bit-tech.net | Acer Aspire Revo Review

tejas 22nd June 2009, 15:25

I really think the lack of GPU accelerated flash kills the Internet browsing experience on the Revo. Purchased one for a relative and they enjoy it as it does the basic things fine.

Until the monopoly Adobe pull their finger out of their a**, it seems that Internet interactive content will need a solid CPU. With the push to Compute shader and OpenCL you would have thought that someone would have enabled GPU browser acceleration? Hmm that gives me an idea!! Of course there is HTML5 from Google which should make Adobe Flash irrelevant and redundant.. here's hoping anyway

Good review Harry!

Blademrk 22nd June 2009, 15:35

would the performance be any bettter with Win7:RC installed ratehr than the bloated vista install?

Tim S 22nd June 2009, 15:35

GPU accelerated web browsing is coming, but who knows when it's actually going to be a reality :|

Jipa 22nd June 2009, 15:38

Something like that might well be the ideal choice for my energy-efficiency-aware mom... Would save space and electricity compared to a low-spec desktop, and be a pleasure to use with proper mouse+keyboard+screen when compared to a laptop.

Looking forward to the next gen of such things.

i7lova 22nd June 2009, 15:38

What the hell happened to this article? I was in the middle of reading it and and went to click over to the next page and now it's suddenly vanished saying none of the pages are available!

Baz 22nd June 2009, 15:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blademrk
would the performance be any bettter with Win7:RC installed ratehr than the bloated vista install?

For SD content, yes, for HD content no - support for MKV and various other HD codecs has yet to make it into the RC.

Claave 22nd June 2009, 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by i7lova
What the hell happened to this article? I was in the middle of reading it and and went to click over to the next page and now it's suddenly vanished saying none of the pages are available!

Seems to be working now - we'll look into what happened though, thanks for flagging it.

Tyrmot 22nd June 2009, 15:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claave
Quote:
Originally Posted by i7lova
What the hell happened to this article? I was in the middle of reading it and and went to click over to the next page and now it's suddenly vanished saying none of the pages are available!

Seems to be working now - we'll look into what happened though, thanks for flagging it.

I had same problem coming from the RSS feed - it seems to have moved from the 'laptops' section (which your RSS points to) of the site to the 'pcs' - perhaps it was moved as you were reading?

tron 22nd June 2009, 16:15

Nice PC.

The problem with a lot of these miniature PCs is that most people that walk into a high street store and see these, fall in love with the small cuteness and energy saving factors, but then after they bring it home and use for a few weeks, reality starts to set in: This is when they begin to notice how frustrated they are getting with the system speeds. For example, they run a full indepth virus scan and while it's running, they try to open a few other applications and then notice how the system hardware is brought to its knees.

These kinds of devices should be sold with a performance frustration WARNING sticker. People should only buy these if the size and energy saving is absolutely necessary. The thing is that most high street consumers underestimate what CPU intensive things they intend to do with a new PC. At the same time, they don't research the benchmark performance of the cute PC that they want to buy, before they buy it.

Jipa 22nd June 2009, 17:04

There will always be stupid customers, and the whole of USA should prove that a warning sticker isn't going to save them.

Paradigm Shifter 22nd June 2009, 17:06

Well, I just picked up a Zotac Ion N330 (dual core Atom 1.6GHz) mobo with intent to built a low-power HTPC with it. Let's hope it does better than this little Revo does - the duallie will probably help a bit there.

Mine won't need to play Blu-ray's, but it does need to be able to cope with 720p MKV files so here's hoping that the fact that it's dual core and won't be running tons of manufacturer bloatware will help it. I'll probably also stick with XP rather than Vista... although Win 7 is a possibility.

All in all, the Ion will be a good platform for media once there are GPU-accelerated codecs out there that can handle all the HD possibilities.

Saivert 22nd June 2009, 17:20

Sure PowerDVD isn't what I would consider proper media playback software, but Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC for short) is decent and has enough options to work with most setup. I find it odd that the people here at Bit-tech can't work that software right when so many others can regardless of what hardware they are running it on.
Maybe the Hardware decoding silicon in the 9400M isn't as good as it's full blown counterparts or you just didn't set up MPC-HC right.

Also MPC-HC doesn't support every codec under the sun, but it supports a lot of current and common video codecs and most important l Xvid and H.264. And H.264 content should only be packed in a MKV or MP4 container.
I would really like a list of the sample clips you guys used, what container format and what video/audio codecs they are encoded in.

Icy EyeG 22nd June 2009, 17:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blademrk
would the performance be any bettter with Win7:RC installed ratehr than the bloated vista install?

I'm thinking about buying the Linux version and put a spare Windows XP license I have. It would be much cheaper and it will probably run faster (come think of it, could be a nice way to perform a review, bit-tech ;) ).
My only problem is that the linux version isn't for sale here in Portugal. Anyone know an on line store that sells the Acer Revo Linux and ships to the European Union? I can't find any....

vinfromuk 22nd June 2009, 17:54

I'm eagerly awaiting someone installing XBMC Live on either model and checking it with 720p and 1080p video. Seems like an ideal "second system" for the bedroom, or even my kitchen, where 720p and a smaller screen are perfectly fine.

dolphin-promotions 22nd June 2009, 18:06

I was planning on getting a revo for a htpc but I have heard a lot of bad things about it's performance due to the poor cpu.
An alternative maybe ASRock's Ion 330-BD. It has the dual core Atom 330 and is only a little bigger than the Wii
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/asrocks-ion-330-bd-nettop-gets-reviewed/

Combatus 22nd June 2009, 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by tron
Nice PC.

The problem with a lot of these miniature PCs is that most people that walk into a high street store and see these, fall in love with the small cuteness and energy saving factors, but then after they bring it home and use for a few weeks, reality starts to set in: This is when they begin to notice how frustrated they are getting with the system speeds. For example, they run a full indepth virus scan and while it's running, they try to open a few other applications and then notice how the system hardware is brought to its knees.

These kinds of devices should be sold with a performance frustration WARNING sticker. People should only buy these if the size and energy saving is absolutely necessary. The thing is that most high street consumers underestimate what CPU intensive things they intend to do with a new PC. At the same time, they don't research the benchmark performance of the cute PC that they want to buy, before they buy it.

So it's not actually a nice pc then? he he!

docodine 22nd June 2009, 19:41

So it absolutely will not play TF2? Could you try the phong-free packs?

http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/35108
http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/35110
http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/35148

Makes the game look like garbage, but vastly improves performance.. If TF2 can be made playable on this thing, I'm buying four.

Rocket_Knight64 22nd June 2009, 20:03

Ah well. Such a missed oppertunity to storm the market. Maybe a 330 duel core would have given it the extra umph it needs to be non intrusive?

A quick 'Round 2' using a Win7 RC1 install would be very interesting. This could have been the perfect foil for the home use iMac.

HourBeforeDawn 22nd June 2009, 20:55

Well I have the 1000he, 2gb Ram, Win 7 RC1, and Im able to run 720p HD content fine but ya anything more then that is a no go for sure but hell the res is so low anyways it doesnt matter all that much so 720 is a ok on my system. It take a while and some tweaking around but I was able to get 720p to play with out needing to OC any of the hardware other then setting it to Super Performance and using a couple programs. The only thing I cant do is watch HD content online but after downloading it onto my system it will run fine. So I dont think it will take much from Intel to make that happen and Im sure they will. The 1000HV is running the Atom and the ATI 3450 (something like that cant remember the exact number but its from the 3k series) so it has no issues with any playback involving HD content on the system or online .

confusis 22nd June 2009, 21:19

http://reviews.imp3.net/philips/sa2825/16_s.jpg
looks like my mp3 player :S

skreenname 22nd June 2009, 21:59

What do you guys consider a playable framerate?
Cause I keep reading reviews on the Ion and the reviewer always says it's an unplayable framerate, but I never know what their standard is.

Cause I got used to playing games on my Laptop with a GMA in it I consider anything better than 10FPS playable.
I have a feeling what you consider playable is more in the area of 20+FPS.

dextro 22nd June 2009, 23:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icy EyeG
I'm thinking about buying the Linux version and put a spare Windows XP license I have. It would be much cheaper and it will probably run faster (come think of it, could be a nice way to perform a review, bit-tech ;) ).
My only problem is that the linux version isn't for sale here in Portugal. Anyone know an on line store that sells the Acer Revo Linux and ships to the European Union? I can't find any....

Play.com ships them to Portugal I believe (even if I would prefer a local store due to warranty issues).

Quote:

Originally Posted by skreenname
What do you guys consider a playable framerate?
Cause I keep reading reviews on the Ion and the reviewer always says it's an unplayable framerate, but I never know what their standard is.

Cause I got used to playing games on my Laptop with a GMA in it I consider anything better than 10FPS playable.
I have a feeling what you consider playable is more in the area of 20+FPS.

I think 30fps+ is what most reviews consider "playable"

Anakha 23rd June 2009, 00:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinfromuk
I'm eagerly awaiting someone installing XBMC Live on either model and checking it with 720p and 1080p video. Seems like an ideal "second system" for the bedroom, or even my kitchen, where 720p and a smaller screen are perfectly fine.

Seconded. With this and a VESA mount to hide it behind a flat-panel TV, and a USB Media Center remote, this'd be the perfect HDTV frontend.

Add something like MythTV in the backend, with a healthy RAID of cheap TB discs and you've got the perfect HDTV system, that can be easily and simply expanded throughout the house.

Want to add another TV? HDTV + Revo and you're set.

jamesthebard 23rd June 2009, 00:25

Pros: It's tiny and quiet, can play HD material, can technically play games, doesn't have an optical drive.
Cons: Playing HD material may require prayer and some animal sacrifices, can't really play games, kinda pricey, doesn't have an optical drive.

It looks like something that could work as an HTPC, but I don't think it has the horsepower to actually run a good front end like XBMC*, and lack of an optical drive might be another stake depending on the HTPCs overall purpose.

I like the concept, but I don't think that this really has a true niche. Not powerful enough for a SFF rig, doesn't really have enough power to perform as a HTPC rig (unless you're sticking with HD content, then YMMV), and you can't use it for gaming with any real expectations.

A bit more power under the hood for the processor would have made this a bit more attractive.

*-Or, unless I've missed something, XBMC can utilize the graphics card for video playback.

docodine 23rd June 2009, 01:47

Why would not having an optical drive be a pro? :?

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Acer Aspire Revo Review

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