Acer Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi3 Review

The Acer Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi3 might not have a consumer-level graphics card or a professional-class CPU, but with the help of a few optional upgrade options and its midrange stature, it can blend into pretty much any modern workplace. It is equally at home next to a flat-panel display or sitting at the corner of a desk to show off its sleek styling. It’s not expensive for a Core i3-powered PC, its connectivity options count for a lot (including wireless capability) and other IT-friendly features will appeal to medium-large corporations looking to deploy hundreds of business desktops or anyone in need of a do-it-all home PC.

Design

The souped up version of the Aspire TC Series uses the same tried and tested chassis as the last few models, but this iteration adds some flair, and 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 midline 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 13.39 by 6.42 by 13.78 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 I/O ports selection is excellent. The front panels hold a single 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 Intel Coffee Lake processor, the 3.6GHz Core i5-8100 and 8GB RAM. For a straight comparison, it is a competing version to the AMD Ryzen 5 2600, for folks whose pockets can’t accommodate a K-Series processor. The Coffee Lake CPU’s proficiency on multi-threaded tasks is impressive, and performs better than previous models, and again has higher clock speeds.

This demonstrates the improvement from Kaby Lake, as well as the eighth generation CPU’s aptitude at all-round productivity and multitasking. That sad, its other iteration, the Acer Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi3O includes 16GB of Intel Optane Memory paired with 8GB DDR4 RAM, which is quite a boost to the 1TB 7200RPM hard drive storage. That’s more space that similarly priced systems, and the inclusion of an Intel Optane Memory module means that you get SSD-like performance for much less, while at the same time enjoying the larger storage capacity of a rotating hard drive.

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 GXIVR8020A5 –our Editors’ Choice for budget gaming desktop PCs.

The Bottom Line

The Acer Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi3 $457.00 at Amazon  deserves praises for its impressive computing performance and modern components including an 8th-gen processor, a wide variety of connectivity options, and easy to access innards. For a small workplace deploying hundreds of PCs, this system is a perfect shoo-in, so do a home or small office that needs an affordable do-it-all desktop PC. Everything else is excellent –upgradability, sleek design, and affordable pricing.

That said, the Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi3O is an even better choice on a feature-value basis: offering the same subtle design, the same 8^th Gen., Core i3-8100 processor and 8GB of RAM, but adds a further 16GB Intel Optane Memory module for a few more dollars.  While Optane Memory isn’t a replacement for a true SSD, it offers a way of rejuvenating traditional spinning drives and giving them SSD-like performance, without spending too much. It remains our Top Pick for budget general-use desktops.