back to article Play unveils AspireRevo launch date

Online retailer Play.com has begun accepting UK pre-orders for Acer’s recently launched AspireRevo Ion-based small, cheap desktop PC. Acer_Aspire_Revo_Play Play UK names the AspireRevo day, and prices According to the retailer, four models of the machine will be released on 18 May for between £180 ($267/€201) and £330 ($ …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Psion trademark. Again

    Wasn't there a Psion Revo or did it die long ago enough not to count?

  2. Steven Raith

    Ooooh!

    Not too sure about this 3D game controller lark - are they trying to insinuate that the Windows ones will play games? The cheapo Linux one also has ION marked as the GPU, so maybe it's just a typo/marketing guff.

    £180 ain't bad for that though I reckon.

    Steven R

  3. /\/\j17

    Are Acer TRYING to upset Psion?!?

    First with the Netbook and now with the Revo.

    What's next - the Acer Series 5?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    3D Game controller

    As opposed to the 2D controllers we've all been using for years.

  5. James Dunmore
    Stop

    PRE, PRE, PRE is everywhere!......

    YOU CAN'T "PRE"-ORDER (well, you could, but it's stupid....)

    Ordering is something you do BEFORE you get something, i.e. you place an order to get something. Therefore a pre-order is ordering your order !! It doesn't make sense, it's rubbish.

    It may be on "pre-sale order", fair enough. But it is not on "pre-order". Exactly the same way you can't "pre-register" or "pre-warn" or "pre-book". You don't post-invoice someone do you? The whole (and dog) seems to have gone mad recently, shoving the word "pre" in front of nearly everything. Sorry, I know it's silly, but it's one of those things that bug me!

    </rant>

    Anyway great price for a media centre, etc - just a shame you can't get a bigger disk on the Linux version (Mythbuntu media server type thing). Mind you, can buy a 250GB pocket USB drive for £50 (from the same site) so would make more then enough sense to buy that separately and discreetly hang it off the back.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £179 for a networked office computer

    That cheap one presumably has Open office installed, wouldn't that make a great networked office computer?

  7. paul
    Thumb Up

    good good linux version

    I want one to connect to MythTV - the Nvidia graphics helps nicely with the decoding of HDTV.

    Well done for not putting in the windows tax.

  8. Chris Adams

    @James Dunmore

    Personally, I blame Palm.

  9. The Dark Lord

    Play Release Dates

    Play.com are quite happy to make up release dates though (to wit: GT5 on PS3, for which there is no release date), so it's almost certainly ficitious.

    Don't let James Dunmore see the Palm Pre phone...

  10. Mark Fraser
    Unhappy

    Linux

    Why when a computer is listed as running Linux, do they not go in to more detail? It would be like advertising that a computer came with Windows without mentioning whether it was 2000, XP, Vista etc.

  11. Daniel

    Why the hell have these things got atom chips in them?

    I thought the crappy little mobile chip was the first thing you ditched, when you were able to plug a cable in the back? Where is the logic of building a system whose CPU consumes 1/4 the power of the GPU? Marrying an Ion and an Atom has to be the dorkiest idea of the year. The Ion will surely never be able to run at full capacity simply because the atom wouldn't be able to give it enough work to do. It's as if they'd found three separate parts bins from three different fabs, and were trying to cobble something together using the bits.

    And they want to run Vista Permium on the more expensive ones! I'm sorry, but as far as I can see, these things are going to run like slugs. You can throw all the GPU and RAM at a problem, you like, but if you stick a toy chip in the middle, it's still going to be a lemon.

  12. James Dunmore

    Palm Pre.....

    It's not a pre-palm though.

    Going to hate to see pre-order palm-pre - the mind boggles ;)

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Totally agree...

    Acer are missing the point of the Atom chip by a mile.

  14. Chris Adams

    Re: Palm Pre.....

    However, before you pick it up, is it a pre-palm Palm Pre?

    Erm... should probably say something on topic now, or risk angering the Moderatrix.

    Have I missed the point of these? Are these essentially a netbook without a screen? They ain't going to replace any desktop usage I can think of, and you can buy a full desktop for the cost of the higher end ones. Also, the AspireOne has an external VGA port and it's portable. I just don't see a gap in the market for these things.

  15. Adrian

    You lot have missed the point

    the reason they use an Atom is because it will be switched on 24 / 7 to do multimedia (i.e. watch TV). Low power = 'green' = more sales to ecotwats.

  16. Another Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Neat, cheap linux version. Looks great.

    Amusing to see how the comments still manage to tear it a new one despite it having linux/ssd option, HD playback, can run modern games, dual monitor with HDMI support, loads of usb ports, tiny footprint, IR receiver for media centre duties, low power, dirt cheap etc.

    It's a complete PC, does pretty much everything that most people will want to use a computer for, and even quite a lot of things that us lot would be interested in.

    6 years ago, the powermac G5 was released with similar specs to this little thing.

    Top of it's class for the time, cost thousands of dollars and was a hulking great noisy metal monstrosity. Now, just a few short years later, we can get it in a tiny silent box, for 1/10th of the price.

    Here's hoping the rate of progress keeps up so I can buy a Mac Pro netbook in 2014 for £200 and use it to read the reg complaints that it doesn't support holo-vision or have a mindmeld 2.0 interface socket on the back. :)

    Oh, and the powersaving feature doesn't just have to be for ecotwats, any nerd worth his salt can do rough kwh calculations on everything, can realise that, as a 24/7 machine, one of these things is likely to save over £100/year in 'leccy.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ecotwat - a new word

    @adrian Ecotwat -- now that has made me giggle

    But they are pretty cheap, given that some of the itx cases and power supplies are £75 - £150 for a nice looking one.

  18. Roger Garner

    Simple Media Center

    Simple really... its a cheap media server that looks better than most of the rubbish cases manufacturers churn out. You don't want a powerhouse CPU or GPU... something that'll sit there on but not single handedly eating half of your lecy bill.

    Excellent to see the Linux version... does it really matter if they list what distro it is tho? Hardly a hassle if its not the flavour of the month... not like you paid for the one on there, just replace it :)

  19. Daniel

    I'd really like to see this run "modern game"atany decent speed

    Vista Premium and, say, Call of Duty 4, both at once, on one of these... what sort of frame rates? Anyone care to guess?

    Acer, themselves are saying this will be ideal for running "family friendly" games. I think we all know what that's a euphamism for.

    I stand by my original comment rearding the disparities in the hardware. Intel claim the Atom uses 2.5 Watts, TDP, running flat out. Nvidia clam 3 Watts, TDP, from the ion, while on idle cycle. So, the GPU, on idle, is consuming more power than the CPU does, when running at full speed. Start using this thing for seriouswork, and the ower consumption quadruples - for all the fact that CPU is struggling to keep up.

    And why does a media PC need to be left on all the time, anyway, other than to ensure that the Confikr boys can keep it up to date? Surely, an "ecotwat" would actually consider the "turn it off, when I'm not actually using it" option? Presumably that's what a reponsible ecotwat would do, with the 40 inch plasma screen, that he or she rather otpimistically plugged this thing into?

    Furthermore, quoting Intel, again, the Atom provides "half the performance of a Celeron 430", but consider this; putting a 430 in, instead of the Atom, would (by my estimation) add about $5 to the production costs, while offering a real media and light-gaming platform - albeit at the expense of saddling the user with the job of powering it down whenever they are finished with it.

    The Atom makes perfect sense, for saving energy, when the energy is coming out of a cheap battery, and is also having to power the display. It does not make sense for saving energy simply because you can't be arsed hitting the off button. Just turn things off, if you want to save the planet: it's not Rocket Surgery.

  20. Chris
    Unhappy

    Does it exist? Acer says no.

    I rang Acer UK to ask about this pc. The pre-sales representitive had never heard of it and told me he dealt with presales not pre-releases. After interjecting into his diatribe I polietly explained that I understood the difference between the two but surely there must be someone I could speak to in Acer about pre-releases? Well no there is not as they can only discuss items that are on sale. So how can they release a product they do not know exists? Does it turn up in the shops and then someone informs Acer who add it to their list? I am with James Dunmore on this. The whole concept is absurd. Acer's support (if you can call it that) even more so. I will not touch anything with Acer on it now as a matter of principle. As an aside why is it nigh on impossible to buy a small form desktop without comprimising on spec?

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