Customer Reviews

Acer Computer AX1700-U3700A Desktop PC (2.4 GHz Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor E2220, 4 GB RAM, 640 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DL DVD Drive, Vista Home Premium)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

For the money this is not a bad small form factor general use PC. It is fast enough to do everyday tasks like email and office use and some mild gaming. Mid level games play well enough and the integrated sound is decent. Newer games will need to be toned down some to play, like CoD4 and CoH. I play both fine with fancy features turned off. The speakers are really weak and will need replacement. I ditched the crummy mouse and keyboard and added a Logitech wave mouse keyboard combo. Speakers are being replaced as well. I can run my 22" widescreen monitor at full 1080p thru HDMI, nice feature, with no problem and enjoy the video options. Vista is nice and runs smooth. I setup and use the PS3 and Home Theater to use this as a media center, nice feature to have since I have over 100 Gigs of MP3s. Label flash CD/DVD burner is nice as well. Have not had any problems with the PC. If you don't have much space and want a new PC this is a great idea. Not a gamer PC but more then adequate for general every day use.

I bought this unit planning to run dual monitors, assured by the best buy salesman that dual monitors would run, one from the integrated vga, the other from the nvidia dvi output. I also purchased a vga-dvi adaptor. Needless to say the presence of the nvidia card rendered the on-board video deader than napoleon. I wrote to acer support. "need a dual output card" they said. Now the nvidia card *is* dual output--dvi & hdmi--so I bought another adaptor--vga to dvi + a dvi to hdmi adaptor. Tried it. The nvidia dialogue box recognized the second monitor, but it didn't work. In despair I read some of the best buy customer reviews of the ax1700. There was the clue. it comes with a vga adaptor that connects directly to the nvidia card and uses the modem slot just below. I connected that, used the dvi for one monitor, the regular vga card for the other. Turned on the unit and both monitors fired up perfectly. Dvi one had precedence, but that's adjustable through the nvidia screen.

Otherwise the computer seems quite good. I hadn't wanted to buy another one. My old Dell was fine. But it couldn't take the video card I got from work. I realize these small towers have commensurately small power supplies, but for work--using a remote pc--this computer seems fine. I like the generous usb slots, the card readers, and the small size that permits it to be placed on the desktop, very accessible, easy to use.

So far so good.
andy

I would have given only three stars but I thought that unfair because the only computer I feel is really worth buying is a MAC. Still for the money, this one is not bad. I bought it for my son. He's a musician and uses it mostly for recording. He has a large volume of stuff he saves and this has a large volume capacity. It's an Acer which is one I would recommend. I have a laptop of theirs for almost three years and it's still going strong. The price is right for what you get. I mean it's certainly not top of the line, but I think it's worth buying. The compact size is a definite plus and unlike Acer laptops it doesn't run hot at all. He does have problems running Adobe Audition, but we think it's the program combined with Windows Vista, not the computer. My son is quite famous for taking brand new things and overdoing but this computer is holding up to whatever abuse he's inflicted. I went with this because of his history, but it's turning out to be quite a good purchase. You can't beat the price and it is loaded. I did hear some NOT SO GOOD comments on this processor, but we don't see any flaws. It's quick and efficient. I recommend it.

I bought this as a refurb for $300. Three VERY important things to perhaps save you a lot of time and grief.
1. Mine did not come with a dvi to vga adapter. This item is a must to set it up with your computer monitor as Acer had disabled the VGA port on the back of the computer. This computer came with no manual and the online pdf I found was useless.
2. Setting up hdmi from the computer to hdmi on my tv for the video portion was easy. BUT getting the sound from the TV was a nightmame. Since I am not computer savvy I tried all the adjustments for sound on the TV and even DirecTv but what you have to do is go into sound via control panel and then highlight the Realtek Digital Output - click on properties and under support formats check the Microsoft WMA Pro Audio - under sample rates I checked both 44.1 khzs and 48.0 khz. This worked for me.
3. It does not come with a wifi card. However it works excellent hardwired into your router. I did, however, buy a linksys usb wireless adapter that I am having problems with - not sure if it is the adapter or the Acer or some sort of incompatibility with Vista - just don't know.

I had looked into various media center clients for serving my music and video files to my HDTV in the living room (SlingCatcher, WD, Linksys). I finally settled on this PC based on its large memory, the decent processor and graphics card, and on the generous set of USB and media connectors on both the front and back. For the time being, I have replaced the 640G Vista hard drive with another drive so that I can run Windows 7 on it and decide about committing to Vista later. Windows 7 installed with no bloatware and drives my TV using the HDMI interface directly. I was very pleased with this setup! I'll worry about going back to Vista only if I decide not to keep Windows 7, but I've been very pleased with W7 for my media applications so far. I also ditched the speakers, mouse, and keyboard since a barebones unit would have been fine for my eventual uses.

The audio signal from the built-in soundcard is decent enough for my mid-fi living room audio system, but you can use USB-based soundcards/DACs to get excellent line output if that is your penchant. I have been able to run a Pinnacle HD Mini stick on it to get HDTV off the air--works fine. I have played MKV high definition files with no problem, streamed from my office PC using the VLC media player (using an Ethernet connection for most reliable bandwidth). I have played Hulu HD streams through Firefox with a few hiccups, but I'd expect newer codecs to resolve that issue as the software improves. It plays Netflix and Pandora just fine. I am using a wireless Gyration keyboard and mouse in my living room; both connect well through a single USB receiver. I am looking into a combined keyboard/touchpad wireless unit for even less clutter in the living room. And I have played media content directly off of flash drives plugged into the front USB connectors. That covers all the usual ways I'll be running content from that PC.

The graphics capability seems to be good enough for HD/BD video and the little Web games my grandson plays on it, but certainly not up to task for hard-core gaming. It is sluggish with Second Life, but usable enough. I don't play DVDs often, but the player is certainly ok for what it is. My only complaint is just the slightly apparent fan noise, which I minimized by putting the unit a little farther away from the TV itself. During most audio playback, the audio levels mask the fan. But on quiet passages, the background sound is there. This unit needs to be well-ventilated--don't put it in a closed cabinet (a learned lesson).

All in all, with the right keyboard and software, and with help from other reviews and HTPC forums, this small Acer unit is now serving me well as the media center for my HDTV.

I bought this computer at first to be a Television PC. To watch Hulu on my big Sharp LCD. In that regard it was flawless. I did have to buy a wireless USB card to access our home wireless network but I knew that going in. They do make models with built in wireless but this one was on sell at Fry's so I got it there. After a few months, my work computer developed some problems and I brought this computer up to my office to work as my main work computer. Still flawless. It handles my two monitor setup and is just perfect for a work computer. I am very happy with Acer. I have a Acer netbook that I use on business trips and now I am looking to buy another TVPC to watch Hulu.

Maybe I am lucky with Acer and others have been unlucky, but I rate them as a best buy and excellent!

I'm not a gamer, but I am an internet addict. My older computer was super slow and I appreciate getting a new one. I hope I get much use out of this computer and don't get the issues other people have reported. But I have my doubts because other things have happened so far that no one else has reported. A huge issue is that customer support does not appear to understand English well enough to deal with customer calls.

When starting up the computer, the trial software loaded without a choice to decline. Making the recovery disc took three DVD's and a little time, but no so bad. And don't believe the outside of the box. I did call the customer support number and they do not understand simple English words nor do they understand technical items. For one thing, the outside of the box clearly states what is trial and what is included (MS Office is labeled as trial: MS Works is not) so you would think you're getting MS Works, right? I carefully wrote down the key (combo of letters and numbers) and it turns out they need to be all numbers and the letters happen to be "OEM". Who is using my key remains to be solved, but not with any assistance from Acer. Not according to the first level nor repeated calls to supervisor after supervisor. Possible fraud or just an error that could be easily fixed, who knows? Another customer service failure from this end user.

Also, I can't get my microphone to work correctly. I can hear recordings, but I seem some of the settings do not even recognize that a headphone and/or mic are plugged in. Again, customer support is of no assistance.

I'm using OpenOffice as a substitute. And I have a been trying to figure out how to get the computer/microphone issue figured out. Some of the online solutions (choosing a lower quality of sound from "studio" to "telephone" are not even offered. I have studio/CD/DVD and changing any of them does not fix the issue. Is this a flaw of the particular Vista loaded onto the computer? Also, the power button is a little odd, and you'll probably want the CPU to your left, so it's easier to see what you're doing.

Again, Acer support simply does not have enough command of the English language and for me to make a sure judgement if they are not understanding me, they don't understand anything not on their script or what. This is a new computer still under warranty. A few items that aren't working, lack of any kind of owners manual, misleading print on the box, MAJOR customer service failure make me leery. I hope I'm wrong because this computer has a lot of potential to be a good value for the price.

I rarely write reviews, but this computer and its problem inspired one. After 7 weeks of very limited use, the computer began abruptly turning completely off randomly and frequently, like someone pulled the power plug. Blogs of many other people with the same experience said either overheating or incipient power-supply failure. Taking the case off to dissipate heat helped, but was not a fail-safe solution. The system design of components tightly crammed into the slimline case is such that overheating can be expected as mine does. There is no solution to this design flaw. Best is think carefully before you buy this inexpensive computer -- do you want this likely hassle.

Bought this item 1 year ago and after 9 months of careful use the motherboard failed and now I have to find parts
for a computer that no is longer made. It's been a real problem. Otherwise it was good for my home use and worked fast for me.
However, I'm left with the impression it's not well made. Welcome to computerland!

I have this desktop setup for about 6 weeks. I use it everyday. Other than the 64x standard gave me some trouble when installing certain drivers, I did not have any problem with this pc. I don't like Vista also but don't want to pay extra for a XP downgrade. I also own 2 laptops by Acer. They seem to work well, including the one that I purchased almost 2 years ago. Considering the price and its power, this is not a bad product, although I am keeping my fingers crossed.