Acer Aspire Revo R3600
The basics
The Acer Aspire Revo is a "nettop" - a tiny, low powered desktop with 1 or 2GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD, plus Wi-Fi and ethernet web connectivity. Although it's powered by a lowly 1.6GHz Atom processor, NVIDIA's Ion chipset and a HDMI port means it'll play high definition video on your flatscreen like a machine three times the price.
The good
We tested the cheapest £150 version of the Acer Aspire Revo with 1GB of RAM, and even it was more than up to the task of chucking out video: hook it up with your media centre software of choice and a wireless keyboard and you can kiss goodbye to your clutter of set top boxes. It's easy to set up and ninja silent, but the best bit? Acer is lying when it says it's only got 8GB of storage: like the more expensive models, there's a 160GB HDD which will stash more music than Simon Cowell's butchered.
The bad
There's no optical drive so if you want to play DVDs or Blu-rays you'll have to pony up for an external one to plug in, and despite the myriad of ports shoved in every side (6 USB slots, no less), there's no DVI, so for modern monitors you'll need an adapter. Finally, although the Acer Aspire Revo doesn't break a sweat churning out 1080p video stored locally, it struggles with Flash video. In other words, prepare for BBC iPlayer to stutt-stutter.
The bottom line
Any problems with the Acer Aspire Revo come down to the Atom chip tucked away inside. It's measly at most things. But it's also what brings the cost down, and when it still handles video so well, you've got a bargain that David Dickinson would give up fake tan for. Blag yourself the £150 model for your living room. Then buy another.
User comments (30)
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Lilith31 August 2009
I am desperate to get hold of the Logitech mouse that is supplied with the Revo. Any ideas where i can get it?
Report as inappropriateChris31 August 2009
Why did you not have the Mac Mini in the line up when the 'Nettops' were reviewed! The Mac Mini would beat all of the 3 nettops reviewed. I think Apple computers get left out when it comes to show reviews. Or maybe that's because any Mac computer would beat any Windows machine of the same spec!!!
Report as inappropriateMatt Barber01 September 2009
Maybe thats because all Apple products are way more expensive than PC's of the same spec. We can get round the windows problem....install linux and and then you get Mac performance with PC price!
Report as inappropriateKeith01 September 2009
I'm using the Acer Aspire Revo as a Media Centre box, if you want to get the best out of this thing, ditch Vista and install Ubuntu & XBMC on it. This thing will then play anything your throw at it, including BBCi player, MKV's / AVI / DivX / YouTube etc etc. Also one thing Jon forgot to mention about the Revo is that it comes with a Vesa mount for fixing to the back of your TV's, very handy. And of course with Ubuntu installed you can still do your Word / Excell documents with OpenOffice. ps, Jon let us know if you want a proper demo of what this thing will do after dumping Vista :)
Report as inappropriateFish580001 September 2009
Its very good value for money as for a normal laptop you are looking at about £299-£399 with the same memory and this is alot smaller to its easier to carry around and its a proper computer. Im now going to save up for one starting now!
Report as inappropriateHazwaz03 September 2009
the wireless keyboard and logitech mouse is supplied with the product, if yours didn't contact the company you bought it from. or ofcourse, there's probably one on ebay
Report as inappropriateJerry05 September 2009
Suggest waiting to buy the Revo model that comes with dual core atom processer and windows 7. But to be honest I think it really needs an integrated optical drive. Also think it is overpriced...compared to netbook (you get better graphics, but no screen, no webcam, no keyboard) I look forward to a Revo with 3GB, dual core Win7 with optical drive at around £250..I'd buy 3!
Report as inappropriatemichael low06 September 2009
i was very interested in this product but was wondering where the £150 figure was quoted from
Report as inappropriateKeithTech07 September 2009
@Jerry, this thing has a Vesa mount for fixing to the back of your TV, having an integrated DVD would be pointless, also an external USB DVD drive costs peanuts. Bought a slimline DVD player for this, works really well as all you see is a slimline DVD player, the box is out of sight behind the TV. @Michael, I believe the £150 was for the 8 Gig SSD Linux version, that appears next to impossible to get hold of now.
Report as inappropriateBrett10 September 2009
If you want to add an optical drive, and still have your system running quiet. Then why not invest in Network Attached Storage with an optical drive attached. This will give you a hard drive that all PCs can attach to. Also you wont need to keep a PC switched on to act as a server.
Report as inappropriatechristopher899207 October 2009
i want that nettop
Report as inappropriateJohn Watts09 October 2009
I want to buy this for my son, who will use it to play Roblox on the internet. Does anyone know if it will work? Will it also play standard def you tube videos? Thanks, John
Report as inappropriateNeil D13 October 2009
I'm looking for a 4GB RAM Model but can't find a store that sell one - the only option thus far - a used model on Ebay. If anyone knows of a store that does this option pleasse let me/us know. Anyway, re the iPlayer stutter mentioned in the piece above, I read that if you upgrade the OS to Windows 7 (a must do IMHO) then the stutter goes away and Flash works fine. Another way to get these video formats working is to remove the pre installed McAfee AV software - the 'real' reason upgrading to Win 7 does the trick ;o) Cheers, N
Report as inappropriatePete28 October 2009
I just got a 3610 today - the dual core version - and it is immense! 64Bit Windows 7 Home Premium included. 2Gb Ram, 250Gb HDD... £250 with free delivery. Ace. Pretty speedy - I am quite surprised but I haven't given it anything really hard to do yet. Got it from SimplyAcer and they had the 4Gb version in stock too for £300. Hooked up to my TV via HDMI - so far so good.
Report as inappropriateRick19 January 2010
I'm really interested in the Ubuntu Linux version, which is quite a bit cheaper but only with the single core Atom. Does anyone know if a dual core model is coming out with Linux instead of Win7?
Report as inappropriateMatt25 February 2010
£129.99 at Ebuyer with 1gb Ram 160GB hdd and Linpus as the installed OS, or the dual core version with 2gb Ram 250gb hdd and Linpus is £189.99 I've already downloaded XBMC ready to install when it arrives tomorrow. Not exactly fair to compare that to a Mac Mini as the cheapest one of those is £499, however the Mac Mini is very nice.
Report as inappropriateMartin28 February 2010
I just bought the new dual core Win7 Revo. I am a bit underwhelmed. BBC iPlayer for their HD channel outputs a very jerky image. The CPU shows 100%. Even VLP for standard definition video leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps I need some better software. The demo that Jon showed looked so good. It is a pity as Acer products are usually so good.
Report as inappropriateTony23 March 2010
Hi Acer make some terrific kit but in N.I. the service support is pants. They even refuse to repair hardware still under warranty even after sending proof of purchase twice. Give phoning there support lines a go.
Report as inappropriateBrian20 April 2010
I've just ordered one of these things to use when working from home. I need it for email, a little web surfing and word processing. Have I ordered the right thing? Or have I ordered the wrong thing?
Report as inappropriatePaul30 April 2010
Martin, Flash is probably the issue primarily. It is incredibly resource heavy. Just watch the battery life drop on a laptop whilst playing a Flash video. I'd recommend you get the latest NVidia drivers and install them. I'd also recommend downloading Flash 10.1 beta from Adobe because 10.1 on Windows supports hardware acceleration using the Ion platform in the Revo R3600 series. It should greatly improve performance, however the issue is Flash itself.
Report as inappropriatetam17 September 2010
they should put the disc drive into the keyboard that would be ace
Report as inappropriateJC27 February 2011
The Mac mini is £500, and although I agree that the mini is superior, these are all sub-£500.
Report as inappropriateJC27 February 2011
@KeithTech, the Acer only mounts onto Acer monitors
Report as inappropriateJC27 February 2011
@Tony, I agree that Acer service support is pants. I bought an Acer Aspire 5630 in 2005, then the touchpad button collapsed. This was a problem as I looked on the Internet and other people had experianced the same fault. Acer refused to help, that same Acer is sitting around the house not really doing anything. I then went on eBay and bought an iMac G3 (450MHz!!! Ruby red) and use that instead. It actually works with TenFourFox for web browsing but I hope to get a last rev eMac soon to replace it. If you want a budget machine now get an iMac G4 "iLamp" or an eMac. (Intel Macs are a bit too pricey!!!)
Report as inappropriateRocketRon09 May 2011
I want to watch live TV from the BBC website etc. Can anybody recommend a media centre that will connect to my TV to browse, watch on-line TV. Not worried about a remote control but would like to use a wireless keyboard and mouse to control and navigate. Thanks. Ron.
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