Well, well, what's this? We just received a ton of information on that hot little
Acer Hornet nettop we'd heard about a while back, and if this pile of documentation is as real as it looks, this thing could be the holy grail of cheap HTPCs -- not only does it support 1080p video playback over HDMI, the "Media Center" version will indeed come with a Wii-like remote that can be used for gaming as well as media control. Specs look more than decent for the targeted $149-$299 price range: the low end model pairs what sounds like an Atom N230 with 1GB of RAM and an 80GB drive preloaded with Vista Home Basic, while higher end models get 2GB of RAM, a 160GB drive, and a "Boxshell" quickboot OS in addition to Vista Home Premium. All this plus super-quiet sub-26dB operation and a slick diamond-shaped chassis designed to hang off the back of your flatscreen? We're potentially in love -- when you gonna make our dreams come true, Acer? Full spec chart after the break.
P.S. We know that upper-right image is a ripped Nintendo press image, but this slide actually
leaked from elsewhere a month ago -- and unless someone's decided to go way beyond the usual fakery by meticulously crafting the 20-page technical and supplier info document and lengthy presentations we received today, we're thinking this is actually real and not some April Fools thing. Let's hope!
Update:
DigiTimes has it from "industry sources" that the Hornet will launch in
China on April 8th for below $299.
[Thanks, Anonymous]
posted March 31st 2009 7:56PM
This is blasphemy!
That avatar is blasphemy!
NO! THIS IS PARTICK!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uny_cIRMVyA
Ha, I was hoping for something a little better than that. Still, I wouldn't say I want my 15 second back. :-)
GOD DAMN IT!!!
I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE TO PICK!
This is madness!
Now this is going tooo far.
I for one will take 2! One for each TV! And maybe one for my car...Then I might need one for my boat... definitely one for my boat...sooo.....I guess I'll take 10 just for good measure since they're going to be sold out in about 20 minutes.
Where's the TV tuner?
HDHomeRun
I like the price point, but what is the GPU used on this?
it says "ion based" so the gpu should be nvidia geforce 9400M
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=Nvidia+Ion
The 9400m means it should be able to play 1080p Blu-ray!
very nice. They leave you with no other choice than the Media Center edition though.
If they stuck a duo core in there, theyre pretty much be slapping the Dell Hybrid. I want one of these for media purposes, and maybe some lightweight gaming.
Even a low-end Core Duo costs almost as much as the full system...
It's only like $50-70 more if they took out the atom and replaced it with a wolfdale
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206
Looks awesome. Add Windows 7 and I'm in.
The top-right image is actually a Nintendo press picture, or resembles one tremendously.
Yup
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/01/wii-sports-gals_top.jpg
rtfa
I don't care about the gaming aspect. As long as it plays DiVX and the HDMI with audio works well, I'm sold!
They should make a high end model that could run the dolphin emulator...
Nice media comp, but what I would really like to see would be an Ion netbook. I guess I have a while to wait.
Same picture Engadget posted in Febuary http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/acers-ion-based-hornet-nettop-leaked-in-presentation-slides/
Looks excellent but will it run Windows 7 MCE with that spec Acer Arcade does not cut it.
haha...april fools! gotcha.....nah really..if this is real then acer will burst asus's bubble....now they just need to stick those components inside a nettop with touchscreen and sell it for $350 and dominate the world...well don't know about the whole dominate thing..but still
I like the idea of using a Wii Stick on a Media Center computer.
As a substitute for a mouse. Makes sense when you are sitting on a couch.
It's not an HTPC without at least a DVD drive (and an option for Blu-Ray).
It's an HTPC for me since I could run XBMC for Windows on it.
Sorry, I have no use for spinning media any more. And I already have a BD player if need be. This thing just needs to play video off Hulu and ABC.com and TV.com and torrents and such, do a little light web browsing, etc. Maybe even some web-based games. That's about it. I wouldn't pay $20 for a DVD or disk interface... and if it did have one, I'd only use it for installing software...
its called external esata enclosure..that will fix your problem
I'd have to add an IR sensor. The wiimote thing is a little... dumb?
Looks pretty good though!
Connectivity?
Kitty.
Holy cow. Combine these and it's Game Over for the Wii:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/31/emulator-runs-wii-games-in-720p-while-we-wonder-what-might-have/
Sooo KIRFy.
Did anyone else notice that there's a Nintendo Wii promotional image in the picture
Why doesn't anyone make this in a VIA Nano version? Or up the power consumption just a little to put in a real chip? I like the idea, I think I'd like the interface, I just really don't want to limit myself to the processing power of an Atom if I'm going to watch Sita Sings the Blues as a 1080p mkv no matter how good the video card is.
A Dual Core Atom is more than enough to run 1080p video with a Geforce 9400. XBMC will support Nvidia GPU decoding in the next stable release this April. $150 dollars to playback every video file imaginable sounds very appealing to me.
it should be noted that only the linux version of XBMC will be supporting GPU decoding. You would need to rip out Windows and install Ubuntu.
@jimmybuck
And that's a bad thing?
For a Cheap Desktop that looks nasty this thing is a killer!
This is an april foolsday joke. There is not a chance this could cost 150$ with Vista. Vista OEM is close to 100$ alone! A good idea, though, I must admit! I'd want one if it were true!
can you say perfect mac mini HACKINTOSH?
btw, the cpu is probably soldered on a la AAO
All it needs is a dual core Atom, then I'll jump.
I'd take one of these maxed out at $299... and then I'd proceed to laugh at every mac-mini owner I meet -- even more than I do already!
Good stuff.
"20-page technical and supplier info document and lengthy"
Are you going to share this with us or are you going to leave us drooling for more info??
Namely, does it have ethernet support (optional wifi does not necessary imply so) and will all the internals be linux compatible?
Come on engadget, help us out!
screw china! were in america baby
The H2BOX open project looks better. Same price, better specs, open-source, open architecture...