14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear that Acer has finally gotten around to making the US release of a certain HTPC that can only qualify as very thin and affordable, even though its specs leave little, if anything, to be desired.
When it comes to HTPCs (Home-Theater personal computers), one can easily tell them apart from regular desktops through their size.
Still, there are some HTPCs that are even thinner than what regular ones can manage, such as the Revo RL100 from Acer.
Looking more like a set-top box than a computer, it has a thickness of less than 1 inch and yet it still can play its part as a home digital media hub.
It comes in two versions, whose hardware is largely the same, except for the optical disk drive, which can be a DVD unit ($500) or a Blu-ray one ($570).
An AMD Athlon II Neo K320 central processing unit, with a clock speed of 1.3 GHz, is complemented by 4 GB of RAM (random access memory) and the NVIDIA NG-ION graphics solution.
In other words, even Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) media will be easy to handle, with an HDMI output always ready to stream it over to a HDTV or monitor.
Meanwhile, enough space for the storage of more than a few multi-gigabyte media files is provided by the 750 GB HDD.
Other specifications include three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI connector, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and a multi-card reader.
All in all, this newcomer is ready to play its part as slim, budget-friendly multimedia computer in the US, where it should not be selling for the aforementioned prices.
As a final perk, Acer made sure that the clear.fi technology is not missing from the product feature set, this being a software that enables the HTPC to easily connect to other Acer devices and hardware with DLNA compatibility. The product bundle also includes either a multi-gesture touchpad or a backlit touch keyboard.