20 Purchases and every one superb! (Acer Veriton FP)

Member Name: Plymyphil

Product:	Acer Veriton FP
Date:	13/05/05 (295 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Space saving

Disadvantages: Bang/buck, Slightly under specified

To understand our move towards these superb LCD PCs, you need to imagine a small 'ish' space with sixteen desktop computers crammed in and quite frequently 32 pupils. Now, make those desktop machines midi tower and sit next to them a 15" CRT monitor. In fact, the room was so pressed for space that it would have been stated a health and safety hazard had the visitors ever come to judge.

Now, we have a bright and modern room with far more space. How? We switched the old desktops for these superb all in one small form factor LCD PCs.

WHAT IS IT?
First of all, what is an LCD PC. Well, as the image shows, an LCD PC is a full functioned PC but with all components and parts housed within a slightly thicker than usual LCD screen. In our configuration we have a 15" LCD screen containing the following:
2 X PCMCIA2 card slots
5USB 2 ports
DVD/CD rewriter
Floppy Disk Drive

The end effect is desktop performance in a shell a little larger and heavier than a top of the range laptop. With integral speakers at the base of the monitor the only additional attachments we have are the keyboard and mouse. We chose corded but it is of course possible and financially reasonable to go with radio products that totally clear the work space.

THE LOOKS
All feedback on the changes brought about by the purchase of these machines has been positive. We have sixteen in one room and a further four located elsewhere. Universally everybody who has seen the machines has been positive about their appearance and consequently their use of the equipment has reflected this positive attitude. With the latest processors available, these really are incredibly neat machines. We opted for PIII 750 processors but if purchasing now you would undoubtedly be a significant step up on this.

THE PERFORMANCE
Previous to the introduction of small form factor PCs it used to be reasonable to apply the adage 'the smaller the slower'. However, now this is not the case. Although not exclusively restricted to these LCD PCs, small can now be just as powerful although it is still the case that PCs designed for portability tend to be slightly underpowered. Critically however you do pay a slight premium for the design and consequently the 'bang per buck' is not quite what it would be if you took a standard desktop and separate LCD monitor. Although you do get the usual range of power graphics cards (we opted for an NVidia chipset that is more than capable of meeting our work needs) the upgradability is reduced by switching to this all in one unit. Off the shelf parts cannot just be dropped into the case with these however so if you enjoy buying a PC and then going through a number of upgrade paths over the next two or three years then this may not be an advisable purchase.
As is typical of lower priced packages too, the LCD monitor whilst fine is quite clearly not the top end of the market and the quality reflects this. For work it is fine but the colours are slightly jaded when compared with my better quality LCD screen at home.

PORTABILITY
Acer do not intend these machines to be moved around as much as a laptop and their weight and bulk reflects this. They are substantially more portable than a standard desktop with large CRT monitor however they are also far less portable than the largest of laptops. As part of this weight is deliberate and supports the stability of the product with a heavy 'foot' to ensure the product does not tip or become knocked over easily. However, to enable easier redelployment in the workplace or sharing with other siblings in the home they do have a built in 'handle' behind the screen that enables one handed moving of the device. Considering that you are moving both the monitor and the PC with that one hand this does make them hugely more portable than a standard desktop PC.

THE BITS NOT WORTH DISCUSSING
If you want the statistics on this particular machine please do click for further information by the product name at the top of the screen. If I began discussing the size and speed of memory and harddrives I would just be listing statistics that are irrelevant for any purchaser as this machine is no longer available but its bigger brothers are and are in many ways similar. (512Mb RAM and 80 Gb HDD for those who are holding on for the stats!)
More useful is to understand that even on the machines sold today the general standard of the components is good but the components are as in most packages slightly underspecified compared to what is available at the time in a desktop PC for a similar price. So, compare to a similar priced desktop and expect your RAM to be slightly less, your hard disk to be slightly smaller and certainly slower and your graphics card to be slightly less exciting. It all comes down to what you want the machine for ... if you want a cutting edge games machine then do avoid laptops and LCD PCs however although slightly lower specified than desktops of a similar price the components are reliable and 20 machines have developed no faults.

OVERALL
The machines are good. They work well and have transformed the IT suite as a result of their space saving footprint. They are far better than comparably priced laptops in terms of performance and a good balance between price and performance. I do recommend for those purchasers considering a tidier desk space.

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