Desktops

Acer Veriton 9100

At a Glance

Acer Veriton 9100 Series minitower computer

By Joel StrauchAcer Veriton 9100We've always appreciated the looks of Acer systems, which aren't just basic beige boxes. The distinctive Veriton 9100--a sleek, blue-and-gray midsize tower with rounded edges--is no exception. The case features two USB ports, a headphone jack, a microphone jack on the front, and two additional USB ports on the back. The system has chassis-intrusion detection (although the internal cable wasn't hooked up to the motherboard on our test unit) and a twin-loop case lock for security. The model we tested included Intel's LANDesk Client Manager software. The 19-inch Acer P911 monitor impressed us, displaying brilliant colors on our test images and producing excellent-quality text that blurred only slightly at the maximum resolution of 1600 by 1200.The curvaceous plastic design of the tower looks nifty, but it's difficult to insert diskettes into the floppy drive, which is set deep into the curves.One of two systems we've tested with a 1.4-GHz P4 processor and 128MB of PC800 RDRAM, this Windows 2000 system earned a score of 186 on our PC WorldBench 2000 tests--11 points (6 percent) lower than a similarly configured Polywell system. After you remove two screws, the side panel slides on and off with minimal effort. Five open PCI slots, one open internal drive bay, and one open externally accessible drive bay provide room to grow, but the interior is somewhat cluttered. A system manual contains numerous illustrations and a thorough section on upgrading, but it doesn't offer much information on troubleshooting. The Acer keyboard features an attachable wrist rest and 12 Web, multimedia, and programmable hot-keys. Typing is smooth, but the backspace key is small--it's easy to accidentally press the keys around it. The 8X/8X/32X CD-RW drive is now far from the fastest available, but it's adequate for system backups.With respectable performance and an attractive design, this Acer appeals both to users' aesthetic sensibilities and to administrators' desire for a good value.1780PC WorldBench 2000 score of 186, Pentium 4-1400 CPU, 128MB of RDRAM, 256KB L2 cache, Windows 2000, 40GB hard drive, 22X-48X CD-ROM drive, 8X/8X/32X CD-RW drive, NVidia GeForce2 MX graphics card with 32MB of SDRAM, 19-inch Acer P911 monitor, integrated SigmaTel Audio sound, Acer speakers, network adapter, midsize tower case, Intel LANDesk Client Manager software, three-year parts and labor warranty, free unlimited 24-hour tech support.www.acer.com 800/733-2237

Acer Veriton 9100 Series minitower computer

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Acer Veriton 9100

At a Glance

Acer Veriton 9100 Series minitower computer

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