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Acer Aspire XC Desktop: i3-10105, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Win 10 (Certified Refurb)
$170
$450
62% off
+ Free Shippingat eBay
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I use it as a a PLEX server and it works great.
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.... your post made me laugh, and figured I would make it a comic routine. Peace.
Post your userbenchmark on both your pc's.
I still think you might be over thinking this. Use your new PC doing the same type stuff you do on your older PC, maybe watch 4k ultra youtube videos, and watch movies, etc.
It does sound like you are bummed out about your NEW PC. You were expecting much better "scores". For 200 dollars, it is newer pc with newer features, ... how much did you old i3 cost when you bought it?
Actually, use the PC , then if you don't like it return it within 30 days. Those test are comparing this PC to the top of the line, SUPER HIGH END PC's with 2,000 dollar graphic cards, ...etc. You bought a 200 dollar PC with i3-10th gen processor, with all the other goodies. This is NOT a gaming machine! This PC scores great for average run of the mill uses. I have a couple of NEW xbox's I bought a few months back for gaming. And this PC works great for internet, email, movie watching, etc.
In either case, maybe you need to get a much better, more expensive PC. The only Question is ... does it do stuff faster and better than your old PC at a good price. How much was your old PC on the day you bought it.
p.s. You stated you did a clean install from usb stick , right. Did you update all the drivers, and bios, and other stuff, ... if NOT ... your score would suck. I'm on windows 11, and I had to get a ton of updates and make sure all drivers, etc, are current. It makes a difference. Then relax with your PC, and have a little fun on it. What size screen are you using, I'm on 50 inch QLED 4k, and have hdmi switch to 65 inch 4k in other room, both using this PC and stuff looks great.
I bought this to replace my aging pc that has been running 24/7 (except after power outages) for 8-9 yrs.
This pc is not really noticeably faster than my old home built pc. As I was switching between them, I actually forgot which I was using. After all these years, and based on the cpu benchmark tests, I expected more from the cpu. The ram is no better. The ssd is no better. Video is no better. Etc. Etc.
My pc cost me maybe $500 all those years ago (right around the MSRP of this pc). Everything is more expensive when you buy it by the individual parts. If you tried to assemble a car based on what the individual parts cost, it would easily cost twice of what the msrp list price for the car is sitting on the lot. Lol. My old pc has room (and power due to a real pc power supply) for a full sized video card, but I'm not a gamer. 4k looks beautiful and plays smoothly from the built in graphics. I think I'm using a 24" dell lcd. Nothing too fancy. The graphics scores on this Acer are basically in line with what I'm already getting with my 8 yr old cpu-gpu. My pc is also my plex server and has two 3.5" HDD's with all my movies in it.
I did a clean install on the acer TWICE. First with a usb stick. It ran fine until I got the blue screen of death (said something about "no bootable device") after I started applying updates. It's the same thing others are reporting has happened. After I read about the possible intel nvme controller issue, I switched the controlled to ahci in the bios and was able to boot it somehow into the advanced startup page and do a "cloud install" of windows, which worked for getting it running again.
My old pc was based on a standard low end Gigabyte mini ITX motherboard. It's nothing fancy at all.
It was probably $100 itself. The i3-6100 cpu was probably $100. It's in a small cube shaped case maybe 1 foot square. I think I paid $10 for the Windows 10 activation code on eBay all those years ago. Lol.
I already requested a return label for the acer 👍🏼
This is not a bad pc. It's just no better than my old pc. I was expecting more from the "specs". This cpu is maybe 50% faster than mine, and mine is quite snappy already. I would recommend this pc to someone looking for a basic machine. It didn't look inside mine, but it looked new and came with all the accessories.
Hopefully you had a little fun playing with the New PC to see if it would work for you. Turned out it wasn't the right fit for you.
Hope the return process goes smooth for you.
Nice hanging out with you.
Peace
p.s. I thought about what you did. You did exactly the opposite of what I did!
I got the pc, plugged it in, turned it on, and then did all the updates, and Acer care center to make sure I got all the patches and fixes, etc. Once it was fully updated, in the course of the next couple of days, I got extra ram and added SSD card for data storage. I kept it Simple and Sweet! And everything worked. Then I experimented with windows 11, and just had MS update my PC going from windows 10 to 11 . And I tried windows 11 for a few hours, and I didn't like it, scared of "new" experience, and... it took me about 5 minutes for pc to take me back to windows 10 and everything was Peaceful and Enjoyable, and I got to hang out with the nice people on SD in the forums back in JULY.
Many of us experimented with lots of stuff, adding graphic cards, and experimenting, and it was good experience. In fact, I liked this PC so much I got another one. My first was an i5-11th gen Acer, so the next was i3-10th gen Acer, and it was good experience too. Once you own one of these Acer's the others are basically the same. Over a month, I tried windows 11 again, and this time made commitment to put windows 11 on every PC I owned. And I did have a few hipcups , but after a week, it felt like HOME! I bought more of these Acers, I was having so much fun. So I bought the celeron 88 PC, and it's a laptop in a desktop. That was fun too.
I went with the flow. You on the other hand did the USB install thing, and ran into troubles at every turn. And you are returning it to go back to 7 year old PC.
I told you a few times to relax and play with the PC, but you were frustrated because you didn't see so much difference between this PC and your 7 year old PC. Many of us in these ACER threads know the story, we have seen it. Walk before you RUN! ONE step at a time. Go slow. Was the advice many people were giving back in July. And it worked for me. I was using my Acer i5-770 and was used to it, and wondered if I made a mistake with buying these NEW Acers, but since I took my time, to find NEW ways to do stuff, it worked better for me.
It's like loving an OLD pair of shoes that are well worn and feel comfortable, but on last legs. And getting brand new shoes, that feel stiff and hurt my feet, until I break them in, and then smooth sailing, and then trying on the OLD PAIR of shoes seems out-dated, and doesn't look that good. We all have that experience.
Hopefully you had a little fun playing with the New PC to see if it would work for you. Turned out it wasn't the right fit for you.
Hope the return process goes smooth for you.
Nice hanging out with you.
Peace
p.s. I thought about what you did. You did exactly the opposite of what I did!
I got the pc, plugged it in, turned it on, and then did all the updates, and Acer care center to make sure I got all the patches and fixes, etc. Once it was fully updated, in the course of the next couple of days, I got extra ram and added SSD card for data storage. I kept it Simple and Sweet! And everything worked. Then I experimented with windows 11, and just had MS update my PC going from windows 10 to 11 . And I tried windows 11 for a few hours, and I didn't like it, scared of "new" experience, and... it took me about 5 minutes for pc to take me back to windows 10 and everything was Peaceful and Enjoyable, and I got to hang out with the nice people on SD in the forums back in JULY.
Many of us experimented with lots of stuff, adding graphic cards, and experimenting, and it was good experience. In fact, I liked this PC so much I got another one. My first was an i5-11th gen Acer, so the next was i3-10th gen Acer, and it was good experience too. Once you own one of these Acer's the others are basically the same. Over a month, I tried windows 11 again, and this time made commitment to put windows 11 on every PC I owned. And I did have a few hipcups , but after a week, it felt like HOME! I bought more of these Acers, I was having so much fun. So I bought the celeron 88 PC, and it's a laptop in a desktop. That was fun too.
I went with the flow. You on the other hand did the USB install thing, and ran into troubles at every turn. And you are returning it to go back to 7 year old PC.
I told you a few times to relax and play with the PC, but you were frustrated because you didn't see so much difference between this PC and your 7 year old PC. Many of us in these ACER threads know the story, we have seen it. Walk before you RUN! ONE step at a time. Go slow. Was the advice many people were giving back in July. And it worked for me. I was using my Acer i5-770 and was used to it, and wondered if I made a mistake with buying these NEW Acers, but since I took my time, to find NEW ways to do stuff, it worked better for me.
It's like loving an OLD pair of shoes that are well worn and feel comfortable, but on last legs. And getting brand new shoes, that feel stiff and hurt my feet, until I break them in, and then smooth sailing, and then trying on the OLD PAIR of shoes seems out-dated, and doesn't look that good. We all have that experience.
Yep. Actually closer to 9 yrs old! Lol. Using both my tried and true hand built PC that's never let me down in all these years and this Acer, I saw basically ZERO improvement. Nothing about it was actually any "better". Tests may show the Acer's cpu is faster, but you wouldn't know it just from normal use. The fact that none of the other PC's I've built or used has ever given me the apparently common error that I and others had with the booting issue on this Acer sticks in the back of my mind. I was totally confident in it until that happened. Acer should address that, whatever is causing it. That may be one of the reasons why these are being "refurbished".
I do wish I had the 3 hours of my life back that I spent last night trying to solve the issue. Haha! 😂😂😂
Yep. Actually closer to 9 yrs old! Lol. Using both my tried and true hand built PC that's never let me down in all these years and this Acer, I saw basically ZERO improvement. Nothing about it was actually any "better". Tests may show the Acer's cpu is faster, but you wouldn't know it just from normal use. The fact that none of the other PC's I've built or used has ever given me the apparently common error that I and others had with the booting issue on this Acer sticks in the back of my mind. I was totally confident in it until that happened. Acer should address that, whatever is causing it. That may be one of the reasons why these are being "refurbished".
I do wish I had the 3 hours of my life back that I spent last night trying to solve the issue. Haha! 😂😂😂
Keep finding what works for you, and return stuff that doesn't work for you. The only way to go.
The original deal as posted went OOS yesterday - but is now back in stock (as of the time & date of this posting). Just ordered one... hope I get a good one.
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Keep finding what works for you, and return stuff that doesn't work for you. The only way to go.
I might get a bare i3 and a better, name brand (asus, msi, etc) mini atx mobo, hopefully for $200 total for both, and use my current case, ram, PS, and SSD to upgrade my current pc.
I use the NVMe for OS (1600mb) speed, and 2 TB SSD (500mb) speed. 2TB SSD is around 100 dollars.
But I guess you can use mech hard drives if you want, I used to do that, but the super slow speeds (90mb-120mb) were hard for me to do, after NVMe with SSD.
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