Acer Veriton S2680g vs. HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower

Comparison and Differences

Acer_Veriton_S2680g.jpg case front and back pannel

HP_ProDesk_490_G2_Microtower.jpg case front and back pannel

Model
Form factor	Mini Tower	Mini Tower
CPU options	Intel Gen11 i3/i5/i7	Intel Gen4 i3/i5/i7; Celeron; Pentium;
Chipset	B560	H81
Dedicated GPU *	GeForce GTX 1650 Super	GeForce GTX 1660 Super
RAM	UDIMM DDR4-2933	DIMM DDR3-1600
RAM slots	2	4
RAM speed	2933 MT/s	1600 MT/s
RAM max	64 GB	32 GB
USB ports	(2x) USB-A 3.0; (4x) USB-A 2.0; (2x) USB-A 3.1	(4x)USB-A 3.0; (4x)USB-A 2.0;
Video ports	HDMI 1.4; DisplayPort 1.4a	VGA; DVI-D;
Other ports	RJ45; (2x) Mic, Speaker; Line in; Line out; PS/2 ports; Serial	RJ45; Hdph; Mic; Line-Out; Line-In; Serial; (2x) PS2;
Optional ports	Serial; Parallel; Card reader	SD card reader; Serial; Parallel; DisplayPort
SATA ports	4	3
PCI slots	PCIe 4.0 x16; (2x) PCIe 4.0 x1; PCI	PCIe x16; (2x) PCIe x1; PCIe x16 (wired x4);
M.2 slots	M.2 2280/2230 M-key (PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe); M.2 2230 (WiFi/BT)	N.A.
Drive bays	(2x) 3.5in; 5.25 inch slim	(2x) 3.5in; 5.25in (slim)
PSU	180/300 W	180/300 W
Weight	6.84 kg (15.07 lb)	6.5 kg (14.3 lb)
Released	2021	2014
Manual	link	link
Price**	Check Price	Check Price

** As an Amazon associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
* Dedicated GPU warning: Check if your particular power supply model has enough power. Additionally some PSUs don't come with an auxiliary PCIe power connector and you may need to buy a SATA to PCIe power adapter.

Differences between Acer Veriton S2680g and HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower

If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Acer Veriton S2680g which was released in 2021. The HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower is older and entered production in 2014.

Both models have the same form factor, meaning reoughtly they have the same phiysical size and form.

Processor

Usually the newer the generation of the CPU, the better the performance and efficiency is. If your budget allows it, you should go with the Acer Veriton S2680g as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.

Memory

The HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower has 4 RAM slots while the Acer Veriton S2680g has only 2 slot(s). This is not something to worry about. Just make sure you take it into consideration when planning how much RAM you are going to use.

The Acer Veriton S2680g is using the faster 2933 MT/s RAM. The HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower is slower by supporting RAM speeds of up to 1600 MT/s. Additionally, if you will be needing a lot of RAM, better go for the Acer Veriton S2680g as it has the ability to run 64 GB of RAM. The HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower can do a bit less at max 32 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.

Ports

Both models have the same amount of USB ports for total count of 8. If this is not enough, using a USB hub is always a viable option. What is nice about the Acer Veriton S2680g, is that it has 2 USB 3.1 port(s) which allows transfer of up to 10Gb/s. Unfortunately, the HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower has no such port, thus restricting your transfer speeds significantly. For people who want to use external drives on regular basis, this might be an issue.

Unfortunately, only the Acer Veriton S2680g has a DisplayPort. The HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower does not have one? Don't worry though, nowadays video adapters are cheap and you can get almost any combination of conversion types.

The Acer Veriton S2680g comes with an HDMI port, while the HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower does not support the interface. Of course missing HDMI port is something that can be easily fixed with a good adapter (e.g. DisplayPort to HDMI).

SATA ports are placed on the system board and it is where you connect your HDD, SSD and Optical Disk Drives. More SATA slots will allow you to have more drives running at the same time. In this regard the Acer Veriton S2680g is better equipped as it comes with 4 SATA slot(s), while the HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower has 3 slot(s).

If you want the fastest transfer speeds for your SSD, an M.2 interface is crucial. Thus, if the M.2 SSD slot is a mandatory requirement for you, go with the Acer Veriton S2680g. Sadly, the HP ProDesk 490 G2 Microtower has no such slot, and you will be forced to use the SATA interface instead.

Make sure that the available M.2 slot supports the PCIe (also called NVMe) interface. This is important as there are M.2 slots which support only the inferior SATA III interface. For comparison, the SATA III interface has max speeds of 6Gb/s, while the PCIe 3.0 x4 will support speeds up to 32Gb/s!

Power Supply

Looking at the Power Supply Unit (PSU) of the two models we don't see any differences. For either of them you get a maximum power of 300 Watts. However be careful, many models have more than one power supply option. When buying your computer, it is a good idea to get a version with the most powerful PSU. This will potentially allow you to upgrade to a more powerful GPU for example.