New products tested by our experts
22
Reviews
New products tested by our experts
25 May – 7 June 2022 • Issue 632and is designed for Windows work,
but it costs around £150 more. This
extra amount has been spent on a
faster processor and more memory,
and seems well worth it, when you
consider it scored 9,545 in the same
multi-core tests. It’s not quite twice
as fast as the Aspire XC-1660g, but
it’s not far off.
As an aside, neither PC is great
dealing with the graphics needed for
gaming, but the Wired2Fire achieved
an almost acceptable average frame rate
of 29fps in our 1080p-resolution tests.
The Aspire XC-1660g only averaged 8fps
in the same tests, which isn’t worth
bothering with. The problem lies with
the PC’s Intel UHD Graphics 730
hardware that’s integrated into the
Core i5-11400 processor, which is no
match for the AMD RX Ve g a 8 graphics
built into the Wired2Fire’s Ryzen 7 5700G
processor.
The one area where the Aspire excels
over the Wired2Fire is in its power
consumption. When idling, with nothing
running, it consumes around 0.008kWh.
The Wired2Fire, with its more
powerful components, consumes
22W of power, even when it’s not
doing any work. If you’re more
concerned about keeping your
fuel bills down than the speed of
your Windows performance, this
could still be an attractive option.
A side benefit of this is that the
PC is virtually silent, with only
one fan whispering in the
background – so quiet we could
barely hear it.
The case is well stocked with
handy ports. On the front there’s
a USB-C and USB 3.0 port, along
with 3.5mm jacks for connecting
headphones and a mic. Around
the back (pictured left) there are
two more USB 3.0 ports and four
USB 2.0 ports, along with a
Gigabit Ethernet port and two
HDMI ports.PC ❘ £529 from Acer http://www.snipca.com/41827
Acer Aspire XC-1660g
No power player
Hefty PC towers can eat into your
home-office space, but not everyone has
that much available room on or around
their desk. This Acer model is more
compact than most, measuring just
295x100x330mm (HxWxD). Compare
that with the Cyberpower Infinity
opposite (460x210x428mm) and you’ll
wonder how Acer has managed to
squeeze everything in.The truth is Acer hasn’t bothered to fit
everything in. There’s no graphics card,
for example, though there is enough
room for a slimline model should you
decide to add one in future. We wouldn’t
bother, though, because this PC isn’t
aimed at gamers, but instead at those
wanting an affordable
desktop PC that’s good
enough to run office
tools and get online.
To this end, the 11th-
generation Intel Core
i5-11400 processor and
8GB RAM are sufficient.
In our benchmark
multi-core tests the
Aspire XC-1660g scored
4,971, which isn’t a
stellar result but is more
than enough for everyday
Windows tasks.
At this point, however,
it’s worth comparing its
performance with our
current Buy It award-
winner, the Wired2Fire
Ultima WS Home Office
Workstation. This also
lacks a graphics card,A solid Windows PC
for those struggling for
space, but it won’t win
prizes for its graphics
VERDICT A compact desktop PC
that runs Windows reasonably well
for those on a tighter budget – but it’s
worth spending more if you can★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE
Wired2Fire Ultima
WS Home Office
Workstation £750
Pay another £150
for performance
levels that are
almost twice as
goodSPECIFICATIONS
Six-core Intel Core i5-11400 processor •• 8GB
memory •• Intel UHD Graphics 730 •• 1TB SSD •• Wi-Fi
5 • • Bluetooth 5 •• 1x Gigabit Ethernet port •• 2x HDMI
ports •• 1x USB-C port •• 3x USB 3.0 ports •• 4x USB
2.0 ports •• Windows 11 Home •• 295x100x330mm
(HxWxD) •• One-year warranty
http://www.snipca.com/41818