Acer Aspire Revo R3600

Not to be outdone by her majesty and her Samsung NC10, it is now my turn to own a cheap bit of computing equipment that blows your socks off.

Instead of going for the netbook route, I decided that I still quite like the desktop idea (mostly due to the fact that I like to work with a monitor and keyboard of my choice, not the manufacturer’s best guess at what I want). Alongside the development of the mobile netbook idea, the desktop variant, the net top has been quietly getting more and more appealing.

Having read numerous reviews, I thought I’d take the plunge and go for Acer’s Aspire Revo R3600. Finding it listed for £250 at Amazon.co.uk, it seemed rude not to give it a go.

I’ve owned it for one day now and already I think its brilliant. OK, so the bundled keyboard and mouse are clacky affairs (not really a problem, I’ve already got my cordless ones so I just replaced them) but it is a cheap desktop, what do you expect. There’s no monitor either so rather than a netbook costing £300 with its screen in the case, Acer didn’t need to spend a penny on the visuals. This means more money for the actual components.

Running Vista Home Premium, it has the capability to scoot off into Media Centre and look all wizzy. I have to admit, I’m impressed with the way it works and the HDMI socket available as an output is just begging for me to attach this to a TV.

Something always has to give however and in this case its raw computing power. Although I’m told it’ll happily render Bluray if you attach a player, I have found that bootup times are a little longer than my old PC (about 2 mins). It being £350 cheaper on the day of purchase however, I think you can let that go. Its only got an Atom processor!

Although I agree that this is probably best suited as a “second PC” or definitely one for the kids to sort out their homework on, I still think that’s selling this little trooper short.
If you’re looking for a tiny desktop PC that sips power rather than gulping it, doesn’t make a sound, looks good, attaches to the back of your monitor,  has built in HDMI and a memory card reader, buy this PC.

I don’t regret this purchase one little bit.
Just make sure you have an external DVD drive, your own monitor, keyboard and mouse!

Share

Comments (4)

Lee MartinJuly 27th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

I`ve just got one of these little beauties myself. I went for the £150 model and installed Windows 7 rc on it for the mo. It can be a little sluggish if you try to do too much at once I`m hoping the extra gig of memory that I`m going to install will help out there.
It plays hi-def content superbly.

I haven`t played any games yet, but thats what my main pc is for.
It`s ideal for internet on my 37 incher though!!

Ed FrancisJuly 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Thanks for your comment Lee, I get so few on this site I nearly fell off my chair when I saw it! 🙂

I have to agree that for gamers, this is never going to be the weapon of choice. I do however think we should all wait and see what the final release of Windows 7 does on this. If all goes to plan, this should be very impressive given the form factor and the price.

PaulAugust 15th, 2009 at 9:23 am

Just got myself one of these too.

I’m a web developer and it runs dreamweaver, wampp, a couple of browsers and fireworks all at the same time without any worries. Got a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released too which is great.

I’ve got a couple of issues though, don’t know if you can help. I can get it attached to the stand on the back of the monitor, I don’t know if my fingers are too big and they keep getting in the way> Any tips?

Also, when changing from LCD monitor to HD (another great thing about this little machine, the HD out) I have to go through the properties on the desktop to change over. Do you know of a quicker way to do this? If you haven’t hooked this up to your TV yet I would recommend it, running BBC iPlayer through it is great.

Paul

Ed FrancisAugust 15th, 2009 at 11:21 am

Hi Paul, fantastic little things aren’t they? I managed to get mine all hooked up the the TV now so I don’t need any more space for a separate PC any more. The space saving’s brilliant!

In answer to your queries I’d say you may be stuck changing the resolution for now. There could be some magic that can be performed with hardware profiles or something but I’m not quite sure.
I always found putting the bottom point into the stand helps line up the catches at the top. I missed it first time round and had the devil’s own job fitting it!!

I’ve registered for the free Windows 7 upgrade, can’t wait. 🙂