Acer Revo R3610

[sneeks]

I bought one of these on Wednesday and it was delivered yesterday. Only been able to have a quick look at it but so far I'm very impressed.

It was purchased to replace my Apple TV running XBMC as I wanted a always on solution for a Squeezebox Server. I had considered a NAS unit but most at a reasonable price range are hugely lacking in processor power.

The Revo handles XBMC with ease and it looks great on the plasma TV. HD playback is also brilliant.

For £245 I can't complain at all, next step is to sell my Apple TV.

•Acer Aspire Revo R3610 Desktop PC Atom (330) 1.6GHz 2048MB 250GB LAN WLAN Windows 7 Home Premium (Integrated Graphics) + Wired Keyboard and Mouse•Chipset : nVidia ION•CPU Bus Speed : 533 MHz•CPU Family : Intel Atom•CPU Speed : 1.6 GHz•Depth : 18.0 cm•Electrical Power Available : 65 W•eSATA Port : 1 x eSATA•Form Factor : Desktop Unit•Hard Disk Interface : Serial ATA•Hard Disk Size : 250 GB•Hard Disk Type : Serial ATA•HDMI Port : 1 x HDMI•Headphone Ports : 1 x Hi Definition Headphone Port•Height : 18.0 cm•Integrated Network : Yes•Integrated Sound : Yes•Integrated VGA : Yes•Integrated WLAN : Yes•Keyboard : Keyboard•L2 Cache : 1 MB•Memory Size : 2048 MB•Memory Type : SDRAM•Microphone In Port : 1 x Microphone In•Model Name : R3610•Network Card : Gigabit•Network Card Data Link Protocol : Ethernet•Network Card Speeds : 10/100/1000 Mbps•Network Interface Options : Integrated•Number of Hard Disks : 1•Operating System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium•Package : Micro-FCBGA•PCI Express Slot : 1 x Mini PCI Express Slots•Pointing Device : Mouse•Processor Number : 330•Processors (Max) : 1 (1)•RJ-45 Ports : 1 x RJ-45•S/PDIF Port : 1 x S/PDIF (Optical)•Software Included : Microsoft Office 2007 Trial with Microsoft Works 8.5 • Oberon GameZone • eSobi • McAfee Internet Security Suite 2009 (Trial) • Adobe Reader • Acer Arcade Deluxe • Acer eRecovery Management • MyWinLocker • Nero 9 Essentials•Sound Card : 7.1 High Definition Audio•Sound Card Interface : Integrated•Total Hard Disk Size : 250 GB•USB Ports : 6 x USB 2.0•VGA Port : 1 x 15-pin D-sub•Video Card : Integrated into Chipset•Width : 3.0 cm•Wired Network : Yes•Wireless LAN : IEEE 802.11b/g/n•Wireless Network : Yes

 

[Has]

I had one of these. Infact i had 2 of these!

Both returned due to not having 802.11n


Acer specs and the retailers had it listed as having it, but Acer had messed up.
Is your wireless card an Atheros AR5007EG ?

Wasnt too bad of a unit. Watch out for the noisy fan after a few weeks...

 

[sneeks]

Most comments I have read prior to buying have said it runs near silent, that's certainly my experience last night. I'll check the wireless card spec tonight.

 

[David]

really hated atom when i used it, glad ur having a good experience with it thugh, i'm all for the cheap hd mc products

 

[sneeks]

I bought the dual core version, not sure I could have coped with the single core model. The nVidia ION graphics card certainly helps with HD playback, the Atom only runs at 20% or less while playing 1080p files.

 

[Has]

The Dual Core 330 atom is the only way to go in these. the older single cores were rather naff all round.

I dont think acer will resolve the 802.11n soon enough for me so im going to go for the Asus EB1501 as soon as anyone stocks it!

Its pretty much same spec as the revo but has 802.11n and a dvd burner built in.

 

[sneeks]

Yeah the Asus looks like a good PC, I had considered waiting for that but the extras were not important for my needs so did not justify the higher cost.

 

[sneeks]

I've replaced the Acer 64bit W7 install with W7 32bit and it definitely runs faster now.

 

[Has]

Quite a few people doing that.

How you finding the unit overall?
Im still deciding on the Asus unit or i might just build my own.

 

[sneeks]

Perfect so far for my needs. The unit itself is not amazingly powerful when it comes to most standard tasks but it handles HD media playback with ease and can happily stream iTunes music to my Airport Express at the same time. Processor load for HD media is always under 20% so the nvidia graphic card is definitely doing all of the work.

After hours of use it remains silent which is a bonus.

 

[sneeks]

Is your wireless card an Atheros AR5007EG ?

I checked my card and it is indeed a AR5007EG. It's not a major concern for me and I can always replace it in the future with a different card if I need one.

 

[Has]

Good to hear

Mine wasnt too bad, was just simply that it didnt have 802.11n as per specs and it wudnt keep up with my movies over wifi.

I played with the Asus machine this week, liking that. They are also releasing another unit without a dvd drive so its basicly the same as the Acer..

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/12161208/Asus-Eee-Box-EB1012-Intel-Atom-Dual-Core-330-1-6GHz-2GB-250GB-Windows-7-Premium-Nettop-Black/Product.html?&_$ja=tsid:11518|cc:|prd:12161208|cat:Computers#

 

[Has]

I checked my card and it is indeed a AR5007EG. It's not a major concern for me and I can always replace it in the future with a different card if I need one.

I was going to replace mine.

But the only way to open it, was to remove the warranty sticker = no more
and the N cards have 3 antennas which this only carries 2.

That was my only gripe or i would have done myself.

 

[Tom]

Does this VESA mount?

Nice bit of kit.

 

[sneeks]

Yes it comes supplied with a VESA mount.

The warranty sticker can be removed and Acer have said they will honour any faults so long as not caused by any upgrades you were making at that time.

 

[David]

my issue with the whole thng was the piccy drivers. what codecs are you using on this thing for hd playback?

 

[sneeks]

I'm using XMBC with Media Player Classic Home Cinema set as a external player for all HD format files. It's working great. The latest nvidia drivers were also needed.

 

[Griff]

How have you been finding this sneeks? It's obvious you were impressed but now it's 3 months later how has it been?

I'm really tempted to buy one myself.

 

[Adamio]

I'd be interested to find out how it's been going aswell ?

My laptop power supply has died so i'm looking at getting one of these

 

[sneeks]

It continues to work perfectly for what I need. XBMC within W7 now has GPU acceleration which allows playback of HD material without any issues.

This replaced my Apple TV and is a far more capable option.

What are you hoping to use it for?

 

[Adamio]

Not too much really.

Processing and sorting my photos, watching videos, RDP, website design work and some software development work.

I'm looking at this one - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172708

I'll still use my Xbox to watch DVD's and my Virgin V+ Box for TV

I rarely take the laptop out anymore so this will fit neatly behing my TV

 

[sneeks]

I'm not sure i'd recommend a 3610 for any processor hungry applications which cannot make use of GPU acceleration. A Core2Duo machine would be much better for those needs.

My 3610 is currently only using 2gb ram but I'm planning to upgrade soon.

 

[J273]

I'm not sure i'd recommend a 3610 for any processor hungry applications which cannot make use of GPU acceleration. A Core2Duo machine would be much better for those needs.

My 3610 is currently only using 2gb ram but I'm planning to upgrade soon.

Sneeks,Would you say this would be an ideal NAS solution?

Ive just recently sold my qnap NAS, and was thinking of using one of these as a small server.

I ideally want to access it remotely using my iphone (logmein) which i couldn't do with the cut down Linux based qnap nas.

Also would it be suitable to stream HD videos from the revo to say a PS3/xbox.etc?

Thanks

 

[sneeks]

Yes as a NAS solution it is perfect. I use my 3610 as my Squeezebox server in the house and it works great for that. I had considered a qnap device but this was far better value and offers much more options in use.