Acer Aspire Revo listed for pre-order in UK with May 18th release date

Now that the Ion-based cat is out of the bag, Acer's Aspire Revo has reared its pretty head on UK retailer Play.com's website. While all four packages sport the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N230, from what we can tell there's two distinct hardware configurations here. The base price is £180 (US $267), and with that you'll get 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD, and Linux. The £300 model boasts 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, and Windows Vista Home Premium. Tack on £50 more for a 3D controller and ten games, and for £330 ($440) you can have the full package along with a wireless keyboard / mouse. The listed release date is May 18th for all of them, and with any luck Acer'll go with that date and bring the nettop stateside sometime around then.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 14th 2009 4:40PM]

It seems T-mobile Germany is taking preorders for the second smallest version (160 gig hdd, wired peripherals) @ 300€. They state LAN is 10/100/1000, so this might include Gigabit Ethernet after all?

http://www.t-online-shop.de/tonline/urwfilter/catalog/do/action/ShowProductDetail/productId/54857/sname/Acer+Aspire+R3600+REVO+Nettop+Atom/index.html

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 16th 2009 9:59AM]

I'm perplexed that they are not offering the atom 330 with this. Such a shame.

[SkEvo Posted Apr 16th 2009 10:37AM]

Why the others dont fair so well
PopcornHour has great codec support but crude & ugly GUI

-not so completely true... it can support the MediaStream interface these days..

WDTV has great codec support, okay but slow GUI, no network support, crappy remote etc
mostly agree, remote is adequate tho really for the features it provides as a player.

AppleTV has limited codec support but great GUI however is underpowered so cant handle 1080p
- agree

PS3/360 have great UI but limited codec support
- agree, when oh when are they gonna support MKV :(

XBMC has fantastic UI which is also skinable so you can find something you like
XBMC has great codec support
XBMC has built in metadata scraper for all your media

[SkEvo Posted Apr 16th 2009 10:38AM]

I'd like to run XP and XBMC on this but I'm skeptical.......

I haven't seem the Atom/Ion hardware doing it's stuff (new tech) but most people recommend a 3GHz dualcore chip for XBMC in WinXP (full HD playback). How can this chip hope to manage with that?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 17th 2009 3:36AM]

How would you go about watching DVD's and Bluray videos? Input the DVD into it, then output it somewhere else? That would make it perfect if it was an "All-in-one" media computer. Put it in the living room, attach it to the TV, put music and movies on for your friends while maintaining a sleek and modern look. Now that's pretty tight!

[simbr Posted May 14th 2009 9:35AM]

PS: Play's price for the linux model has dropped to £149, and the most expensive model in the above picture appears to have vanished.

[simbr Posted May 18th 2009 11:27AM]

Looks like Play has used up their allocation of the Linux ones already - the two Windows models are showing in stock but the Linux model is listed as "Usually dispatched within 4-5 days" and mine hasn't shipped yet.

[(Unverified) Posted May 25th 2009 5:18AM]

Anyone that knows where to order the linux version within UK?

[simbr Posted May 25th 2009 5:00PM]

You can order it from Play, where it's been "Usually dispatched within 4-5 days" for the last week, or from Amazon who say it won't be released until the 6th of June. CCL have been saying since the 18th they'll have 10 in stock on the 25th.. but that is today, there's been no update and it is a bank holiday anyway so I don't really believe them. Simply Acer have -1 in stock at the moment which is an improvement at least; when Iast looked it was -3 so they've either actually got hold of some or people have cancelled their orders (who can blame them when it is more expensive there than anywhere else and they only offer free shipping over £200).
If you want to order one with any hope of actually receiving it then good luck as they don't seem to actually exist, at least I've not read of anyone actually receiving one at any rate.

[simbr Posted May 28th 2009 2:48PM]

Incidentally, I notice the price on Play has risen to £159.99, as has the price listed on my order. Can they do that?

[simbr Posted Jun 9th 2009 1:35PM]

How odd - the very day after I cancel my pre-order with Play since the delay seemed indefinite and the price had gone up, it is finally in stock and back to £149.99. I also had an email from Kikatek.com to advise they now had 79 in stock.