Acer Veriton N4660g vs. HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower

Differences between Acer Veriton N4660g and HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower

If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Acer Veriton N4660g which was released in 2018. The HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower is older and entered production in 2013.

If you are looking for the smaller form factor the Acer Veriton N4660g is the right one for you. It is smaller than the HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower and will fit more easily under your desk.

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 N4660g as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.

Memory

Both models have have equal amount of ram slots (2 RAM). Usually two RAM slots are more than enough for most cases. However, the count should be taken into account when planning how much and what combination of RAM you are going to need for your system.

The Acer Veriton N4660g is using the faster 2666 MT/s RAM. The HP ProDesk 480 G1 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 N4660g as it has the ability to run 32 GB of RAM. The HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower can do a bit less at max 16 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.

Ports

In total the HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower has 8 USB ports. The Acer Veriton N4660g is inferior in this regard and packs 7 USB ports. In any case, if you miss USB ports, you can always purchase a USB hub. What is nice about the Acer Veriton N4660g, is that it has 2 USB 3.1 port(s) which allows transfer of up to 10Gb/s. Unfortunately, the HP ProDesk 480 G1 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 N4660g has a DisplayPort. The HP ProDesk 480 G1 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 N4660g comes with an HDMI port, while the HP ProDesk 480 G1 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 HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower is better equipped as it comes with 4 SATA slot(s), while the Acer Veriton N4660g has 1 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 N4660g. Sadly, the HP ProDesk 480 G1 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

Having a Power Supply Unit with high power rating is important, if you are going to use components which require extra power. The Acer Veriton N4660g comes with a decent 135 Watt PSU, but the HP ProDesk 480 G1 Microtower has a more powerful one rated at 300 Watts. Choosing either one depends on your specific requirements and use case. Also don't forget that some models might have more than one PSU option - try to always get the most powerful one, especially if you plan to upgrade to a powerful GPU.

Motherboard