Acer Aspire TC-895-UA91: Budget PC Editors' Choice

The Acer Aspire TC-895-UA91 is, in many ways, just what most budget desktop shoppers are looking for.

- MATTHEW BUZZI

Affordable, compact, and full-featured, this basic mini-tower includes the essentials—plus some extras that its competitors lack. Packing a “true” desktop-strength 10th Generation Intel Core i3 processor with legitimately capable performance, a 512GB SSD, and support for USB Type-C, SD cards, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, this PC is missing nothing major and has a lot to like. (Some closely priced machines rely on lesser laptop-grade CPUs.) This combination of processing pep and feature set tops the competition in value, earning this Aspire our first 2021 Editors’ Choice award for budget desktops.

A NO-FUSS DESIGN

You can tell at a glance that this desktop is about the basics, and for this category and at this price, that’s perfectly OK. From its relatively compact size to its modest look, nothing about the design screams “powerhouse” or “flair.” The look is inoffensive, and unless an all-black device clashes with your décor, it will blend in fine with your office or bedroom setup.

It won’t take up much space on your desk or floor for a traditional tower, either, at 13.4 by 6.4 by 13.8 inches (HWD). The competing HP Slim Desktop (10.6 by 3.7 by 11.9 inches) and Lenovo IdeaCentre 3 (11.8 by 3.9 by 10.6 inches) are even more compact, but that’s fair enough when they’re even less expensive (and less powerful)—especially when one has “slim” right in the name. (These machines, as alluded to above, are based on lesser-powered laptop processors.)