14 DAY TRIAL // Early this morning Acer has announced the first nettop computer system that has been designed to incorporate NVIDIA's Ion platform, which combines a low-power Intel Atom processor with an NVIDIA GeForce integrated graphics solution. Despite early rumors that claimed the first Ion-based nettop would be called Hornet, Acer decided to launch it as the AspireRevo, basically providing the world with a revolutionary product that offers an impressive level of performance inside a small package. In addition, the AspireRevo bundles a game controller with 3D motion sensors, similar to that of Nintendo's Wii gaming console.
“The AspireRevo is small and quiet enough to go anywhere, yet big enough to handle all the needs of your digital lifestyle,” said Gianpiero Morbello, corporate vice president of marketing for Acer. “It’s perfectly suited for the living room, because NVIDIA ION provides a brilliant graphics experience with digital photos, watching video, and playing family-friendly games.”
According to Acer, the AspireRevo is built on NVIDIA's highly anticipated and widely recognized Ion platform, which combines an integrated GeForce motherboard GPU with the Intel Atom 230 processor. The solution offers up to 10X faster graphics performance than other small desktop PCs in its category, mainly due to the adoption of NVIDIA's integrated GPU. Additional configuration options include a nettop-class, dual-core Atom 330 CPU, further boosting the performance of the small system.
Unlike any other nettop on the market, the AspireRevo offers support for up to 4GB of memory and comes with a choice for a SATA hard drive or Solid State Drive. According to Acer, customers can expect the AspireRevo to provide them with wireless 802.11 b/g (and Draft-N on selected models) connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet and even an HDMI connector for a better integration in the user's Home Theater environment. Thanks to NVIDIA's GPU, the AspireRevo enables users to take advantage of a Windows Vista Home operating system, 1080p HD video with true-fidelity 7.1 audio, DirectX10-compatible gaming applications, including Spore, Call of Duty 4 and Sim City 5.
As stated in some of the early rumors that surfaced the Internet prior to the release of the new AspireRevo, the system comes equipped with a game controller with 3D motion sensors that makes for a pointing device, a remote control or even a gaming device that can be used in 3 primarily different gaming scenarios. These include an airplane/race-car steering device, a tennis racket/baseball bat, or a shooting device with built-in trigger.
For the time being, Acer hasn't released any specific details on the configuration options of the AspireRevo, or pricing for that matter. However, when it becomes available users will be given the opportunity to attach the system to the back of an LCD monitor, transforming the AspireRevo nettop into an All-in-One computer system, all thanks to the VESA mount capabilities.
