Acer Aspire Z5771-UR31P review: Acer Aspire Z5771-UR31P

Acer's $899 Aspire Z5571 comes across like the perfect commodity all-in-one. Its plastic case and clunky touch software won't win any design awards, but it has a 23-inch display, and just enough performance and overall capability to justify its cost. And on close comparison with its competitors, you'll find this all-in-one actually has a few notable advantages. I can't recommend the Aspire Z5571 if you shop based on a PC's looks, but it's worth considering for its workaday performance and solid core feature set.

7.0

Acer Aspire Z5771-UR31P

The Good

The <b>Acer Aspire Z5571</b> offers respectable performance and a strong feature set for its price, including HDMI input and output jacks.

The Bad

This system's biggest faults are its cumbersome design and uninspired touch software.

The Bottom Line

Acer's Aspire Z5571 isn't the most polished all-in-one, but with an able balance of performance and features for the dollar, it offers enough value to entice anyone in need of a basic computer with home entertainment versatility.

As with most of Acer's other desktops, the Aspire Z5571's thick bezel is mostly inoffensive. The white trim around the black body has a retro-modern vibe to it that, if not original, shouldn't prove overly controversial. The enclosed foot on the front of the system acts as keyboard storage, which is fine, but also unnecessary, and makes the system appear chunky.

As the Aspire Z5571 has a touch screen, it also comes with a suite of touch-based software applications, none of which stand out. You're free to ignore them, as always, though you might entertain yourself for a few minutes with the various Microsoft Surface apps.

Acer's Clear.fi software is the other prominent application included with the Aspire Z5571. Designed to enable you stream media across your home network, Clear.fi emulates much of the networking functionality found in basic DLNA-capable PCs and consumer electronic devices, as well as streaming functionality from any of the various cloud services. Like touch software, Clear.fi does no real harm, and you might find it useful if you have other Acer products, but it's mostly redundant.

The Acer's core components look unremarkable, and for the most part they do little to make the system stand out from others in its class. The fast clock speed of its Core i3 CPU pays off compared with the slower Core i5 chip in the comparable Toshiba DX735-D3201 all-in-one. And while Hewlett-Packard offers a much more robust configuration in its Omni 220-1080qd for just $100 more than the Acer system, the Acer has an important feature that HP lacks: an HDMI input.

The Aspire Z5571 actually has both HDMI input and output. That means you can connect a laptop or a second display to the system easily, and also that you can input an external video component like a game console or a cable box. That turns the Aspire into a home media hub, which makes this system much more appealing in a dorm or another setting where you might have many media devices, but not enough room for more than one screen.

Cinebench 11.5 score
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs

Rendering single CPU

HP Omni 220-1080qd (2.8GHz Core i7-2600S, fall 2011)

5.68 

1.51 

Apple iMac 21.5-inch (2.5GHz Core i5-2400, spring 2011)

3.96 

1.25 

Acer Aspire Z5771 (3.3GHz Core i3-2120, fall 2011)

3.15 

1.31 

Dell Inspiron One 2320 (2.5GHz, Core i5-2400s, fall 2011)

3.09 

1.16 

Samsung Series 7 (2.7GHz Core i5-2390T, summer 2011)

2.96 

1.23 

Toshiba DX735-D3201 (2.4GHz Core i5-2430M, fall 2011)

2.66 

1.14 

Finishing in the middle of the pack on our performance charts wouldn't normally be notable, but in this Acer system it signals that you can feel confident using this desktop for day-to-day computing. It's not meant for gaming, and you will hit the limit of its performance if you engage in any difficult multitasking or content creation, but in conjunction with its HDMI ports, this system would be perfect as an e-mail, word processing, and Web browsing hub that also serves as a display for connected devices. HP's Omni 220, while faster, can't offer the same versatility.

The Acer's other ports are two USB 3.0 jacks, four USB 2.0 inputs, an Ethernet input, S/PDIF output, and standard analog audio jacks. The USB 3.0 and S/PDIF jacks are the standout features on that list, and while they're not all that exotic, they at least argue that Acer put some thought into the other connectivity options on this PC.

Juice box
Acer Aspire Z5771	Average watts/hour
Off (watts)	0.61
Sleep (watts)	3.82
Idle (watts)	19.82
Load (watts)	74.17
Raw (annual kWh)	97.87
Energy Star-compliant	Yes
Annual operating cost (@$0.1135/kWh)	$11.11

The Aspire Z5571 achieves that always welcome feat wherein a system draws less power than its slower competition. Credit to Acer for coming in under the Inspiron One and the Samsung Series 7 All-in-One.

Acer's standard warranty grants you a year of parts-and-labor coverage. You can also find driver downloads and a variety of other support resources if you're willing to suffer through Acer's circuitous Web site. Going by the Web site alone, you'd have no idea that standard phone support was available with this PC. The number, 800-816-2237, is listed in small type in the included manual, or you can register the system online with the serial number, which you'll find on the back panel.

Conclusion
The Acer Aspire Z5571 is not an overly remarkable PC on its own, but in the context of the rest of the current all-in-one market, this system offers the right balance of performance, features, and price. Anyone who needs a basic computer that can also serve as a home media hub will find this desktop compelling.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Acer Aspire Z5571
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 3.3GHz Intel Core i3-2120; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000 embedded graphics chip; 1TB 5,400rpm hard drive

Apple iMac 21.5-inch
Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750 graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive

Dell Inspiron One 2320
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-2400S; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 525M graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP Omni 220-1080qd
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600S; 6GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450A graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Lenovo IdeaCentre B520
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 555 graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Samsung Series 7 All-in-One
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.7GHz Intel Core i5-2390T; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000 embedded graphics; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive