Acer Aspire Revo Review

Thanks Peter, was hoping games would work better…

if I ever get one I want to get the one with that awesome wii’ish looking remote. ;)

In Germany you can just ignore the sticker. Warranty will not be void if you opened it to inspect what you’ve bought.

Could u pls specify which countries have the wireless keyboard and mouse option?

Hi Peter,

Currently I am enjoying the use of the Acer Aspire Revo, but I am stuck with watching mkv file movies.

Is DivX7 a good software?  Does it have hardware acceleration so that it works smoothly with the Atom processor?  Also, is it compatible with Windows Vista Premium (since I don’t have Windows 7 and don’t know how to install it)

Many thanks.

Joseph

Peter,
Thanks for the great review of this product.  I currently placed an order for the American Acer AspireRevo with the Atom 230 processor.  Will I be able to add more ram to my unit?  It currently comes with 1GB of RAM.  I’ve read some folks adding 4GB of RAM.  Mine won’t come with WiFi.  Can you do a video on how to add WiFi to the American Aspire Revo. 

Thanks again,

Stevie

Peter,
Do you know if I break the warranty sticker in the US. Will it void the warranty?

Thanks again,

Stevie

Peter,
Regarding the wobbly stand:
The VESA mount that ships with some Revo and Veriton models appears to clip on to the black side plate and ought to fit all models.
  It’s listed as an option in the documentation packaged with my Revo. Acer’s sales website does not now offer this accessory.
  If Acer ever decides to fully support my R1600, (actually selling the optional VESA mount) I’ll gladly buy one.

By the way, thanks for linking the video on opening the case. Acer tech support wrote: “I am sorry that we do not have the information regarding how to open the case of the unit. We do not recommend to upgrade the hardware parts. Please be informed that Acer disowns the damage caused due to RAM upgrade.”

Very helpful, I bought a Revo from a large store here in the uk.
Could not figure out where the dongle was so sent it back…they sent a replacement..still no dongle..took it into their store for tecnical staff to sort out…they decided dongle was missing.
On reading your review I understand the mini dongle is in the mouse casing…why did the intructions not say this…would have saved a lot of hassle…instructions are also brief…both included and the user guide I downloaded fron Acer website
Thanks again ...might order another now!!

Great review Peter, but I thought I should point out something regarding the HDMI port.

HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI (DVI-D or DVI-I), and should handle all the resolutions which DVI does.

That’s the great thing about HDMI, as it offers both. You can either use an HDMI -> DVI adapter, or get an cable with HDMI on one end and DVI on the other.

This is what I’m using now, from my Dell 1530 to my Dell monitor.

No probs Peter, I didn’t want people put off by the HDMI.  I hope more manufacturers add HDMI ports, as it’s more versatile (and smaller) than an DVI port.

Peter,

Thanks for the info on the Acer Revo 1600. I ordered the 3610 this week. Can’t wait.

Also, depending upon the HD file type and the player used, video decoding will be offloaded to the GPU. This will put all the video processing on the video GPU. When this is working correctly you should see a steady 20% hit to the CPU.  Like you did when running MPC-HC.

If the video is jerky, it’s riding on the CPU and is not offloading to the GPU. In that case, the CPU should be pegged at 100%. Until the Flash 10.1 update to support Ion GPU offloading comes out, flash will suffer the same fate.

Thanks again for the info

Peter,

Ah, yes you did mention 3600 in the Technical specs header.  I was looking at the very top of your post and it mentioned the 230 Atom. My bad ;-)

I thought the 3600’s had the 330 by default and the 1600 had the 230, but that may be in the USA and not the UK…. No matter.

I enjoyed your post, tech info and videos on the Acer. Thanks again.

Hello I just bought an American R1600, and there was no sticker covering the screw on the bottom. Does anyone else have this observation?

I got my American Revo 3610 a few days ago. No sticker covering the screw either. Upgrade the ram with no worries of voiding the warranty.

BTW, this thing rocks with the Beta Flash 10.1 for GPU acceleration and connected to my 1080P HDTV! (see my blog post). Best $ I’ve spent!

Boxee, Hulu Desktop, Fancast, Clicker work great. Boxee will be better once their Beta comes out in December, which will utilize GPU acceleration. Perfect!

hi

thx for the interesting and helpful review.

however, i still have it unclear which
hd file types this toy can play.
i dont have so many hd mov/divx/mp4/ts
movies, but mostly bd rips
encoded with x.264 (the open source
version of h.264) in a mkv container and
1080p resolution.

i know ion gpus (nvidia 9300m/9400m) are more
than capable of offloading processing
workload from the cpu when playing
h.264-encoded movies that stick to the book,
but what about when playing files
encoded using the more widely available
x.264? have you tried playing that type of
files? and if so, could you share your experience?

i also live in japan, and i was thinking of getting
the revo that comes with the atom 330, 4g ram
and win 7 premium. but if it can’t handle x.264
mkv movies, i’m thinking of either waiting for the
aopen gp7a-hd that will support a socket p core duo
cpu and ddr3 ram, or building a mini-itx rig
using the aopen nmcp7aut-v mobo that supports
regular a core duo/quad cpu and ddr2 ram.
mind you, compared to the revo, the last two options
would be more pricey/bulky and less sexy :P

cheers

Does anyone mind posting their core temperatures from Speccy, Core Temp, or any other program after their Revos have been operating for a while?

Mine is posting 60 degrees C after a few hours of on time, with no heavy tasking at all. This number seems very high for an Atom 230, and I am wondering if there is a problem with my Revo 1600

Love mine (AR1600) so far.  upgraded to 4 gig (though windows 7 is acknowlegeing 3 gig of it).

Right now trying to find a vesa mount for putting behind my wall mounted lcd monitor.  any advice would be appreciated.

BTW - anyone looking to simply play media on thier tv i would recommend popcorn hour over this.  I have one of these with a terabyte drive and it plays nearly everything.

You said you have audio to your receiver via your TV (SPDIF). Does your amp detect it as discrete sound (PCM/5.1)?  Most TVs have trouble doing that.

I have read one claim by a Linux user that the wireless keyboard/mouse do *not* work with Linux.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?  I would have no intent to run Windows, and every intent to run Linux on this nettop (either than R3600 or R3610).

the machine works perfectly with linux

I’m running ubuntu and win xp and win7

the wireless dongle and a generic ‘driverless’ media remote work perfectly with ‘em all

infact….xbmc running on linux is easier to use than anything on windows for full screen playback

Hi I’m looking at buying this Acer Aspire Revo and its the US model with XP and I was wondering if it would be ok at multitasking(multi-tab web browsing while listening to music on the media player) Please hurry with an answer!!!!

Does anyone know if this nettop can drive 2 monitors? one via hdmi and one via vga? Just want to extend the desktop.

R1600 is the only model available but thanks that was helpful.

I’ve opened mine up and wanted to upgarde toa 50GB hard drine as well as upgarde the memory.  It’s not clear how I switch in a new disk, does one have to take off the other side of the case as well as the one shown in your video?  Anyone doen a hard drive upgrade successfully?

Wade

In answer to my owmn quesion This site shows you what you need to unscrew to change the hard drive

http://www.sukria.net/fr/archives/2009/11/28/how-to-upgrade-acer-revo-hard-drive/

Having just upgraded the memory and hard drive on my Revo 3610 by recommemdation would be that if you are thinking of buying one, getthe size hard drive that you are looking for rather than a small one and upgrading.  Changing the memory is pretty straightforward (but getting the case to snap back on perfectly may be tricky. ) To upgrade the hard drive you need to unscrew the fan and processor cover, unscrew the motherboad plates, push back the whiite clasps in the top corner then ease out the motherboad so that you can unscrew the hard drive and screw in a replacement.  Although it can be done its a fiddly job and it would be very easy to use a bit too much force, damage the motherboard or create a short somewhere, so especially if you are a bit clumsey try an d buy one wit the drive size that you need.

we need power consumption in idle!!
we need a value. it’s a critical parameter these days

thanks for the website and details on acer aspire revo
its great

marry Christmas & happy new year

ali kalvert

Nice. The cover can be gently pried off by hand once the screw is removed. Just grip the edge of the raised black detail and then pry it up in the same fashion as shown on the video. That way, you avoid the potential of marring the case.

Also, if you want to add a PCIe mini card to your R1600, you will need antennae. My card did not come with them. I had to harvest them from a dead Dell laptop. I will run the wiring the same as noted in the pic above (look for the orange tape at the upper right and mid left). I’ve also seen new ones on eBay for a few bucks.

I also had to get the Win 7 x64 drivers straight from NVidia (ION LE). Acer has only x86 versions on their website for the R1600.

Enjoy!
Homer

Now I just need to get Flash 10.1 beta to install!

Homer

@rick truesdale:

Only 3.5 GB would be available if you bumped the shared video memory up to 512K. Also, Win 7 x86 would only show 3.something.

Hello Peter,

thank you for the website and for the notes on this machine. I was so impressed by the reviews and details that I bought a Revo 3600 in Dubai and AS1410 as soon as I was able to convince my brother in law to buy it for me in the US (he saw it ... loved it and then bought one for himself!).

I have to admit that I was not impressed with the Revo at first and then I installed Win7 and worked completely differently. Only Issue I have is with the Vesa mount that does not work properly and I have the Revo falling all the time. Anybody else has the same issue? Am I doing something wrong?

For curiosity I have a Middle Eastern version that comes with wired keyboard and mouse and no webcam. Price was good as it was the last in Carrefour 999 AED (271 USD).

I am in the US and bought a Canadian model since they were sold out everywhere here (3610 model).

I am having a few problems with my unit.  One problem is I can only get the Wifi to download at 3.5 Mbps off the internet while all the other computers in the house test out at 11.5 Mbps (I have 12Mbps service).

Second problem is I bought a AverTV Hybrid Volar Max USB TV tuner.  I am plugging the cable TV line directly from the wall into the tuner.  Digital channels come in great but the analog channels are choppy and unwatchable/un-recordable.  When using the tuner on my other computers it works great on both analog and digital channels.

Anyone have a fix for either one of these problems?

Peter-

Great write up, thanks for all the detailed pictures. I am in the process of trying to install an wireless card in my R1600 and need to find the correct antenna for it. Does the tag on the antenna wires have any kind of part number on them? Or does anyone know where I can get a compatible set?

Great review, helped me answer tonnes of the questions I had regarding the Revo R3610. I’ve just bought one from Japan, it hasnt yet arrived, does anyone know what power connector it is likely to have (2 pin flat (american style) or 3 pin (with earth!)) so as I can get the correct adapter to change it to a standard UK plug..?

Was thinking of putting it inside some kind of adapter where the plug ‘clips’ into a UK plug, rather than ‘loosely’ hanging in the adapter, like some converters seem to.

Nice review, made my mind up about purchasing one and I just ordered mine :)

Upgrading the HD is a little involved because it’s held by 4 screws from the buttom of the motherboard.  Yes, you have to take the whole unit apart.

In term of the core temp, it’s rather high, around 61 for the CPU and around 72 for the GPU in idle; at much 69 81 respectively under heavy load. I got an external USB fan $10 and the temp is much lower now high 30’s for the CPU low 50’s for the GPU.  The unit has a very chip cooling system.

Hi

Great review, thanks.  Thinking about getting one of these to use as an XBMC Live box, but at the moment I only have an old CRT TV which only has a UK Scart input.  Is there any way to get one of these to output to that easily and cheaply?  I do have Scart to S-Video cables but this doesn’t seem to have S-Video and converters to that seem expensive.

Any ideas?  Or any suggestions for alternative Nettops that would do the job until I can get the OK to upgrade to a shiny new plasma with HDMI!

Thanks

Andy

Hi Peter

Thanks for the answer - that won’t work though as it’s a “scart out” connection to “Vga in” - I’d need the other way round and that’s the one that seems to be a problem (check out the reviews at the bottom of the Amazon page).

I think the solution is to look for a Nettop that also has S-Video or DVI output, as those can be converted to Scart at a reasonable resolution.

Thanks again for your help and input

Andy

I just got the revo AR1600. I wanted to install Win7 64 on this and give it a try (for ms media center). Acer has its recovery files on the hard drive. I guess I’ll make the recovery CD’s, but wondered if there was a boot option to go right into recovery? I dont a boot menu option. Just bios and the F12 boot from menu. Also, are the files for video and audio for win7 the DL files on acers website? Are these drivers for the 64b or just 32b?

For those of us who are searching for the optional VESA mount for Revos…
I found it here:
http://acer.shopbysystem.com/acer/acer-nettop-lcd-vesa-mounting-kit-pc-13400-041.html

It costs $30 US and it’s out of stock, but if you MUST have it…

I think the concept is way cool.

Nicola: I note that the black side pieces on the my Revo are not molded identically; there are a couple of recesses on the ‘power button side’ which might be relevant.

Have you tried fastening the VESA mount to the other side of the Revo?

Make sure on BOTH models you remove the 34 pieces of crapware and download the nforce system drivers (use the latest 9 series) and nvidia ION/LE video drivers and the 10.1 flash beta….WOW that really speeds up the system on XP and Win7.

Has anyone been able to upgrade the drivers without losing sound?  I downloaded from the nVidia website but now HDMI sound won’t work.  I’ve got the R1600 with Windows XP.  I did upgrade the RAM successfully thx to this site..w00t!

Is anyone else having issues with the included wireless KB and mouse error “HID compliant device” (driver needed) errors in device manager??? All works fine at first, then when adding another USB device - like a usb DVD drive or USB tv tuner, the wireless kb & mouse stop working. Device mgr lists several yellowed out “HID compliant device” errors, each saying “needs driver” when inquiring on the yellowed HID error entires.

Tried a full restore (several actually) with same HID error result. Also tired doing all Windows 7 updates, still no go. All USB devices work (DVD, TV, Flash drives), but as soon as the included wireless dongle is re-added for the KB/Mouse, those HID device mgr errors pop up in device mgr, all related to the KB & Mouse.
Also, once these error popup after any USB device is added to the mix, the wireless dongle will never work again, even if all other USB devices are removed.
HID errors will still remain for the dongle.

Like i said, with the clean “out of the box” state, the wireless KB & mouse install and work fine. But once another USB device is introduced, it screws up the wireless dongle in device mgr and it will never work again until a full recovery to “out of the box” is restored. And again, will work only until adding another usb device causing the HID device mgr errors with the dongle to return, and the wireless kb/mouse will never work from then on due to the dongle HID errors in device mgr.

I also have an acer revo 1600. I just tried adding the revo 3610 wireless kb & mouse to that system and the wireless kb/mouse would not work in that system either, in the same way as with the revo 3610.  Device mgr also showing several entries for HID, all yellowed (non working state).
I suspect if i restored the 1600 to out of the box, the kb & mouse would work fine, until I introduces another USB device to the mix.

I “would” assume its a bad dongle, but as I said the wireless kb/mouse “will” work when the system is “new out of the box” restored. V e r y   W e i r d !!!

Never Mind!
Just discovered what was happening with HID, was another KB/Mouse in close proximity to the revo 3610 interfering with wireless revo kb/mouse. Believe it or not!
FYI a kensington wireless Ci70 set will interfer with the revo’s wireless set.
But causing the invalid HID device in device manager, and thus stopping the revo kb/mouse set frm functioning,  was pretty weird. Could be other wireless desktop sets located close by just might cause a simular issue. Especiall cheap desktop sets that offer little or no signal interference protection.

How do you do system restore ... the ASUS EEE Box allows users to just press F9 once before the Windows XP Logo appears ... then the GHOST SOFTWARE will initialized to restore the system back to its original state ...

how about the ACER ASPIRE REVO R3600 ... i was reading all the reviews but I’m not sure how to restore the system if there is ...

I would like to learn the system restore first before buying ...

thanks in advance ... please reply

I just opened mine (R3610) yesterday. I have a unmanaged gigabit network infrastructure at home, which connects everything to a file server. Whenever I tried to play an HD movie (720p/1080p, mkv/mp4/wmv) through the network, the experience was not smooth. As soon as a I copied the files locally, all were excellent, even with a 17gig blueray rip.

It seems that the network card eats up a lot of CPU.

in The Netherlands the 3600 does not come with wireless keyboard and mouse. and there is no warranty sticker at all.

Thanks for the excellent review!  Lots of great information and the comments have been superb as well.

I’m fairly new to the HTPC aspect of things, and this is looking like a real winner as an energy efficient movie playing, torrent downloading front end.  I know that one of the comments mentioned 16:9 being possible through HDMI, and I was hoping to confirm the output.  What is the max resolution of this box?  I’m planning to hook it up to a 1080p 55” LED TV.

Thanks and warm regards.

I am not the most tech savy kind of guy here.  Bought the Acer Revo 1600 and like the computer.  Want to hook it up to my TV via HDMI and can’t figure out how to get it to work.  Is is some kind of issue with the Nvidia software or do I need to download something to get it to play on the TV with sound through the HDMI.  Can anyone tell me in simple terms how this is done or direct me to somewhere on the web to find out how?
thanks

I can confirm using Revo 3610 with a Full HD Bravia through HDMI. Picture and audio run smoothly and 1080p is working. I will also try to use it with an Ubuntu based XBMC solution and see if the net problems are solved.

Glen- you need to make sure you have the correct drivers installed for your nvidia ION chipset. then you can go into windows control panel the sound applet will allow you to change your sound settings to go thru high definition audio device, which is your HDMI.

just bought Aspire 1600 everything fine, Windows XP, 1GB ram, updated ION drivers, now something weird with playing HD video from MKV files (different software players the same behavior). some files playes 100% smothly like codec Windows Media Video 9 1280x720 @23.98fpt 4420kbps, some others however choke and stop for second, two every 5 seconds in a different places (CPU goes up to 95%), codec MPGEG4 video (H264) 1200x720 23.98fps. I use pretty up to date KLite Codeck Pack. Any help much appreciated!!

Thanks, I wanted to know how to open this thing…

By the way, the 1600, which is the Atom230, I have one, shows as a Dual Core CPU as well.  However, it is a dual thread CPU, which is almost as good.  WinXP and Vista show two CPUs in device manager.

I have the Revo 1600 US version. I’m trying to get a wifi mini pci express card. I’ve searched ebay for an Intel 5300 but it wasn’t compatible. Anybody have any clue where to get a working card for < $30.

Thanks!

This unit only takes Atheros based mini pci express card.  I got the Atheros AR5006EG and it works great; Intel based card will not work.  Don’t forget to get a Laptop antena; get one that you can trim.  Ebay got everything you need Nic and antena + shippingfor about $20.

I cannot get my ethernet or wireless internet to work for the revo… any suggestions?

Can the AR1600 Model be upgraded with the Atheros based WiFi Cards? Does it matter which model? I am looking at the Atheros ALPS AR5212A UGJZ1 301A Mini Pci WLan Super A G.

I’m going to end up using a USB wifi adapter ...

Hola soy de mexico y compre una R1600. Pero es muy lenta y quiero saber si se puede instalar windows xp y si puedo agregarle mas memoria ram a 2gb o mas

Just hooked up the Revo 3610 (Win7/64bit), purchased/installed in the USA.  Initially had VGA (to HDTV) and headphone audio output (to A/V receiver audio) functioning together without issue.

Picked up an additional HDMI cable (replacement connection, Revo to HDTV) and S/PDIF (replacement connection, Revo to older A/V receiver, not HDMI ready).

Discovered that when the HDMI cable connection between the Revo and the HDTV was active, the output audio feed on the S/PDIF port shut down.  Experienced the same audio shutdown through my analog headphone port when HDMI was active.

So, for the moment, I cannot run video through HDMI to my HDTV and simultaniously run audio (via S/PDIF OR headphone jack) to my A/V receiver.  Not cool.

Anyone else run into this?  Haven’t tried any firmware updates yet.

Additional note.  Audio through Revo 3610 S/PDIF port to A/V Receiver is fine until Revo HDMI port is connected to HDTV.  Confirms that cable/port combination are functional until HDMI connection is established (at which time audio is functional through HDTV).  S/PDIF audio to A/V receiver is functional again as soon as HDMI (to HDTV) is disconnected.

Thx for the response.  I’ve opened a ticket on the HDMI/SPDIF issue with Acer support. I will post my findings when research is complete.

You had it exactly right.  The HDMI audio interface assumed/relinquished “default” audio device status dynamically when the HDMI cable was connected/disconnected.

Apparently (unlike XP) Win7 (and Vista before that) does not support audio output from a single application to multiple audio ports simultaniously. 

It’s not a Revo issue (I could send audio through the HDMI device with WMP and simultaniously use the Control Panel Sound AUDIO device TEST option to send audio through the SPDIF or HEADPHONE audio devices because the the AUDIO test is a different application).

common feature request:
http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/76
http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/1068

Answer of “not supported” from a microsoft forum.
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/af25defc-7559-4c8d-9480-2ee7790492f1

That makes sense if you were running XP, but Vista/Win7 seem to have lost this feature.  If not, then you have a solution that a lot of people are searching for.  I only posted those three links, but found many other forums with similar discussions/complaints.

BTW, your original Revo writeup, pics, and videos are excellent.  Great work.  I’m glad I found the forum and your post.  I’ll check in periodically and keep an eye on the content.

hey , Peter                                                                           im running into a couple of problems. I just bought a american 3610 model and im getting no sound out thru the hdmi , and also i was wantin to know what is considered crapware or bloatware so i can get rid of it to make my machine faster. thank you

hey peter , tried that and still get no sound over hdmi , but got sound over normal speaks.

Hey Peter , I figured it out . I had to go to Nvidia’s website and download new driver for the HDMI output.

Hi!  Thinking about getting one of these… what are the exact types of installed memory?  I see 800mhz DDR2… is that standard (desktop) size, or smaller (notebook) size? Would these work: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134797 ?

Hi.
One question, how can i make a recovery system file or disk without an external CD/DVD burner???

Thinking of buying one of these but I’m not sure if it will be compatible with my Dell flat panel monitor and, if it requires a driver download, I won’t be able to install it without a monitor.  I have access to an older ACER flat panel.  Does anyone know where I can find a list of compatible monitors?