Acer Aspire Revo Review

12/27/2010
Acer Aspire Revo Review

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Review Summary
The Ac er Aspire Revo Excels as a media player and handles 1080P HD video with ease. It also serves well as a desktop replac ement. Pric ing is very decent as well. The Ac er Aspire Revo falls flat when it c omes to 3D games. Update: The Ac er Aspire Revo is finally available in the US! Acer Aspire Revo AR1600 ~$200 - Amazon, Newegg, J&R, Buy.com Atom 230, 1GB RAM, 160GB, NVidia ION LE, Windows XP Home Acer Aspire Revo AR3610 ~$330 - Amazon, TigerDirect, Newegg Atom 330 (dual-core), 2GB RAM, 160GB, NVidia ION, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $316.84 $329.99
12.1 ION ASUS Eee PC 1201N - Memorial Day Sale $464 + Free Shipping
Pros
Very quiet HDMI port Wireless keyboard / mouse (some c ountries) 1080P HD Video Easily upgradable Small size Good pric e 4GB Max RAM Free Upgrade to Windows 7 $464 $749
11.6 ION Samsung N510 $560 + Free Shipping
Cons
Cant play games well Warranty sticker protecting insides (may depend on c ountry) Loose / wobbly stand. (fixed with AR3610 model) No DVI port for desktop usage. (HDMI -> DVI c onverter works great though) Limited audio out options (headphone jac k and HDMI) $560 $599.99
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Acer Aspire Revo AR3160 $317 + Free Shipping 12.1 ION ASUS Eee PC 1201N - Memorial Day Sale $464 + Free Shipping 11.6 ION Samsung N510 $560 + Free Shipping
Acer Aspire Revo Background
Update: There are now two models in the US, the AR1600 with a single-core Atom 230 proc essor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD and Windows XP, then theres the newer AR3610 model with 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD and Windows 7 Home Premium (and with S/PDIF). The Acer Aspire Revo was hugely antic ipated worldwide sinc e it went offic ial in April bec ause it was the first nettop to be announc ed with NVidias new ION graphics platform. Fast forward a c ouple of months and the Acer Aspire Revo is now available in several c ountries but has yet to make it to the US. Heres where I unboxed the Ac er Aspire Revo:
Technical Specs
The Aspire Revos full name is the Acer Aspire Revo 3600 and my partic ular model name is ASR3600-A34. There are various models and it may vary well you live. You can apply for a free upgrade to Windows 7. Dual core Atom N330 models c oming in a few weeks in Europe. Atom N230 Processor (1.6GHz) NVidia ION c hipset (GeForc e 9400M G) 160GB HDD (2.5 5400rpm SATA II - Hitac hi HTS543216L9A300)
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2GB - 4GB RAM (4GB Max) 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi 1Gbit wired LAN/li>
6x USB 2.0, e-SATA, VGA, HDMI, Audio jac ks, 1x Mini PCI-e Slot, Card Reader Wireless keyboard / mouse (some c ountries) Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 Webc am (some models) 857g Weight (without power bric k and stand) 30 x 180 x 180mm Dimensions The webcam is an external USB adapter, and comes with an optional stand. One model comes with a 23-inc h Acer LCD Monitor which also c omes with a VESA mount to attac h it to the back of the monitor.
Box Contents
Heres what you get inside besides the usual manuals and warranty. Note that there is no recovery disks, typic al of Ac er netbooks: Revo nettop + Stand Mouse Mat Wireless Keyboard / Mouse (dongle hidden in mouse) - Or wired for some countries 4x AA batteries for the above peripherals Power Adapter + Cord
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HDMI Cable
While the keyboard and mouse feel really cheap, they work great and the keyboard is extremely light. I wouldnt expec t to get much battery life out of the mouse. Theres a switc h under the mouse to turn it off when not in use.
Ports & Layout

On the front: Power button, Rec essed USB port, c overed with a flap. Card reader, Headphone and Mic rophone jacks. e-SATA port.
On the top: Air vent and another USB port.
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On the bac k: 4x USB ports, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA ports. Kensington lock and Power plug.
On the bottom: A screw (may be c overed with a warranty seal) to acc ess the innards.
Here are some size c omparisons with the Ac er Aspire Revo (pen, A4 paper, netbook power bric k)
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This is what the Ac er Aspire Revo looks like with wires plugged in.
The power button glows white when turned on:
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Upgradability
To acc ess the goodies inside, youll need to loc ate and undo the sc rew at the base of the Aspire Revo. On the inside you c an upgrade the 2.5 hard drive, RAM (two slots, up to 4GB RAM) and a PCI-e slot whic h is oc cupied with the Wi-Fi card.
Wi-Fi card:
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Two RAM slots (4GB Max)
Fan and heatsink over the ION c hipset, fan is removable:
For those who want to know how to open up the Acer Aspire Revo:
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1080P HD Videos
Thanks to the NVidia ION graphic s on board, the Aspire Revo excels at playing any sort of 1080P HD video you throw at it. I tested out alot of videos but not once did I encounter none that wouldnt play.
You cant play 1080P HD video out of the box, you will need to install the right software. There are plenty of options: Cyberlink PowerDVD, DivX Labs MKV on Windows 7 or MPCHC.
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I quickly removed Vista and installed Windows 7. I needed to install both MPC-HC and DivX Labs MKV Preview, bec ause I couldnt get sound working on the latest verison on some videos. Chec k out how 1080P HD Video plays like on the Ac er Aspire Revo below:
Games
Dont expec t to play the latest 3D games on the Acer Aspire Revo or even 3D games from several years bac k. Very old 3D games and 2D games should work fine. First I tried out Half Life 2. Even with at a resolution of 1280 x 1024 and the lowest settings for everything, frame rates were not smooth at all. Playable, almost. I certainly didnt enjoy the speed c ompared to what I get on my desktop. I c ant give you frame rates bec ause I c ant acc ess the c onsole (seems to be a problem on non-US keyboards of which mine is). Next I tried COD4, and at 1280 x 720, with lowest settings for everything and some turned off, it became playable, but the frame rates were not smooth. Both games looked very poor on the big screen at such a low resolution and low graphic settings.
Media Player Usage

The Acer Aspire Revo excels as a media player. Thanks to its small size, low noise, wireless peripherals and HDMI port.
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You can stand it vertically with the stand or lay it flat just as easily. Sinc e the Aspire Revo is just a PC its much easier to connec t to your existing network that most other dedic ated media players. You can easily connec t via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. With that you c an easily grab videos from other c omputers on your network or just download them directly from your Revo. Also, you c an expec t muc h better compatibility than you would get with a dedic ated media player. Ive used several dedicated media players and they occ asionally choke on videos not encoded properly and stop playing. Note, that you will need to c orrec t the oversc an if you use the Aspire Revo as a media player. Go into NVidia options and you c an easily resc ale the sc reen smaller to fit the screen.
Desktop Usage
The Aspire Revo performs just the same as any Atom N270 / N280 powered netbook on the market. If you have experienc e with any suc h netbooks then you will know what to expec t. Web browsing, office related ac tivities (word documents, spreadsheets etc ), listening to music, iTunes, watc hing videos and playing old games all work very nicely on the Aspire Revo. Installing Windows 7 over Vista can greatly improve the speed of the desktop.
The Aspire Revo does not handle the latest 3D games very well, or even games from several years bac k because the bottleneck is the slow Atom N230 proc essor inside. I wouldnt want to use the Aspire Revo to do photoshop work with large images or do 3D rendering on it. The lack of noise (below) and the small form fac tor also make this a great low-profile /
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small spac e c hoic e for a desktop.
My thoughts about the Acer Aspire One Revo as a desktop previously, on video:
Noise
Ive read around on the internet and seen some people complain about the fan noise. I c an hear a soft whirring of air c oming out of the top but its barely noticeable. The only other time I hear a peep out of the Aspire Revo is when you tun it on and theres a sec ond or two when a short burst of air is heard c oming out of the top. I did not hear the hard drive at all.
Issues
Here are some minor issues I had with the Acer Aspire Revo. None of them were dealkillers though and I found ways to solve some of them.
Slow Wi-Fi
Copying over large Blu-ray sized videos takes several hours (at least) over Wi-Fi. You need to plan ahead on these occ asions or use a wired c onnec tion.
Limited Audio Options

The Aspire Revo only has a headphone out jac k that doesnt carry SPDIF and a HDMI port. Trying to c onnec t to your PC Card on your computer or to your amplifier can be tric ky. Luckily I was able to connec t my Aspire Revo to my Onkyo amplifier in the following fashion: Aspire Revo -> [HDMI Cable] -> HDTV -> [Optic al Cable] -> Onkyo Amp.
No DVI Video Out

Update: You c an use a HDMI -> DVI adapter so you c an get 16:10 image ratios so you dont get a distorted 16:9 image. No DVI out means it could be tric ky c onnecting to your large sized LCD monitor. Many dont c ome with HDMI ports. If you use the HDMI to c onnec t to a LCD Monitor, youll be stuc k with trying to use the headphone jack. Connecting the Aspire Revo via HDMI to my 16:10 24 LCD Monitor failed to work, I was stuck with VGA out whic h doesnt give the best quality on suc h a high resolution display. Also HDMI is limited to 16:9 ratio displays which only my HDTV is going to give me an undistorted image.
Warranty Seal Protecting Insides

I imagine this would depend on where you buy the Aspire Revo. Here in Japan, there is a
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warranty stic ker c overing the bottom of the Aspire Revo. I havent actually read if it voids warranty, but Im pretty sure it does just like with other recent Acer netbooks released here.
Wobbly Stand
While the stand looks c ool, it doesnt hold the Aspire Revo on top of it very solidly. The Aspire Revo easily wobbles side to side just touching the nettop lightly. Furthermore, any slight pressure applied to the top or front of the mac hine c an easily dislodge the nettop from the stand. To insert anything on the Aspire Revo, youll need to use both hands.
Acer AspireRevo AR3610-U2002 Desktop... Acer
2GB Acer Aspire Aspire One Acer Trav... parts-quick
Acer Aspire REVO R3700 2GB_DDR3 320G... Acer
Acer AspireRevo AR1600-U910H Black/W... Acer
MSI Wind Nettop 120 Desktop Black... MSI COMPUTER
Asus EeeBox EBXB202-BLKX0081 Deskto... Asus
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Reader Comments (100)

Kevin 07/29 at 07:46 PM
Thanks Peter, was hoping games would work better
b00sted 07/30 at 09:06 AM
if I ever get one I want to get the one with that awesome wiiish looking remote. ;)
Helmut Lottke 09/02 at 02:39 AM
In Germany you c an just ignore the stic ker. Warranty will not be void if you opened it to inspect what youve bought.
Amit 09/02 at 05:31 PM
Could u pls specify which countries have the wireless keyboard and mouse option?
Joe Kuh 09/30 at 12:53 PM
Hi Peter, Currently I am enjoying the use of the Ac er Aspire Revo, but I am stuck with watc hing mkv file movies. Is DivX7 a good software? Does it have hardware acceleration so that it works smoothly with the Atom proc essor? Also, is it c ompatible with Windows Vista Premium (since I dont have Windows 7 and dont know how to install it) Many thanks. Joseph
Yazz 10/09 at 09:28 AM
Peter, Thanks for the great review of this produc t. I c urrently placed an order for the American Ac er AspireRevo with the Atom 230 proc essor. Will I be able to add more ram to my unit? It c urrently comes with 1GB of RAM. Ive read some folks adding 4GB of RAM. Mine
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Revo. Thanks again, Stevie
wont come with WiFi. Can you do a video on how to add WiFi to the Americ an Aspire
Yazz 10/09 at 09:54 AM
Peter, Do you know if I break the warranty stic ker in the US. Will it void the warranty? Thanks again, Stevie
Brian 10/28 at 07:10 PM
Peter, Regarding the wobbly stand: The VESA mount that ships with some Revo and Veriton models appears to c lip on to the black side plate and ought to fit all models. Its listed as an option in the documentation packaged with my Revo. Acers sales website does not now offer this ac cessory. If Acer ever dec ides to fully support my R1600, (actually selling the optional VESA mount) Ill gladly buy one. By the way, thanks for linking the video on opening the c ase. Acer tech support wrote: I am sorry that we do not have the information regarding how to open the case of the unit. We do not recommend to upgrade the hardware parts. Please be informed that Ac er disowns the damage caused due to RAM upgrade.
JohnT 11/12 at 07:14 PM
Very helpful, I bought a Revo from a large store here in the uk. Could not figure out where the dongle was so sent it bac kthey sent a replacement..still no dongle..took it into their store for tec nical staff to sort outthey dec ided dongle was missing. On reading your review I understand the mini dongle is in the mouse casingwhy did the intructions not say thiswould have saved a lot of hassleinstruc tions are also brief both included and the user guide I downloaded fron Ac er website Thanks again ...might order another now!!
Matt 11/13 at 12:25 AM
Great review Peter, but I thought I should point out something regarding the HDMI port. HDMI is bac kwards compatible with DVI (DVI-D or DVI-I), and should handle all the resolutions whic h DVI does. Thats the great thing about HDMI, as it offers both. You can either use an HDMI -> DVI adapter, or get an cable with HDMI on one end and DVI on the other. This is what Im using now, from my Dell 1530 to my Dell monitor.
Matt 11/13 at 06:30 PM
No probs Peter, I didnt want people put off by the HDMI. I hope more manufacturers add HDMI ports, as its more versatile (and smaller) than an DVI port.
Paul Roberts 11/14 at 07:16 PM
Peter, Thanks for the info on the Acer Revo 1600. I ordered the 3610 this week. Cant wait. Also, depending upon the HD file type and the player used, video dec oding will be offloaded to the GPU. This will put all the video proc essing on the video GPU. When this is working c orrectly you should see a steady 20% hit to the CPU. Like you did when running
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MPC-HC.
If the video is jerky, its riding on the CPU and is not offloading to the GPU. In that case, the CPU should be pegged at 100%. Until the Flash 10.1 update to support Ion GPU offloading c omes out, flash will suffer the same fate. Thanks again for the info
Paul Roberts 11/14 at 09:43 PM
Peter, Ah, yes you did mention 3600 in the Tec hnic al specs header. I was looking at the very top of your post and it mentioned the 230 Atom. My bad ;-) I thought the 3600s had the 330 by default and the 1600 had the 230, but that may be in the USA and not the UK. No matter. I enjoyed your post, tec h info and videos on the Acer. Thanks again.
Mohan 11/21 at 10:15 PM
Hello I just bought an Americ an R1600, and there was no stic ker c overing the screw on the bottom. Does anyone else have this observation?
Paul Roberts 11/22 at 06:41 AM
I got my Americ an Revo 3610 a few days ago. No sticker c overing the screw either. Upgrade the ram with no worries of voiding the warranty. BTW, this thing roc ks with the Beta Flash 10.1 for GPU ac celeration and connected to my 1080P HDTV! (see my blog post). Best $ Ive spent! Boxee, Hulu Desktop, Fanc ast, Clic ker work great. Boxee will be better once their Beta c omes out in December, which will utilize GPU acc eleration. Perfec t!
kale 11/23 at 06:44 PM
hi thx for the interesting and helpful review. however, i still have it unc lear which hd file types this toy c an play. i dont have so many hd mov/divx/mp4/ts movies, but mostly bd rips enc oded with x.264 (the open source version of h.264) in a mkv container and 1080p resolution. i know ion gpus (nvidia 9300m/9400m) are more than capable of offloading processing workload from the c pu when playing h.264-enc oded movies that stick to the book, but what about when playing files enc oded using the more widely available x.264? have you tried playing that type of files? and if so, could you share your experience? i also live in japan, and i was thinking of getting the revo that comes with the atom 330, 4g ram and win 7 premium. but if it cant handle x.264 mkv movies, im thinking of either waiting for the aopen gp7a-hd that will support a soc ket p core duo c pu and ddr3 ram, or building a mini-itx rig using the aopen nmc p7aut-v mobo that supports regular a core duo/quad c pu and ddr2 ram. mind you, c ompared to the revo, the last two options would be more pricey/bulky and less sexy :P
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c heers
Mohan 11/23 at 06:46 PM
Does anyone mind posting their c ore temperatures from Spec cy, Core Temp, or any other program after their Revos have been operating for a while? Mine is posting 60 degrees C after a few hours of on time, with no heavy tasking at all. This number seems very high for an Atom 230, and I am wondering if there is a problem with my Revo 1600
rick truesdale 11/25 at 08:50 PM
Love mine (AR1600) so far. upgraded to 4 gig (though windows 7 is ac knowlegeing 3 gig of it). Right now trying to find a vesa mount for putting behind my wall mounted lc d monitor. any advice would be appreciated.
BTW - anyone looking to simply play media on thier tv i would rec ommend popc orn hour over this. I have one of these with a terabyte drive and it plays nearly everything.
Praveen 11/28 at 02:19 AM
You said you have audio to your receiver via your TV (SPDIF). Does your amp detec t it as disc rete sound (PCM/5.1)? Most TVs have trouble doing that.
darethehair 11/28 at 10:06 PM
I have read one c laim by a Linux user that the wireless keyboard/mouse do *not* work with Linux. Can anyone c onfirm or deny this? I would have no intent to run Windows, and every intent to run Linux on this nettop (either than R3600 or R3610).
dean 11/30 at 07:05 AM
the machine works perfec tly with linux Im running ubuntu and win xp and win7 the wireless dongle and a generic driverless media remote work perfec tly with em all infact.xbmc running on linux is easier to use than anything on windows for full screen playbac k
Zach 12/02 at 03:05 AM
Hi Im looking at buying this Ac er Aspire Revo and its the US model with XP and I was wondering if it would be ok at multitasking(multi-tab web browsing while listening to music on the media player) Please hurry with an answer!!!!
Simon 12/05 at 02:39 PM
Does anyone know if this nettop can drive 2 monitors? one via hdmi and one via vga? Just want to extend the desktop.
Zach 12/08 at 05:06 AM
R1600 is the only model available but thanks that was helpful.
wade 12/09 at 01:05 AM
Ive opened mine up and wanted to upgarde toa 50GB hard drine as well as upgarde the memory. Its not c lear how I switc h in a new disk, does one have to take off the other side of the c ase as well as the one shown in your video? Anyone doen a hard drive upgrade succ essfully? Wade
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Wade 12/09 at 01:13 AM
In answer to my owmn quesion This site shows you what you need to unsc rew to change the hard drive http://www.sukria.net/fr/arc hives/2009/11/28/how-to-upgrade-ac er-revo-hard-drive/
Wade 12/09 at 05:03 PM
Having just upgraded the memory and hard drive on my Revo 3610 by rec ommemdation would be that if you are thinking of buying one, getthe size hard drive that you are looking for rather than a small one and upgrading. Changing the memory is pretty straightforward (but getting the c ase to snap back on perfec tly may be tric ky. ) To upgrade the hard drive you need to unscrew the fan and proc essor cover, unscrew the motherboad plates, push bac k the whiite clasps in the top corner then ease out the motherboad so that you can unsc rew the hard drive and sc rew in a replac ement. Although it c an be done its a fiddly job and it would be very easy to use a bit too muc h force, damage the motherboard or create a short somewhere, so especially if you are a bit c lumsey try an d buy one wit the drive size that you need.
Dan Frederiksen 12/12 at 06:24 PM
we need power consumption in idle!! we need a value. its a critic al parameter these days
ali kalvert 12/18 at 04:34 PM
thanks for the website and details on ac er aspire revo its great marry Christmas & happy new year ali kalvert
Homer 12/18 at 11:39 PM
Nice. The cover c an be gently pried off by hand once the sc rew is removed. Just grip the edge of the raised black detail and then pry it up in the same fashion as shown on the video. That way, you avoid the potential of marring the case. Also, if you want to add a PCIe mini card to your R1600, you will need antennae. My card did not come with them. I had to harvest them from a dead Dell laptop. I will run the wiring the same as noted in the pic above (look for the orange tape at the upper right and mid left). Ive also seen new ones on eBay for a few bucks. I also had to get the Win 7 x64 drivers straight from NVidia (ION LE). Ac er has only x86 versions on their website for the R1600. Enjoy! Homer
Homer 12/18 at 11:40 PM
Now I just need to get Flash 10.1 beta to install! Homer
Homer 12/18 at 11:49 PM
@ric k truesdale: Only 3.5 GB would be available if you bumped the shared video memory up to 512K. Also, Win 7 x86 would only show 3.something.
Nicola 12/24 at 05:36 AM
Hello Peter,
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thank you for the website and for the notes on this mac hine. I was so impressed by the reviews and details that I bought a Revo 3600 in Dubai and AS1410 as soon as I was able to convince my brother in law to buy it for me in the US (he saw it ... loved it and then bought one for himself!). I have to admit that I was not impressed with the Revo at first and then I installed Win7 and worked c ompletely differently. Only Issue I have is with the Vesa mount that does not work properly and I have the Revo falling all the time. Anybody else has the same issue? Am I doing something wrong? For c uriosity I have a Middle Eastern version that c omes with wired keyboard and mouse and no webc am. Pric e was good as it was the last in Carrefour 999 AED (271 USD).
Josh J 12/27 at 10:41 AM
I am in the US and bought a Canadian model since they were sold out everywhere here (3610 model). I am having a few problems with my unit. One problem is I can only get the Wifi to download at 3.5 Mbps off the internet while all the other c omputers in the house test out at 11.5 Mbps (I have 12Mbps service). Second problem is I bought a AverTV Hybrid Volar Max USB TV tuner. I am plugging the c able TV line direc tly from the wall into the tuner. Digital c hannels c ome in great but the analog c hannels are c hoppy and unwatchable/un-rec ordable. When using the tuner on my other c omputers it works great on both analog and digital channels. Anyone have a fix for either one of these problems?
guru 12/29 at 01:57 AM
PeterGreat write up, thanks for all the detailed pic tures. I am in the process of trying to install an wireless card in my R1600 and need to find the correc t antenna for it. Does the tag on the antenna wires have any kind of part number on them? Or does anyone know where I c an get a c ompatible set?
rich 12/29 at 03:03 AM
Great review, helped me answer tonnes of the questions I had regarding the Revo R3610. Ive just bought one from Japan, it hasnt yet arrived, does anyone know what power c onnector it is likely to have (2 pin flat (americ an style) or 3 pin (with earth!)) so as I c an get the correct adapter to change it to a standard UK plug..? Was thinking of putting it inside some kind of adapter where the plug c lips into a UK plug, rather than loosely hanging in the adapter, like some c onverters seem to.
steve 12/30 at 06:33 AM
Nice review, made my mind up about purchasing one and I just ordered mine :)
Jose 01/04 at 05:40 AM
Upgrading the HD is a little involved bec ause its held by 4 sc rews from the buttom of the motherboard. Yes, you have to take the whole unit apart. In term of the c ore temp, its rather high, around 61 for the CPU and around 72 for the GPU in idle; at much 69 81 respec tively under heavy load. I got an external USB fan $10 and the temp is much lower now high 30s for the CPU low 50s for the GPU. The unit has a very c hip cooling system.
Andy 01/08 at 08:16 AM
Hi Great review, thanks. Thinking about getting one of these to use as an XBMC Live box, but at the moment I only have an old CRT TV which only has a UK Sc art input. Is there
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any way to get one of these to output to that easily and c heaply? I do have Sc art to SVideo cables but this doesnt seem to have S-Video and c onverters to that seem expensive. Any ideas? Or any suggestions for alternative Nettops that would do the job until I can get the OK to upgrade to a shiny new plasma with HDMI! Thanks Andy
Andy 01/08 at 05:56 PM
Hi Peter Thanks for the answer - that wont work though as its a scart out connection to Vga in - Id need the other way round and thats the one that seems to be a problem (chec k out the reviews at the bottom of the Amazon page). I think the solution is to look for a Nettop that also has S-Video or DVI output, as those c an be converted to Scart at a reasonable resolution. Thanks again for your help and input Andy
Randy 01/16 at 07:52 PM
I just got the revo AR1600. I wanted to install Win7 64 on this and give it a try (for ms media c enter). Acer has its recovery files on the hard drive. I guess Ill make the recovery CDs, but wondered if there was a boot option to go right into recovery? I dont a boot menu option. Just bios and the F12 boot from menu. Also, are the files for video and audio for win7 the DL files on ac ers website? Are these drivers for the 64b or just 32b?
Brian 01/17 at 05:51 PM
For those of us who are searc hing for the optional VESA mount for Revos I found it here: http://ac er.shopbysystem.c om/acer/acer-nettop-lcd-vesa-mounting-kit-pc-13400041.html It c osts $30 US and its out of stoc k, but if you MUST have it I think the conc ept is way c ool. Nicola: I note that the blac k side pieces on the my Revo are not molded identic ally; there are a couple of recesses on the power button side which might be relevant. Have you tried fastening the VESA mount to the other side of the Revo?
lukasware 01/21 at 11:54 PM
Make sure on BOTH models you remove the 34 piec es of crapware and download the nforc e system drivers (use the latest 9 series) and nvidia ION/LE video drivers and the 10.1 flash beta.WOW that really speeds up the system on XP and Win7.
ben 01/24 at 05:03 AM
Has anyone been able to upgrade the drivers without losing sound? I downloaded from the nVidia website but now HDMI sound wont work. Ive got the R1600 with Windows XP. I did upgrade the RAM succ essfully thx to this site..w00t!
Randy 01/27 at 06:24 AM
Is anyone else having issues with the included wireless KB and mouse error HID c ompliant devic e (driver needed) errors in devic e manager??? All works fine at first, then when adding another USB device - like a usb DVD drive or USB tv tuner, the wireless kb & mouse stop working. Devic e mgr lists several yellowed out HID compliant devic e errors, eac h saying needs driver when inquiring on the yellowed HID error entires.
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Tried a full restore (several actually) with same HID error result. Also tired doing all Windows 7 updates, still no go. All USB devic es work (DVD, TV, Flash drives), but as soon as the inc luded wireless dongle is re-added for the KB/Mouse, those HID device mgr errors pop up in devic e mgr, all related to the KB & Mouse. Also, onc e these error popup after any USB device is added to the mix, the wireless dongle will never work again, even if all other USB devices are removed. HID errors will still remain for the dongle. Like i said, with the clean out of the box state, the wireless KB & mouse install and work fine. But onc e another USB devic e is introduc ed, it sc rews up the wireless dongle in devic e mgr and it will never work again until a full rec overy to out of the box is restored. And again, will work only until adding another usb device causing the HID device mgr errors with the dongle to return, and the wireless kb/mouse will never work from then on due to the dongle HID errors in devic e mgr. I also have an acer revo 1600. I just tried adding the revo 3610 wireless kb & mouse to that system and the wireless kb/mouse would not work in that system either, in the same way as with the revo 3610. Device mgr also showing several entries for HID, all yellowed (non working state). I suspec t if i restored the 1600 to out of the box, the kb & mouse would work fine, until I introduces another USB device to the mix. I would assume its a bad dongle, but as I said the wireless kb/mouse will work when the system is new out of the box restored. V e r y W e i r d !!!
Randy 01/28 at 12:17 AM
Never Mind! Just discovered what was happening with HID, was another KB/Mouse in c lose proximity to the revo 3610 interfering with wireless revo kb/mouse. Believe it or not! FYI a kensington wireless Ci70 set will interfer with the revos wireless set. But c ausing the invalid HID device in devic e manager, and thus stopping the revo kb/mouse set frm func tioning, was pretty weird. Could be other wireless desktop sets loc ated c lose by just might c ause a simular issue. Espec iall cheap desktop sets that offer little or no signal interferenc e protec tion.
Ronald Zapanta 02/07 at 05:02 PM
How do you do system restore ... the ASUS EEE Box allows users to just press F9 onc e before the Windows XP Logo appears ... then the GHOST SOFTWARE will initialized to restore the system bac k to its original state ... how about the ACER ASPIRE REVO R3600 ... i was reading all the reviews but Im not sure how to restore the system if there is ... I would like to learn the system restore first before buying ... thanks in advance ... please reply
Panos 02/07 at 11:06 PM
I just opened mine (R3610) yesterday. I have a unmanaged gigabit network infrastruc ture at home, whic h connec ts everything to a file server. Whenever I tried to play an HD movie (720p/1080p, mkv/mp4/wmv) through the network, the experienc e was not smooth. As soon as a I c opied the files locally, all were excellent, even with a 17gig blueray rip. It seems that the network c ard eats up a lot of CPU.
Ralph Kleinveld 02/08 at 05:53 AM
in The Netherlands the 3600 does not c ome with wireless keyboard and mouse. and there is no warranty sticker at all.
Eric 02/09 at 07:49 AM
Thanks for the excellent review! Lots of great information and the c omments have been
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superb as well.
Im fairly new to the HTPC aspect of things, and this is looking like a real winner as an energy effic ient movie playing, torrent downloading front end. I know that one of the c omments mentioned 16:9 being possible through HDMI, and I was hoping to c onfirm the output. What is the max resolution of this box? Im planning to hook it up to a 1080p 55 LED TV. Thanks and warm regards.
glenn 02/11 at 10:53 AM
I am not the most tech savy kind of guy here. Bought the Ac er Revo 1600 and like the c omputer. Want to hook it up to my TV via HDMI and c ant figure out how to get it to work. Is is some kind of issue with the Nvidia software or do I need to download something to get it to play on the TV with sound through the HDMI. Can anyone tell me in simple terms how this is done or direc t me to somewhere on the web to find out how? thanks
Panos 02/12 at 07:53 AM
I c an confirm using Revo 3610 with a Full HD Bravia through HDMI. Picture and audio run smoothly and 1080p is working. I will also try to use it with an Ubuntu based XBMC solution and see if the net problems are solved.
Edmund 02/12 at 09:55 AM
Glen- you need to make sure you have the c orrec t drivers installed for your nvidia ION c hipset. then you can go into windows c ontrol panel the sound applet will allow you to c hange your sound settings to go thru high definition audio device, which is your HDMI.
Daniel 02/16 at 09:42 AM
just bought Aspire 1600 everything fine, Windows XP, 1GB ram, updated ION drivers, now something weird with playing HD video from MKV files (different software players the same behavior). some files playes 100% smothly like c odec Windows Media Video 9 1280x720 @23.98fpt 4420kbps, some others however choke and stop for sec ond, two every 5 sec onds in a different plac es (CPU goes up to 95%), codec MPGEG4 video (H264) 1200x720 23.98fps. I use pretty up to date KLite Codeck Pac k. Any help much apprec iated!!
Robert L Borowski 02/17 at 02:12 PM
Thanks, I wanted to know how to open this thing
Robert L Borowski 02/17 at 02:15 PM
By the way, the 1600, which is the Atom230, I have one, shows as a Dual Core CPU as well. However, it is a dual thread CPU, which is almost as good. WinXP and Vista show two CPUs in device manager.
Simon 02/18 at 01:26 AM
I have the Revo 1600 US version. Im trying to get a wifi mini pci express card. Ive searched ebay for an Intel 5300 but it wasnt c ompatible. Anybody have any c lue where to get a working c ard for < $30. Thanks!
Jose 02/19 at 12:55 AM
This unit only takes Atheros based mini pc i express c ard. I got the Atheros AR5006EG and it works great; Intel based card will not work. Dont forget to get a Laptop antena; get one that you can trim. Ebay got everything you need Nic and antena + shippingfor about $20.
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jaime 02/19 at 06:15 AM
I c annot get my ethernet or wireless internet to work for the revo any suggestions?
Brian 02/21 at 02:56 PM
Can the AR1600 Model be upgraded with the Atheros based WiFi Cards? Does it matter whic h model? I am looking at the Atheros ALPS AR5212A UGJZ1 301A Mini Pci WLan Super A G.
Simon 02/21 at 03:52 PM
Im going to end up using a USB wifi adapter ...
David Rosales 02/23 at 02:00 AM
Hola soy de mexico y compre una R1600. Pero es muy lenta y quiero saber si se puede instalar windows xp y si puedo agregarle mas memoria ram a 2gb o mas
Mike 02/23 at 04:54 PM
Just hooked up the Revo 3610 (Win7/64bit), purchased/installed in the USA. Initially had VGA (to HDTV) and headphone audio output (to A/V rec eiver audio) functioning together without issue. Pic ked up an additional HDMI c able (replac ement c onnection, Revo to HDTV) and S/PDIF (replac ement c onnec tion, Revo to older A/V receiver, not HDMI ready). Discovered that when the HDMI cable c onnec tion between the Revo and the HDTV was active, the output audio feed on the S/PDIF port shut down. Experienc ed the same audio shutdown through my analog headphone port when HDMI was active. So, for the moment, I cannot run video through HDMI to my HDTV and simultaniously run audio (via S/PDIF OR headphone jack) to my A/V receiver. Not c ool. Anyone else run into this? Havent tried any firmware updates yet.
Mike 02/23 at 05:16 PM
Additional note. Audio through Revo 3610 S/PDIF port to A/V Rec eiver is fine until Revo HDMI port is c onnec ted to HDTV. Confirms that cable/port c ombination are functional until HDMI connection is established (at whic h time audio is func tional through HDTV). S/PDIF audio to A/V receiver is functional again as soon as HDMI (to HDTV) is disconnec ted.
Mike 02/24 at 01:05 AM
Thx for the response. Ive opened a tic ket on the HDMI/SPDIF issue with Ac er support. I will post my findings when researc h is complete.
Mike 02/24 at 08:11 AM
You had it exactly right. The HDMI audio interfac e assumed/relinquished default audio devic e status dynamic ally when the HDMI cable was connec ted/disconnec ted. Apparently (unlike XP) Win7 (and Vista before that) does not support audio output from a single application to multiple audio ports simultaniously. Its not a Revo issue (I c ould send audio through the HDMI devic e with WMP and simultaniously use the Control Panel Sound AUDIO device TEST option to send audio through the SPDIF or HEADPHONE audio devic es bec ause the the AUDIO test is a different applic ation). c ommon feature request: http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/76 http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/1068 Answer of not supported from a microsoft forum.
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4c8d-9480-2ee7790492f1
http://social.answers.microsoft.c om/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/af25defc -7559-
Mike 02/24 at 01:24 PM
That makes sense if you were running XP, but Vista/Win7 seem to have lost this feature. If not, then you have a solution that a lot of people are searc hing for. I only posted those three links, but found many other forums with similar discussions/c omplaints. BTW, your original Revo writeup, pics, and videos are excellent. Great work. Im glad I found the forum and your post. Ill chec k in periodic ally and keep an eye on the content.
james 02/25 at 09:49 PM
hey , Peter
im running into a
c ouple of problems. I just bought a americ an 3610 model and im getting no sound out thru the hdmi , and also i was wantin to know what is considered c rapware or bloatware so i can get rid of it to make my machine faster. thank you
james 02/26 at 12:31 AM
hey peter , tried that and still get no sound over hdmi , but got sound over normal speaks.
james 02/28 at 02:03 AM
Hey Peter , I figured it out . I had to go to Nvidias website and download new driver for the HDMI output.
Dan 03/06 at 04:39 PM
Hi! Thinking about getting one of these what are the exac t types of installed memory? I see 800mhz DDR2 is that standard (desktop) size, or smaller (notebook) size? Would these work: http://www.newegg.c om/Produc t/Produc t.aspx?Item=N82E16820134797 ?
Jorge 03/09 at 03:18 AM
Hi. One question, how can i make a recovery system file or disk without an external CD/DVD burner???
Joe 03/12 at 02:46 AM
Thinking of buying one of these but Im not sure if it will be c ompatible with my Dell flat panel monitor and, if it requires a driver download, I wont be able to install it without a monitor. I have ac cess to an older ACER flat panel. Does anyone know where I can find a list of c ompatible monitors?
N 03/13 at 11:03 PM
I have the 3600 (I guess its the 1600 is the US?), and 720p play c hoppy. Did you upgrade from 1GB? Do you think more RAM would fix this? Ive only upgraded the hdd. Running Ubuntu with xbmc, all the latest ion drivers etc .
N 03/14 at 12:30 AM
It supports ion with the nvidia-glx-195 package and VDPAU in XBMC, Ive done all that and it will only play xvid without sound lag/cutting in and out and choppy video.
N 03/14 at 12:52 AM
Fixed.
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Thanks for the quic k reply Peter.
The ubuntu GUI eats the atoms, It all works well using ubuntu without gnome.
Beny 03/14 at 07:56 PM
Can the Revo be made fanless? Or if not, c an the fan be replaced with a quieter one? Thanks
N 03/14 at 09:19 PM
There are four or five small blac k sc rews on the fans aluminium(?) case, so provided you do it carefully and find a fan to match the size I dont see why not.
Chris 03/17 at 01:53 AM
Does Acer whitelist Wifi cards on the 1600 and 3610?
james 03/24 at 09:03 AM
I have a US AR3610-U9022, I am wanting to do a fresh install of windows 7 , and was wondering is there some way to back up windows off of the mac hine to a 8 GB flash drive , so I wont have to buy a external dvd drive?
james 03/24 at 10:55 AM
I have us version AR3610-U9022 , and i was wondering if there is a way to c opy windows 7 off of the Ar3610 to a 8 GB flash drive so i c an do a fresh install.
bart 04/01 at 02:45 AM
Is there a way to use HDMI output and make headphone jac k works? In any system I mean.. windows or linux with xbmc?
luis castro 04/01 at 11:00 AM
please give me the sites for view the pric es of memory ram for my ar1600 revo aspire.!! And how muc h c ost?
Happy Revo Owner 04/07 at 01:50 PM
I bought the basic US unit with XP and 1gig RAM as a media server for my HDTV. It works perfec tly. Low power, no noise, boots quic kly, all the options of PC (password, etc .). I uninstalled all the bloatware, virus scanner, etc . I turned off all software updates, if it works dont fix it! The only disappointment so far is the eSATA c onnection does not multiplex. I bought a dual mount external SATA device with two 2gig drives. The Revo 1600 only recognizes one of the two :( This is a common issue with eSATA. The dual mount does work with my main PC, so it is the Revo at fault. However the Revo does rec ognize multiple USB devic es and c an stream HD from USB drives just fine. So Im filling the drives on my main PC, then hooking them to the Revo via USB. The only other issue Ive had is I failed to bac k up the HD before I started cleaning house. As a result I lost the DVD c odec and the built in backup software no longer runs. Does anyone know of an easy way I can backup the HD (meaning the OS and drivers) using a USB drive? XP doesnt let me just copy the HD, which I have down to about 4.5 gig (started at ~9gig).
srfirebird 04/09 at 04:31 AM
Aspire Revo R1600 does not rec ognize 2.0 usb external cd/dvd rw purchased for an aspire one. I wouldnt think that would matter. Any help would be appreciated
reinhardt 04/09 at 09:27 AM
Does the sound output 5.1 dolby digital surround through hdmi playing itunes movies?
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Ian 04/11 at 04:30 AM
Help! Does anyone elses revo hard disk make a lot of platter/head skipping noise? Also, my atherosclerosis wifi has gone toes up. Wont find any networks. Removed and scanned for new hardware whic h reinstalled but no joy. Maybe replac ement due to above but it is a great unit none the less.
CP Good 04/11 at 12:40 PM
Thanks for the great review on the AspireRevo. I just purchased a 1600 and Im interested in doing a c lean install of Windows 7 Pro. To date I have been unable to loc ate any drivers for the 1600 on Ac ers website. Does anyone have a link? Thanks! CP
Kevin 04/15 at 12:42 AM
Great write up Peter - For those having sound issues via the HDMI output, I corrected mine by performing the following on my XP Pro setup: 1. Set Nvidea Sound as default via c ontrol panel\sounds & audio devic es\audio tab\sound playbac k-default devic e selec tion box. 2. Re-start Revo and enter bios configuration - DISABLE on board sound via On Board peripherals setting. Save changes, restart REVO and Boot windows. YOU WILL HAVE NO SOUND at this point. 3. Shutdown and power-off REVO - Restart, enter bios, and RE-ENABLE On Board Audio. Save c hanges and re-start REVO. Boot Windows and you will have sound! Ive seen XP based system that required a restart after changing the default playbac k devic e desc ibed in step 1, however Ive never had to DISABLE/ENABLE in Bios to get it working properly. Good Luck!
Mark 04/19 at 08:02 AM
Great article on the Revo. Thanks. Pic ked up a 3610 here in the US a couple months ago and have been using it as a media server. Have had a little odd behavior and wanted to know how to get inside to upgrade the RAM. Great instruc tions. Have the 3610 hooked up to Gbps LAN and c onnected to (3) 1.5TB hard drives with video and music . Run PLayOn as a media server applet and run Western Digital WD TV Live boxes throughout the house. Have had the 3610 feeding up 4 different HD movies at onc e without any hic cups. Pretty impressive box. Thanks again for the teardown.
Sweden 04/28 at 06:33 PM
As said before, great review! I live in Sweden and picked up this one: Ac er REVOlution R3610 Atom N330 Dual Core,2GB,320GB,nVIDIA ION graphics,WLAN, W7H Does anybody know is there is slots available for 2Gb RAM extra (it support 4Gb). I read somewhere that there is only two slots and they are occ upied with 2 x 1Gb?
Anthony 04/30 at 07:27 AM
We were going mad trying to find VESA mounts for the Ac er Revo and finally gave up and engineered our own, sinc e we needed to deploy many of these for a weather radar display appliance.
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We now have them available for sale here: http://www.itworks.c om/produc ts/Ace-mount.htm
Thanks for your c onsideration and also for the nic e review. It was the review that gave us the inspiration for the weather radar display appliance in the first plac e!
Rob 05/23 at 05:10 PM
Hi, I have a few questions regarding the Revo R1600 - What is the speed of the DDR2 memory (is it 800 PC2-6400 as said above?)? - Could I buy a stic k of PC2-5300 that is 512MB, 1GB or 2GB and add it in the empty slot, for a total of 3GB memory (with the added 2GB stic k)? - I c urrently am reviewing the Lenovo IdeaCentre Q100. How does the R1600 compare to it? I c annot find any documentation regarding upgrading the Q100 memory to higher than 1 GB. Thats it for now. I bought the Lenovo Q100 for $177 sale at Frys, but curiously it costs $220 regularly, while the R1600 is $199, yet it seems the latter has better upgradeability (and support). I might have to exc hange the Lenovo for the Acer bec ause of that.
Scott Abraham 06/01 at 11:27 AM
I just bought a R1600. minimalist type machine, 1 Gig RAM, running XP Home. Paid less than $200 for it. Is it true that Windows 7 is a free upgrade? I never saw that on the Newegg website where I bought it. The machine did not c ome with a restore disk, either, but Im probably going to upgrade to 7 anyway. Im just having a hard time believing the upgrade is free. On a $200 purc hase????.... I dont think so. Somebody correct me if Im wrong, please.
carlos 06/09 at 05:49 AM
hi i bought it but with windows 7 , I re-installed xp and have a problem with the ethernet driver, c an any of you tell me where c an I find the correct driver? in acer.c om its not available
Hal Kufahl 09/05 at 10:20 AM
I have the r1600, with XP home and 2GB Ram and have not been able to get the HDMI working, is there somewhere to turn it on?
Jobs 09/08 at 12:05 PM
Yes, make sure on BOTH models you remove the 34 piec es of crapware and download the nforc e system drivers (use the latest 9 series) and nvidia ION/LE video drivers and the 10.1 flash beta.WOW that really speeds up the system on XP and Win7.
Carl 11/16 at 03:18 AM
I just bought a Canadian unit and everything i am happy with but for some reason, the wifi was the worst ive ever encounter. Always dropping signal and the stregth is terrible. within the same location i get full bar signal strength on my Ac er Netbook and ipad. I am getting really fed up with the drop wifi c onnec tion as well extreme slow response. Anyone have the same issue or got solution will greatly apprec iated.
Scott Abraham 11/16 at 11:37 AM
I have had this mac hine for about 6 months. No problems whatsoever! HDMI works like a dream. Analog audio output works fine. Havent really tested digitak audio output through HDMI, but given overall quality of this device, I have no reason to expext any problems of any kind. Im VERY pleased with this machine and not the least bit disappointed about any aspec t of its performanc e. This is a HECK of a c omputer for the money! Its good to
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go right oit of the box. The beauty is that you can BUILD on it. Upgrade the OS if you you need to. Inc rease the memory if you need to! Im fine with the current system offering! Of COURSE it would run faster if it had more memory. What c omputer WOULDNT? Of COURSE it would would run a little better with OS 7! c ome on! you have to PAY for that! but do ypu really need it! I dont! Im going to upgrade ANYWAY! Bec ause this computer is worth it. It kicks ASS! Just buy it! You wont regret it. As for Wi-Fi shortcomings my unit didnt come with that. Got it c abled in. works great. a lot of times, Wi-Fi problems c ome from other sources router too far away, or too weak, or router is locked in some kind of Farraday c age a wire shelf or steel shelf of some kind of RF obstac le. im no expert on this stuff. All I m saying is dont blame the c omputer, nec essarily, if youre not getting good Wi-Fi. The Problem may not be the computer. I have found the quality of thos machine, and the VALUE to meet my satisfaction in SPADES! I love my Revo! highly rec ommended. this is NOT a piec e of junk. Well woth the money!
Chris A 12/06 at 05:46 PM
I have the UK model 3610 (Atom 330, 2GB RAM, Windows 7, 250GB HD). This c omputer is amazing. I leave it on all the time and I can run AirVideo on it to stream my media to my iPhone no problems at all. As its dual core, I can be running FTP Servers and other bac kground tasks and still be playing 1080P flawlessly in the foreground with Media Player Classic or the latest builds of XBMC. XBMC is great on Windows 7 as at any time I c an just press the windows key and switc h to the browser, then just c lick XBMC on the taskbar and switch bac k. Makes it so easy to browse and c onsume media at the same time with almost zero context switching time. I dont use the WiFi c ard internally so cant comment on if there are problems but a friend of mine rec ently told me that he had massive problems with the 3610 but he just switc hed the internal wireless c ard and now it works flawlessly. Not a huge problem but annoying if you only have a wireless c onnec tion available as you have to void the warrenty to fix. Games are fine on the box. Just dont expec t to play games newer than 5 years old without signific ant compromise. Going back to 2004 era games, I have a great c hoic e of games and as an emulation box, it is superb. Runs pretty much all pre-2000 games on any system. As suc h, this box allows me to not hac k my c onsoles as I generally just want to hac k my c onsoles to use emulators anyway and with the PC c onnected to the TV I dont need this. All in all, the Revo is a superb box and I c ant think of a single reason to upgrade for many years to c ome. Sure, there are better gaming PCs but I use my c onsole and main PC for gaming. A HTPC should be power efficient, exc ellent at web browsing and near silent. The Revo ticks all the boxes. The only downside is that in the 18 months of being on sale, pric es have not yet dropped for this box (a testament to how great this box is). I fully expect pric es to drop early next year when the new Atom c hipsets based on 32nm arrive with 1080P dec oding likely built in (no need for ION). That said, I wont be upgrading as the ION chipset takes c are of my media needs.
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