Acer DA220HQL Review
Michael C. Smith
- Ability to switch from tablet mode to touchscreen PC
- Good quality display
- Useful connectivity
The Acer DA220HQL is a product in search of a certain user. That user prefers the aesthetics: a great looking design and a responsive touchscreen-display in a somewhat overgrown Android tablet. It is an All-in-one (AIO) Touchscreen Desktop PC that runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), while that’s an admirable trait for the anti-Windows folk.
In reality, using the Acer DA220HQL with most PC applications such as MS Word is a painful experience that only works with few tasks and will leave you asking why this product exists. However, if you plan to expand the scope of your Android phone or tablet, need a good multimedia experience and an amazing social media experience, then this might be what we call a step in the right direction.
Design
The Acer DA220HQL‘s Smart Display is a 21.5-inch LED-backlit LCD with 1080p HD multitouch display using VA Technology that provides viewing angles at par with common IPS monitors. The VA screen technology rivals the brightness and crispness of most TN panels that we’ve seen in similar-priced units.
The Acer Smart Display Technology shows clear images regardless of your viewing angle, whether horizontal or vertical. Its display acuity ranges 178 degrees horizontal and has a 20-to-75-degree tilting capability. The screen resolution is 1920 by 1080 pixels with a display ratio of 16:9.
The HDMI port makes it easy for you to link the Android powered Acer DA220HQL to your other desktop, laptop or tablet. It is quite a versatile machine at a great price but let us have a closer look on it to find out if it befits you.
The front-facing 1.2 MP camera is adequate for videoconferencing. Since the large Smart Display is tethered to its power cord, a rear-facing camera would be useless. The Acer DA220HQL has High-definition audio that rounds out the hardware array. The speakers are located along the bottom front bezel. They crank out sound that is loud and clear. Voices and music are pleasant and crisp.
Connectivity
The Black Acer DA220HQL weighs just 10.6 pounds with dimensions of 23.70 x 2.23 x 14.15 inches- quite light and portable as a desktop. It comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, Micro HDMI port, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, a micro USB 2.0 port with monitor touch-control input to PC, Media Card Reader, wireless keyboard and mouse, a micro SD card slot to be able to expand the storage space to 32GB.
Google Now for up-to-date daily traffic, weather, train, sport etc. information, Google Play as a great single entertainment platform to find music, books, movies, applications on the internet. Then you have the Acer Ring for improved multitasking and easy access between things.
Performance
The Acer DA220HQL All-in-One has a dual core ARM Coretex-A9 Texas Instruments- TI OMAP 4430 processor at 1 GHz, 1GB DDR3 SDRAM, 8 GB Solid State Drive, MicroSD memory slot up to 32GB and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. These technical specifications may appear a bit low when talking of the Hard Drive and Memory but is important to note that it runs on Android Operating System, which is quite different from Windows System. As such, it is an upgrade from your normal android phone or tablet.
It comes with a 1GB Memory, which is quite selfish on Acer’s side; but still it is relatively good for multitasking and it is fun to work with so many easily customizable applications and a few bits and pieces you simply cannot get on a Windows system. However, we expected more in terms of storage for the Acer DA220HQL to cut across the edge. Missing is a built-in battery that could have made the device more appropriate for use while on the move despite the fact that the 21.5 inch display is too big to use on your laps.
Summary
Acer’s all-in-one hardware solution has enough going for it to make the Acer DA220HQL a viable second desktop computer. For casual computing tasks involving surfing the Web and handling email, social networking posts and household record keeping, a desktop Android computer — or even a larger-screen Android laptop — could be an adequate replacement for a Windows PC or a Mac OSX alternative. The Acer DA220HQL is more the same as View Sonic VSD220 Smart Display except for its upgrade on the Android operating system to 4.1 and the front camera to 1.3 Megapixels.
Android powered AIO PC is among the inexpensive Windows PC replacements available in the market. If it fits your daily basic needs, then it is worth a long look as you shop around, but if you’re a heavy user or a student I recommend you look elsewhere: probably an inexpensive desktop PC such as the Dell Inspiron i3043-1250BLK or the Acer Aspire C24-865-ACi5NT with all the features to meet your computing needs.
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