Acer announces first NVIDIA Ion-based Nettop: AspireRevo

DiGiTaL MoNkEY · 8th April 2009, 2:30 PM

Quote:

Pushed just a little by Nvidia, Acer has now revealed the first commercial product based on the ION platform, the AspireRevo. Coming in a quite compact casing, the nettop features a 1.6 GHz Atom 230 CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, a maximum of 250GB of storage space, GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a 4-in-1 card reader.

"The AspireRevo is small and quiet enough to go anywhere, yet big enough to handle all the needs of your digital lifestyle," said Gianpiero Morbello, corporate vice president of marketing for Acer. "It's perfectly suited for the living room, because Nvidia ION provides a brilliant graphics experience with digital photos, watching video, and playing family-friendly games."

In terms of connectivity, the little AspireRevo offers VGA and HDMI outputs, six USB 2.0 ports, two audio outs and an eSATA port too. The Acer AspireRevo is set to be loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium and make its debut this summer, either at the end of Q2 or in the first part of Q3. The nettop's price has not been revealed.

Source & Pictures: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/a...op-aspirerevo/

SLATYE · 8th April 2009, 2:33 PM

That looks wonderful! Ion has removed most of the big shortcomings that Atom systems had - lack of RAM support, no HD video decoding, and slow video performance.

EDIT: I'm a bit worried about having the power button on the side. Won't it fall over if you push the button a bit too hard?

elstado · 8th April 2009, 2:52 PM

Wow, that looks and sounds really awesome.

Pity 99% of stuff from Acer is a POS.

McbLt · 8th April 2009, 4:31 PM

Really looking forward to see what this platform offers!

DiGiTaL MoNkEY · 9th April 2009, 10:48 AM

Gizmodo got a big of hands on time with the product..

But its a shame how Intel Atom CPU just can't handle Youtube HD Or Hulu HD Video services...but its no real surprise out of a year old part.

Quote:

Snip....But let's just jump into the impressive part: It played back an Blu-ray movie with an average video bitrate of 28 megabits per second—peaking around 36—smoothly and basically flawlessly. If you're not up on bit rates, check out this explainer, but the important part is that it's a ton of data, something a regular Atom-powered machine couldn't handle without choking hard. It ran Spore, albeit at the lowest graphics settings at 1024x768, with a buttery smoothness. Google Earth ran very usably, even though you wouldn't think it was running off a MacBook Pro or anything by any means. What these apps all have in common, and why the Revo can perform with them better than standard Atom computers is that these apps all leverage graphics cards—in this case, Nvidia's—for power, instead of just using the CPU.

There are limitations to the wonder, even on the video front. Since nettops and netbooks are built for surfing the internet, a fairly egregious hole right now for Ion is HD internet video. HD Hulu or HD YouTube clip wouldn't run noticeably better on the Revo than another Atom 230 computer. That's because Flash and Silverlight, the two major mediums of web video, don't use graphics acceleration yet, though Nvidia's hoping they will by the time Revo and other Ion products—of which there are at least 40 in the pipeline—ship (probably) around June, since it would give Nvidia that much more leverage in the netbook space.

More here: http://i.gizmodo.com/5204432/acer-re...puters-forever

Danthemanz · 9th April 2009, 12:26 PM

Where is the dual core? The single core Atom is so slow!
Good on Nvidia though for fixing Intel's 945 chipset issue....

DiGiTaL MoNkEY · 9th April 2009, 7:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danthemanz

Where is the dual core? The single core Atom is so slow!
Good on Nvidia though for fixing Intel's 945 chipset issue....

Based on the sample Gizmodo got, its got Intel's year-old Atom 230 processor which is a single core with hyperthreading. They should of put a Atom 330 in there, or maybe they'll have another model.

figrin · 10th April 2009, 2:00 AM

Just tell us the price son!!

If it's above $400US I still think it's too expensive.

DiGiTaL MoNkEY · 10th April 2009, 7:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by figrin

Just tell us the price son!!

If it's above $400US I still think it's too expensive.

From the Gizmodo preview: Nvidia couldn't reveal the final pricing me, only that it's "really aggressive" and "well under" $500.

bryn · 11th April 2009, 8:16 AM

The Inq (as dodgy as they are) had some interesting things to say about it. Their take was "why didn't they put a Celeron in it- $20 more & much faster".

Which is an interesting point. I like Atom (I have an Atom 330 system) but sometimes other options do make sense...

DiGiTaL MoNkEY · 11th April 2009, 9:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryn

The Inq (as dodgy as they are) had some interesting things to say about it. Their take was "why didn't they put a Celeron in it- $20 more & much faster".

Which is an interesting point. I like Atom (I have an Atom 330 system) but sometimes other options do make sense...

I'm not sure how tied nvidia is in regard to what intel allows to be put in a atom based platform. I doubt they have a free-for-all use of the atom processor, as the Atom 230 and 330 are for the nettop whereas the other atom products are aimed at netbooks and MID's.

While a celeron would be nice, a dual core Atom 330 would do the job and keep pricing low.

bryn · 11th April 2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiGiTaL MoNkEY

While a celeron would be nice, a dual core Atom 330 would do the job and keep pricing low.

That was the point they were making- a Celeron actually isn't much more expensive, it wouldn't increase the price that much. The main benifit of Atom over Celeron in the laptops is batterylife, something thats not important in the mini-desktop scene.

zfind · 11th April 2009, 2:37 PM

Man I was stoked to see this thing at the price point it was, but for US$400 I want to be able to do some reasonable gaming given that you could build your own desktop that would run most games well for that much. Apples and oranges though, the form factor of the Revo is great.

Is there any chance in hell that this would run Empire Total War?

I don't have the luxury of a full desktop

figrin · 11th April 2009, 3:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiGiTaL MoNkEY

From the Gizmodo preview: Nvidia couldn't reveal the final pricing me, only that it's "really aggressive" and "well under" $500.

I rather they say "under $300", than "well under $500".

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryn

The Inq (as dodgy as they are) had some interesting things to say about it. Their take was "why didn't they put a Celeron in it- $20 more & much faster".

Which is an interesting point. I like Atom (I have an Atom 330 system) but sometimes other options do make sense...

That makes sense. People are jamming the Atom processor into places where a normal processor would make a better choice.

DiGiTaL MoNkEY · 11th April 2009, 3:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by figrin

I rather they say "under $300", than "well under $500".

Yah same here, but i guess they don't want to give anything away atm.

8th April 2009, 2:33 PM	#2
SLATYE SLATYE, not SLAYTE Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Canberra Posts: 21,040	That looks wonderful! Ion has removed most of the big shortcomings that Atom systems had - lack of RAM support, no HD video decoding, and slow video performance. EDIT: I'm a bit worried about having the power button on the side. Won't it fall over if you push the button a bit too hard? __________________ Main system: Pentium-D 805 \| 1GB (2x 512MB) PQI DDR400 \| Gigabyte 8I865GMK-775 \| Xtreama Radeon 9800Pro with Zalman ZM-80HP-D \| 320GB WD SATA HDD \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w Laptop: Compal EL80 \| C2D T7200 \| 320GB Fujistu HDD \| 2GB DDR2-667 \| GF Go 7600 Last edited by SLATYE; 8th April 2009 at 4:34 PM.

8th April 2009, 2:52 PM	#3
elstado Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 942	Wow, that looks and sounds really awesome. Pity 99% of stuff from Acer is a POS. __________________ Current mod project: Green machine -updated 27.09<---Click me! Uni/gaming rig: E8400@3.6GHz, EP35-DS3R, 4GB DDR2, 9800GT, 2x 500GB WD, Antec Sonata III, Zalman 9700, 22" Samsung, 24" BenQ + more Successful trades [PERTH] WANTED: Cheap working notebook PC, click this for info

11th April 2009, 2:37 PM	#13
zfind Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Helsinki / Perth Posts: 1,603	Man I was stoked to see this thing at the price point it was, but for US$400 I want to be able to do some reasonable gaming given that you could build your own desktop that would run most games well for that much. Apples and oranges though, the form factor of the Revo is great. Is there any chance in hell that this would run Empire Total War? I don't have the luxury of a full desktop __________________ My Samsung NC10 netbook review My AudioTechnica ATH-ANC7 headphones review

8th April 2009, 4:31 PM	#4
McbLt Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Adelaide, SA 5000 Posts: 1,102	Really looking forward to see what this platform offers!

9th April 2009, 12:26 PM	#6
Danthemanz Old School Admin Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,486	Where is the dual core? The single core Atom is so slow! Good on Nvidia though for fixing Intel's 945 chipset issue....

10th April 2009, 2:00 AM	#8
figrin Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,098	Just tell us the price son!! If it's above $400US I still think it's too expensive.

11th April 2009, 8:16 AM	#10
bryn Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Sydney Posts: 967	The Inq (as dodgy as they are) had some interesting things to say about it. Their take was "why didn't they put a Celeron in it- $20 more & much faster". Which is an interesting point. I like Atom (I have an Atom 330 system) but sometimes other options do make sense...