktop, 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9400, 12GB DDR4, 512GB SSD, 8X DVD, 802.11AC WiFi, USB 3.1 Type C, Windows 10 Home
4 used from $479.00
