By NathanEddy
2009-04-08
eWEEK
Acer and Nvidia announced the first Ion-powered PC, the AspireRevo, which they say packs the punch of any full size PC but also a compact design the size of a hardcover book.
The world’s third largest computer manufacturer, Acer, andchipmakerNvidia announced, through a bombastic press push, theresult of apartnership that sees Nvidia’s Ion processor deployedin a compactAcer computer. The release marks the first time Iontechnology hasbeen used in a PC. Acer labeled the AspireRevo a“nettop” computer,a cross between a netbook and adesktop.
Nvidia compares the size of the AspireRevo to that ofahardcover book but repeatedly describes the machine as adesktopcomputer with advanced graphics and a slew of multimediafeatures.Nvidia says the system can handle a wide variety ofcomputing needsincluding high definition video, gaming, sharingdigital photos,surfing the Web and other tasks expected fromfull-size systems. Noprice point was announced.
“The Acer AspireRevo with our new Nvidia ION GPU is so smallandpowerful it’s unbelievable,” said Nvidia’s senior vice presidentofmarketing Dan Vivoli. “[You can] watch Blu-ray movies and HDmovietrailers, or clean up jerky, dim cell phone videos forInternetstreaming.” Vivoli called the AspireRevo “the perfect PC”fortoday’s consumers.
The Ion processor supports Windows Vista Home Premium,theaforementioned HD video (1080p) with “true-fidelity” 7.1audio,DirectX 10 graphics with digital display connectivity andvideoenhancement, as well as transcoding using Nvidia CUDA(ComputeUnified Device Architecture) technology.
Acer says the GPU, which matches Intel’s Atom 230 processor withtheIon graphics processor, delivers 10 times fastergraphicsperformance than other small desktop PCs and is anenergy-consciousdevice. Acer is also pushing the PC’s ease ofconnectivity with avariety of devices, highlighting the 802.11b/g(and /Draft-N onselected models) wireless or Gigabyte Ethernetnetwork connectionsand the HDMI portal.
The AspireRevo comes with a choice of a Serial ATA Hard DriveorSolid State Drive and up to 4GB of DDR2memory and a MiniPCIExpress slot, which allows for memory capacity expansion. Inaneffort to highlight the gaming capabilities, Acer saidit’sbundling the AspireRevo with a game controller with 3-Dmotionsensors, which can be used like a pointing-device (air mouse)orremote control for the media center, and is adaptable todifferentgaming scenarios such as an airplane/race-car steeringdevice, or atennis racket/baseball bat or a shooting device withbuilt-intrigger.
“The Acer AspireRevo is a bold new direction for the PCindustry,”Acer thundered in a press release. “It is a compact,stylish, fullycapable PC that uses less energy and provides abrilliant visualexperience for daily digital life.”
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