Key Specs
Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270Memory: 1GB DDR2Storage: 160GB hard driveOptical Drives: DVD±RWMonitor: 18.4-inch LCD (WXGA, integrated)Graphics: Integrated IntelOperating System: Windows XP Home Edition
Review
Reviewed by: John A. Burek Review Date: April 2009
Our last recollection of the Averatec brand was associated with value ultraportables. It’s interesting, then, that the Averatec name recently re-emerged with a line of all-in-one (AIO) desktop PCs (which are manufactured by a company called Trigem Computer). That’s because, looking at the configurations of the company’s prosaically named All-In-One PC line, the components vary very little from those of today’s hot-selling, superportable netbooks. Compact desktop PCs with low-end specs like these, affectionately known as “nettops,” are intended to serve as a second or third computer in a household for checking e-mail, browsing the Web, and running basic applications. The key traits of a nettop are low cost and compact size, and on both of those the Averatec All-In-One PC delivers. But some issues with its integrated monitor, and the overall value proposition, keep us from recommending this system.
The Averatec All-In-One PC line is sold by several big-box retailers online (Wal-mart, Best Buy, Sam's Club), as well as in Sam's Club retail stores and via several major Web tech sellers. The system we tested came with the standard slate of core hardware that defines a modern-day netbook: 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, an Intel Atom N270 processor paired with the Intel 945GMS chipset, and Windows XP Home Edition. Being a desktop PC, however, the All-In-One does have an optical drive, in this case a multiformat DVD burner. It’s a tray-loading, not slot-loading model, with a slight design gotcha: the leading edge of the tray, a wedge of smooth plastic, is slippery to grab after you've hit the Eject button.
We tested the least-expensive version of the Averatec All-In-One PC, which has an 18.4-inch wide-screen LCD and sells for $549. Averatec also offers three versions of the system with a 22-inch screen, which are equipped with 2GB or 3GB of RAM, larger hard drives, and, in two of the three models, a TV tuner. On the model we tested, you can upgrade the memory to 2GB, but you’ll have to swap in a 2GB SO-DIMM to replace the 1GB one that’s in place; there’s only one memory slot.
The hinge (where the mounting arm meets the back of the LCD) was exceedingly wobbly in our test unit.
Of course, the major focus in any AIO desktop has to be its screen, since you can’t swap out an integrated LCD you don’t like. Averatec’s choice of a pale-blue default desktop theme did not show off the 18.4-inch screen to its advantage, so we tested the unit using DisplayMate, our standard screen-evaluation software, to dig deeper. The screen acquitted itself well through most of the test suite, and it showed no stuck pixels, but we discovered that the text legibility on this display was poorer than most. Fonts were legible down to only 6.8 points; in most LCDs we test, legibility extends under 6 points. Also, we noted that the vertical viewing angle on our test unit was narrow, making the screen highly sensitive to off-axis viewing. In our tests, we found that the limited angle made for a less-than-optimal viewing experience when we had multiple users gathered around the screen simultaneously; the view was always subprime for someone. You’ll have to adjust the screen tilt carefully for the best image.
Actually, you’ll have to adjust the screen carefully, period, because the joint that connects the LCD to the vertical arm is exceedingly wobbly. Even lightly touching the bezel of the screen makes the screen shake. As we handled the Averatec All-In-One PC throughout our testing, this unstable joint made us concerned about the display’s long-term durability if the unit is pushed around or adjusted roughly (say, by young children) or placed somewhere it would be prone to jostling. One screen aspect worth noting: You can fold the entire unit flat and mount it on a wall, which would make the hinge weakness moot. The bottom of the body has threaded holes compatible with VESA wall-mounting hardware.
The PC can fold flat for wall-mounting.
One other quibble with the screen: We tried adjusting the brightness, only to discover to our chagrin that the hardware brightness settings are governed by a single button on the front edge of the computer and limited to five increments (60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 percent), not a finely adjustable continuum. Only at 90 percent did the desktop image look acceptable.
The directional keys are half-size and placed in an awkward spot.
The other hardware was similarly hit-or-miss. On the upper edge of the screen bezel is a 1.3-megapixel Webcam, backed by CyberLink’s YouCam software, which provides good, gimmicky fun for manipulating your Webcam image. You also get a USB keyboard and mouse, both slightly undersized. The mouse, which feels plasticky but adequate, is accompanied by a slick-looking, speckled-black mouse pad. The keyboard’s key size is nearly full, but ultimately, typing on it feels like pecking away at a notebook keyboard: a bit cramped. Plus, the directional keys are half-size and crammed under the right-Shift key, rather than in the conventional spot between right-Shift and the numeric pad.
Three of the five USB ports lie along the spare back edge, along with the power port and Ethernet jack.
The body of the All-In-One, measuring 1.5x11.25x8.4 inches, resembles nothing as much as a closed netbook. The aforementioned DVD burner is on the left, and on the right side are two USB ports, plus a four-format memory-card reader (supporting SD, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro), as well as headphone, microphone, and VGA-out ports. The rear edge sports three more USB ports, plus Ethernet and power jacks. On the front edge, a row of small, round buttons governs a variety of basic functions (power on/off, brightness, volume up/down, and LCD-backlight on/off). Unfortunately, the buttons are labeled on the inward-sloping edge beneath the buttons themselves, so the text is hard to read unless you crane your neck down or tilt the whole base upward. Filling out the connectivity options is an integrated 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi chipset.
Stereo speakers and a microphone are embedded in the body of the unit and work with the PC’s integrated IDT audio chipset. Although it would mar the aesthetic simplicity of the system, we must recommend external speakers if you care about audio quality at all; the built-in ones are mediocre at best at low volumes, and cranked up to a level appropriate for movie viewing, they sounded tinny and could not handle high frequencies. That's a problem for a PC that's all about space-saving; pairing it with a set of gawky PC speakers would eliminate some of the appeal.
Despite the largely disappointing hardware, the Averatec All-In-One PC performed a little better than we expected, considering its netbook-parallel configuration. Setting up the PC was a five-minute affair: Plug in the USB keyboard and mouse, attach a network cable, plug the power adapter into the PC, then attach the power cord to the adapter and the wall. We followed that with a brief Windows XP configuration sequence and were ready to go. On our benchmark tests, the system slightly outscored the Asus Eee PC 1002HA netbook on Futuremark’s PCMark05 with a showing of 1,583. It also scored better than most netbooks on our iTunes Encoding (19 minutes and 14 seconds) and Windows Media Encoder (23 minutes and 50 seconds) tests, beating the netbook averages by approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds, and 6 minutes and 45 seconds, respectively. And on our Cinebench 10 test, a good indicator of CPU performance, its score of 830 was about 5 percent above the netbook average, and in line with another AIO nettop we tested recently, the Asus Eee Top ET1602, which turned in a score of 837 in Cinebench.
As you’d expect, serious gaming is a non-starter with this PC. We tested the game Company of Heroes at 1,024x768 and achieved a frame rate of just 2.1 frames per second, and the PC’s showing at the native resolution of 1,680x985 was well under a single frame per second.
We fully understand that in a slim $549 PC with an 18-inch screen, you can't reasonably expect world-beating performance. But, even taking in context its competitive-for-its-class performance, we can’t bring ourselves to enthusiastically recommend this version of the Averatec All-In-One PC. It’s a wholly average nettop, at best, in all other respects, and it's not bolstered by any software suite of note. (The "highlight" is a 90-day trial of Norton Anti-Virus.)
The Averatec All-In-One PC's ultraslim design is a definite plus, but considering that you can get a far more powerful small-form-factor (SFF) microtower with a better screen for less money, you need to really be in love with the design of this AIO for the purchase to make sense. At the time this was written, for example, for $50 less you could land a Vista-based Dell Inspiron 530s desktop with a 17-inch LCD, twice the RAM and hard drive, and a dual-core Pentium CPU. The Inspiron offers PCI-card expandability in its compact case, too. As it stands, the Averatec All-In-One PC can’t overcome its mediocre screen quality, disconcertingly wobbly display hinge, and poor speakers—three items you can't upgrade elegantly—to make it a good value considering the SFF competition.Price (at time of review): $549
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