Hardware Review: Acer Aspire REVO 3600

[Chainsaws]

Specifically this one.

Spec is:
Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Desktop PC, Atom 230 1.6GHz, 160GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, HDMI, nVidia GeForce 9400 ION, WIFI, Linux

Initial impressions:
It's small and slick, really small. I was actually excited that this box has a whole pc in and couldn't wait to fire it up. It's advertised as using only 65W (I haven't compared power consumption with a full desktop yet). Everything you need comes bundled in the box including a keyboard, mouse and VESA monitor mount and desk stand; the extra kit feels solid but is as minimalist as possible to save space. The keyboard and mouse are white and have an Apple sort of feel (except you can right-click with the mouse )

General Overview:
It comes shipped with Linpus Linux which is basically a menu that lets you browse the web, look at pictures on an attached memory card/device or use Skype. The boot menu is slick but those are the only features unless you install a proper OS - as a nice touch if there is an OS installed you can leave this menu active and it defaults to booting the OS after 20 seconds. Unfortunately, this is where the device falls down a little, it has an awesome wizard to help you install Windows Vista Home Premium that will install all your drivers and integrate into the OS somehow - you just supply your install CD and product key. Unfortunately you're on your own if you want to install an OS that isn't a complete joke. You'll also need a USB DVD drive or put a boot image on USB as the unit doesn't have a drive built in.

Fortunately you can install any OS you like on it, if it's something old like XP you must disable AHCI on the hard disk in the BIOS so that XP sees it as an IDE drive which does disable some of the features of SATA like NCQ so there will be a small performance hit. Windows 7 supposedly runs great on these boxes and it wouldn't have the issue of not recognising SATA disks.

Once XP was installed I noticed that the system is dual-core. I'm still not sure if they all are or if I was sent a better model by mistake as I'd read online that hte 230 Atom cpu was single-core.

This system is surprisingly snappy though. You wouldn't believe it's a 1.6 GHz with only 1GB of RAM in it.

Issues:
While I can install all the applications I want on the box and leave it running I have come accross an issue with the Windows distribtion of XBMC, or more specifically of the NVIDIA ION graphics card. The NVIDIA drivers don't support passing the grunt of video decoding to the GPU and the CPU is not powerful enough to handle 720p video or higher (720p plays but drops frames and loses sync with the audio often). I was worried about performance initially and thought that I might have to install the XBMC Live version (which is just XBMC as an OS) and put the rest of my apps on another machine. That was my original plan anyway, to only replace the XBox, until the pc was destroyed so I can't blame the Revo. It turns out, though, that I can enable VDPAU (the thing that passes the work to the GPU) as long as XBMC is running on a Linux OS. I've used Ubuntu briefly in the past so I will probably end up installing that and putting the XBMC app on it. I'm sure I can replace most of the apps I use on the machine for Linux ones. Alternatively, if I had the cash, I would definitely buy another Revo and have one as purely XBMC and another with Windows as my torrent/e-mail/fileserver and everything else server.

Conclusion:
It does exactly what I bought it for and is even better than I expected. I've tried to do too much with it in my current setup beyond what I knew for certain it was capable of and I can't blame the hardware for that. When I get it set up under Linux it is going to be one seriously beefy media device and, even choppy, the HD output is amazing to watch on my TV so it will be breathtaking when smooth. I would definitely recommend one of these devices for any non gaming application I can think of. Apparently, the more expensive models with higher spec hardware in and Windows OS bundled run Call of Duty Modern Warfare Ultimate Killing Ninja Robot Sex Machines 6 (or whatever the current de-facto benchmark game is called) really well so maybe they can be recommended for gaming machines too if you don't mind replacing the whole unit when you upgrade. Considering the size and low cost of the thing I don't think you'd mind, with wireless built in the worst fate you could give an older model is turning it into a music streaming device in another room. This sort of kit is a massive step to having computer access anywhere in your house and all the cool possibilities that come with that, it's certainly not going to open up futuristic homes for us all in the next five years but it's a massive step forward making the PC something that doesn't dominate a room and that's pretty exciting. I still have a GPU upgrade to give my games machine some extended life but after that, when the full system replacement comes, I can't see why I won't be buying one of these (or more likely its successor) and gettting rid of the bulky, power-guzzling behemoth that lives under my desk.

[Machine]

Nice review.

I've got to admit, having a server for so long has spoilt me, my only wish is that it was small enough to go next to the Telly so it could replace the sky box with something much much better. That would extend it's use beyond belief. Ahh well, maybe in the future when I have enough spare cash! £150 is a bargin, considering a SkyHD box is £200 new and arguably nowhere near as flexible.

[Aggamemnon]

Oh My God.

I Forgot To Update My Media Centre!

[Chainsaws]

Thanks for the input Agg

I don't know much about it but I stumbled across Myth TV today which is very similar to XBMC but is designed first as digital video recorder so you pop your tv tuner in the box and it records all your tv etc. I've seen 'Mythbuntu' mentioned which I guess is the app bundled with Ubuntu on a bootable cd. From the description it's a whole media app so it would replace XBMC which I'm loathed to do since by the time I want to put a tv tuner into my media setup XBMC may support them anyway. I don't know if you can record Virgin/Sky with it since you can't with retail PVRs but who knows.

This thing is definitely small enough for you to have by your tv. It makes your average Sky box look like one of those kids on the documentaries about 'Worlds Fattest Teen'.

[Machine]

Can you record programs on a schedule? I.E every week I record Top Gear, the sky box does the business every time. I'd want to at the very least be able to say "every Sunday at 8:00pm record BBC2 for 45 minutes." does that work?

My sky contract runs out this year and I don't plan to renew, if I can obtain something that records on demand then I've fulfilled that hole in my plan and I save 30 quid a month, over 5 months I make back £150 (cost of your box) over the remaining 7.. I save 30 quid a month! so it makes perfect financial sense.

I also have the option of watching films from the PC on the telly (Currently use the computer) which would benifit from the larger screen.

Also, I should review my headphones, I let Charlotte try them out on one of her favourite songs which I got as a FLAC file, I kid you not when I say she came off in actual tears and told me they were worth the 90 quid!

[Chainsaws]

Yes, you can. How it works...I don't know because I don't care. If you're interested Google 'Myth TV' or 'Mythbuntu'.

XBMC has no recording capability, just playback.

Your simplest option is to get a FreeSat box with a build in PVR, there are even a couple of HD channels. Just make sure you keep your Sky arial lead handy when you get rid of the box.

[Machine]

Excellent. My dish and cable will at some point need extending, do you think this is something I could pick up from somewhere?

What I mean is you know where my Telly is? Well, imagine if it was mounted as a flatscreen over the fireplace with hypothetical newly purchased ATOM standing next to it with my freesat box too, (I would build an alcove into the wall to house these). My cable literally ends where my telly is today, it'll need another 3 metres.

[Chainsaws]

I have an extension kit you can have if I can find it. I ended up not needing it as I got Virgin to do it instead. I bought it from Argos for a few quid. If you want to read up best practice it's standard coax(coaxial) cable. The cable is pretty thick so I imagine it's hard to work with but if you did a good job on the extension it should last forever.

[Machine]

Well, that cable we made for my server is still working! Sounds good, that was the one thing I was worried about with the living room change. Cables I was thinking of making channels in the wall (as I'll be replastering), maybe with plastic tubing? I'm really not sure if thats possible, if not then those plastic cases will have to do but I think those are messy sometimes.

Now all I need to do is start poking Fix about my plastering so he can come and do it before I turn 50.

EDIT : Solution online seems to indicate "Dry walls", I.e a fake wall over your real wall that has a tiny gap in order to feed cables behind it. Hmmmm.

[Chainsaws]

You'd be surprised how unobtrusive a cable along your skirting or even some small white trunking can be. If you want to be really creative get a couple of picture hooks and some fishing line and dig out your channel in the wall. Put a hook at either end and run the line in a loop around them so that it can move freely. Plaster up the wall leaving access panels at either end of the channel and you have yourself a cable pully for fitting new cables! If it breaks you can always feed through another line by tying to the end of an installed cable and using it to pull through then putting the cable back with the new pully. My advice about cabling through gaps...leave craploads more space than you think you need because you'll end up wishing you had if you don't and if you have too much space you'll never give it a thought.

[Fix]

UPDATE TEH MEDIA OF CENTRE!

I don't know when I'll have time to plaster cables into walls. I suggest using cable trunking. Much easier, and more versatile.

[Chainsaws]

UPDATE:

I've got a second one of these running Windows 7 now and, despite only having 1GB of RAM, it actually runs pretty well.